Who Killed the Scarecrow at the Harvest Festival and Stuffed His Mouth with a Pumpkin Muffin???

The Pumpkin Muffin Murder by Livia J. Washburn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Just an easy read for when your mind is tired but you want to relax with a fun book. Phyllis is a retired teacher who is also a widow whose son is grown and married and out of the house. She had decided to rent rooms in her house to two fellow, also retired teachers, Eve the manizer and Carolyn, an overbearing sort always competing with Phyllis for baking awards and cooking compliments. Sam, from another school district, has also joined the ladies and he and Phyllis are boyfriend and girlfriend though, at their age, they shrink from the terms.
In this, the fifth outing of mystery solving in Weatherford, Texas we find the community getting ready for the annual Harvest Festival. Phyllis is entering Pumpkin Muffins in the baking contest but, this time around, Carolyn is acting as a judge. While that situation in itself may have ended in a murder and may have been quite interesting the contest never came to be.
On the morning of the day, as contestants arrived with their baked goods, Carolyn and Phyllis notice that one of the scarecrows that are scattered around the park as decoration appears to have been moved onto the porch of the cabin serving as the venue. Always ready to set things straight, the ladies take it upon themselves to move the misplaced fellow, only to have him fall at their feet--not a straw filled men's outfit, but a dead body dressed as a scarecrow. One of the local real estate moguls lies there, his mouth seeming to be stuffed with a PUMPKIN MUFFIN!!!! The game as has been said before is afoot! Did his wife do him in? The local police chief and his head detective are sure of it--but not so fast--Phyllis doesn't believe this lovely teacher could kill her husband. And, as is her wont, she sets out to prove it.

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