Book Review: A Tough Nut to Kill by Elizabeth Lee

With a play on words for this pecan grove mystery, you’d think it would be a fun read. It wasn’t.

Lindy Blanchard has a goal that will not only help her family of pecan growers survive droughts, but other growers as well. She hopes to come up with a drought resistant hybrid tree.

Those dreams are shattered when she stumbles upon her estranged uncles body in her super secret greenhouse, which is locked up tighter than Fort Knox. Earlier in the day, Amos had shown up at the family store The Nut House where he had something to give to her mother.

The family hasn’t spoken to him in years after the ”accidental “ death of his brother Jake and have disputed his theory that Jake was murdered.

Lindy’s brother, Justin becomes the main suspect in Amos’ murder (even though he has an alibi) due to his intense hatred for his uncle. However, questions arise about Lindy’s possible involvement since her trees have been damaged.

So here’s why this mystery is bad.

The first thing that comes to mind are the characters are very unlikeable and there are too many to boot. I kept scratching my head as to who was who and if you do dare to read this, have a tissue handy since the women seem to cry constantly. If they’re not crying, their eyes are misty with tears.

There were times that I was confused as to who the main character was. Since this is supposed to be Lindy’s story, her grandmother, Amelia Hastings, seems to the main character at times. Which makes it more confusing since she’s not a Blanchard but is always referred as one. Even though it is by marriage.

Speaking of which, there’s no background information on the brothers. Did they have other siblings? Once Amos’ body is released they had his funeral.

The premise of Lindy’s work (and the destruction of her trees) was somewhat intriguing, but not enough to keep the story going.

With so many negatives, I’m surprised that I didn’t go “nuts.”