Stiffs and Swine

Written by Ellery Adams

Narrated by Karen White

James Henry and the Flab Five are invited to serve as judges at Hog Fest, a celebrated barbecue festival in the Virginia mountains. But when one of the "pit masters" is found dead and a member of the supper club is accused of the murder, James and his friends have to lick the sauce off their fingers and get to work catching a killer. Amid a fairground filled with colorful people and tempting food, The Flab Five are sure to fall off the diet wagon. But James Henry has more to worry about than his expanding waistline. His bookmobile is dead, suspicious activities are taking place in his beloved library, and his relationship with Murphy Alistair is on the rocks. James needs to focus less on brisket and fried pickles and more on solving problems because Hog Fest is clearly no picnic.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Feb 27, 2018
• ISBN: 9781541485273

Ellery Adams

Ellery Adams has written over forty mystery novels and can’t imagine spending a day away from the keyboard. Ms. Adams, a native New Yorker, has had a lifelong love affair with stories, food, rescue animals, and large bodies of water. When not working on her next novel, she reads, bakes, gardens, spoils her three cats, and rearranges her bookshelves. She lives with her husband and two children (aka the Trolls) in Chapel Hill, NC. For reading guides and a list of bibliotherapy titles, please visit ElleryAdamsMysteries.com.

Reviews for Stiffs and Swine

[carlathelibrarian · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It was late summer in Quincy's Gap and the Flab Five have been invited to be judges at the beauty contest of sows at a neighboring town's Hog Fest. They also end up judging the Brisket contest and the pie eating contest. It is several days at the festival eating fair food, and trying to figure out who killed the obnoxious BBQ contestant as well as who is selling drugs. At the same time, back in Quincy Gap, Scot and Francis are trying to figure out what the teens who are hanging out on Friday nights are doing in the library.

We learn more about Gillian in this story after she is taken in for questioning since she had an altercation with Jimmy the day before he was found dead. Since Lucy is now a deputy, her help was welcomed by Sheriff Jade Jones, but she wanted the rest to stay out of the situation. Bennett develops a crush on the Sheriff, which shows us another side to him. He is also studying to become a contestant on Jeopardy. He has a lot of trivia in his brain. James and Lucy's relationship was still a little strained after their breakup, but they still functioned well together as mystery-solving friends. James is drifting from Murphy since she seemed to have changed as well as keeping secrets from him. It was nice to see Scott and Francis solving their own mystery and what they do outside the library. Jackson and Mila are continuing to become closer in this story and James hopes that it progresses.

Between the police and the Flab Five, they figured out what was going on, but just like the police, they have to have enough evidence to arrest and prosecute. The ending of the story was tense and James has to make some quick decisions. I enjoy the fact that even though the friends are flawed and do not always agree with one another, they are true friends, loyal and always work together to solve the mystery. I would love to meet this group of friends and get the opportunity to solve a mystery with them.

[bookswoman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The members of the "Flab Five" are invited to a neighboring town to be judges in a pig beauty pageant and of course, soon end up embroiled in murder, as well as barbecue and complicated personal relationships!

James Henry is still torn between his feelings for Lucy and his relationship with local reporter Murphy.

The only down side of this book was it wasn't as tied to James' library as some of the others and I missed him spending time with the library employees.

I do enjoy this series and will keep reading it as long as J.B. Stanley keeps writing them!