Bobby is improving every day and tenant/boyfriend Sam is more than happy to pitch in where the four-year-old is concerned. This allows Phyllis time to help another of her retired teacher tenants, Carolyn, set up for the festival and even deliver some of the holiday food on Thanksgiving morning.  Phyllis is also entering her Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins in the baking contest and feeling pretty good about her chances since her usual chief competition, Carolyn, will be one of the judges. 

On the morning of the festival Phyllis and Carolyn notice that one of the scarecrow decorations is out of place, but upon closer inspection they realize it is the body of local real estate mogul Logan Powell. Logan’s wife Dana had been helping with the preparations for the festival and now finds herself a widow and the chief suspect in her husband’s death. 

Dana is a teacher and friend with whom Carolyn taught and she can’t believe her former colleague would commit murder, even if her husband was a philanderer.  Carolyn asks Phyllis to keep an ear to the ground and see if she can uncover any other suspects who would have wanted Logan dead.  Phyllis quickly learns that several teachers may have been having affairs with Logan, including one whose husband was having real estate disputes with Logan.

Phyllis has everything she needs to figure out the identity of the murderer, but somehow she can’t put it all together until it’s almost too late.  

The Pumpkin Pie MurderM.b< is another solid entry into a series that often features baking contests and a friendly rivalry between Phyllis and Carolyn.  Bobby is a delightful addition to the cast this time and allows Phyllis and Sam to get a little closer and define their relationship in their own minds, even though everyone around them considers them boyfriend/girlfriend already. 

Phyllis is a little too nosey for her own good, though she attributes everyone’s willingness to talk to her grandmotherlyness.  Phyllis is very good hearted, opening her home as a boarding home for retired teachers and welcoming them as family; she also welcomes teachers without a home for Thanksgiving to her table. 

The mystery is well-plotted and paced, woven amidst a delightful autumnal setting in a small town.  A surprise announcement by a fourth tenant/friend, Eve, hints at what may be next for Phyllis, both in the kitchen and in solving her next murder.                                                    

--Jennifer Monahan Winberry