It would be financially prudent for Mims Walsh to stick to writing celebrity gossip articles rather than investigate why an elderly beekeeper’s honey has turned red. The death of her journalism dreams won’t hurt so much once she has the money for avocado toast… not to mention toilet paper and rent. On the other hand, a career win would give her the confidence to show her face again among her successful friends.
In another part of NYC, Teddy Beasley’s illegal side gig is getting out of hand. He'd been desperate to start clearing the debts he racked up modernizing his family’s business after his beloved grandfather died. His shadowy new partner won't let him walk away, and he’s convinced that the honeybees that have started showing up each day know what he’s up to and are out to get him as punishment.
Combining sharp emotional insights with a quirky crime fiction premise, Koval explores the depths we sink to for money and the ways we negotiate friendships, family, and dating as best we can while struggling to survive.
It would be financially prudent for Mims Walsh to stick to writing celebrity gossip articles rather than investigate why an elderly beekeeper’s honey has turned red. The death of her journalism dreams won’t hurt so much once she has the money for avocado toast… not to mention toilet paper and rent. On the other hand, a career win would give her the confidence to show her face again among her successful friends.
In another part of NYC, Teddy Beasley’s illegal side gig is getting out of hand. He'd been desperate to start clearing the debts he racked up modernizing his family’s business after his beloved grandfather died. His shadowy new partner won't let him walk away, and he’s convinced that the honeybees that have started showing up each day know what he’s up to and are out to get him as punishment.
Combining sharp emotional insights with a quirky crime fiction premise, Koval explores the depths we sink to for money and the ways we negotiate friendships, family, and dating as best we can while struggling to survive.
June 14
It was dark inside the car’s trunk. The car had been parked for a long time, more than ten minutes, and Mims still couldn’t remember the trick for opening a trunk from the inside. She kicked hard every twenty seconds or so, her feet tied together like a mermaid tail.
She was sure there was a trick.
A text message alert went off in her back pocket and then another and then nothing.
Eventually the trunk opened. She tried to kick the man who opened it, but once he threw the thick blanket over her head it was hard to know where he was. She was dragged up and out of the trunk and dropped into a tight, deep space. A lid closed. She was inside some kind of plastic box. Mims’s heart beat as fast as the fluttering pages of a flipbook. She found herself wishing for her mother, a thought so odd it snapped her out of panic. This must be someone Teddy hired; he wouldn’t kill her. He was a kind person and had a sweet tooth like a child.Â
The box dragged and then bumped. There was a ramp of some sort and then three steep steps. With each thwack one of her elbows or a vertebra was scraped raw. The bee stings on her shoulder blade and wrist were swollen so tight they felt like they would split open. Then there was stillness. She could tell the man hadn’t left wherever the box was because she could hear muffled sounds. She felt woozy, and it wasn’t until a few minutes had passed that she realized it was because the floor was rocking. She must be on a boat. Time passed, maybe two minutes or maybe fifteen, and she couldn’t focus on anything useful, just that they might be able to identify her body based on her tattoos.Â
In Brooklyn, New York, Beasley Cherries is facing challenging times. Teddy Beasley has tried his best to revitalize the maraschino cherry business by investing in organic operations and new lines. However, his business decisions haven't been entirely successful, and he gets caught up in some illegal dealings putting Made in Vermont labels on smuggled Chinese honey as a means of trying to pay off company debt. Now there is an increase in bee activity around the factory, and Teddy is positive that the local bees know what he is up to! Meanwhile, across town, Mims Walsh is also facing an uphill battle as she tries to become a successful freelance writer. Her journalism classmates seem to be all passing her by in their careers. It's not so much about fame and fortune at the moment as getting enough writing jobs to put food on the table.
In her search for the next big story, Mims stumbles upon a local beekeeper who appeals for help from the town council. She meets with Charlie to see firsthand the blood honey his bees are producing and then commits to narrowing down the search for what the bees might be eating based on the locations of the other affected hives in the city. As Teddy struggles to get out of the illegal honey smuggling racket, Mims narrows in on Beasley Cherries as a possible epicentre and sets off a collision course.
Right off the bat, I was attracted by the fact that the story revolved around bees, so I was delighted when this book ended up being such a smooth read right from page one! I quickly fell into the story and didn't want to stop reading. It is well balanced between humour and seriousness. Poppy Koval has also done an excellent job in building relatable characters that the reader ends up caring for. I appreciated how each was integral to the storyline and wasn't just taking up space on the page. It's a must-read!