Crash Robertson was seven when she first met Bernie Sanders. He had spoken at her elementary school about climate change, and she was sold. She finished school, and then college, and then as a grad student in political science, she had applied for an internship in this office. Just like everyone else. But she was from Vermont, and her mother ran the general store in her small hometown of Eagle Creek, and she knew just where to score the good stuff.
Doc McGilliam’s Twice-Distilled Golden Reserve Batch of grade-A Vermont maple syrup.
That put Crash far above any of her competitors for the internship, some of whom had brought maple syrup from corporations. No self-respecting Vermonter would touch that. But Doc’s? It’s the real thing, and suddenly Crash was a real intern, working for a real Senator in Washington D.C.
After an outbreak of food poisoning at the office, Crash was one of the last people standing. So when Bernie’s chief of staff asked if she would keep an eye on him over Columbus Day weekend, she agreed. Of course. And then she found out that he was heading to Eagle Creek to grand marshal the parade for Champs Days. In other words, Crash was going home.
But almost immediately after arriving back in Eagle Creek, Crash finds herself face to face with a dead body. The local banker, Ferman Fletcher, certainly wasn’t her favorite person in town, but she doesn’t know why might have killed him. But it turns out that Bernie is a voracious reader, and his latest binge of cozy mysteries about a cannabis bakeshop set on the beach has him hungry for a crime to solve. And for Crash’s mother’s griddlecakes.
Crash wasn’t given much direction for the weekend. She had the Senator’s itinerary, a business card with the number of a fixer (which, if she has to use it, will end her internship immediately), and one rule for dealing Bernie. Never let him out of your sight. Armed with rule one of Bernie Club and a phone number for extreme emergencies, Crash follows Bernie into the investigation, because what choice does she have?
What they find are a tech billionaire who has been buying up as many of the local family-owned maple shops he can, a town that is struggling from a lack of jobs and a challenging economy, a curious autopsy report that appeared as if from nowhere, a poutine food truck, a mythical prehistoric sea serpent, a missing barrel of maple syrup, aged maple trees getting chopped down, and drones wanting a better retirement plan than a scrapyard.
It will take a couple of skillful investigators to figure out what’s really going on in Eagle Creek and to protect what’s most important. But they will need to survive the weekend in order to set things right. Senator Bernie Sanders will most definitely survive anything that comes his way. But can Crash find that same luck for herself?
Feel the Bern is a new cozy mystery set in Vermont with everyone’s favorite mitten model, Bernie Sanders, and his intern. The blend of real and fantasy works well if you like your murder mysteries with a few liberal political speeches thrown in for fun. Written by Andrew Shaffer, who wrote the Obama/Biden mysteries Hope Never Dies and Hope Rides Again, is back with new crimes and a a new political crimefighter.
When I saw the cover for Feel the Bern, and read the blurb of what it was about, I knew I had to read it. And I was not disappointed. I absolutely loved this book. The writing is smooth, so the pages almost turn by themselves, and the characters of Bernie and Crash are perfect. This book is so clever, both as a mystery and as a light political satire, that it’s just as delicious as the pancakes at Eagle Creek’s Beefcake Breakfast. There are even some recipes at the end, so you can experience for yourself some of the dishes mentioned throughout the story, like the Yankee Pot Roast, Poutine, Vermont Cheddar Mac and Cheese, Maple Pecan Cookies, and “Feel the Bern” Maple Sriracha Hot Sauce. If you do not read this book, you are making a huge mistake. Let me repeat: a HUGE mistake. So grab your favorite mittens, make yourself some of Bernie’s Famous Maple Baked Beans, and head to Vermont for a long weekend of syrup, secrets, and soapboxes.
Egalleys for Feel the Bern were provided by Ten Speed Press through NetGalley, with many thanks.
