Josiah Reynolds Books In Order

Publication Order of Josiah Reynolds Mysteries Books

Josiah Reynolds is the lead protagonist of the “Josiah Reynolds” series of detective mysteries by award-winning and bestselling author Abigail Keam. The first novel of the series was “Death by a Honeybee” that was first published in 2010. The series is about a former beekeeper who now spends much of her time as an amateur sleuth, Josiah Reynolds. Josiah lives with her friends in Bluegrass, Kentucky, where she enjoys the bourbon, fast horses, and secrets of the common folk. As for the author, she loves honeybees, horses, chocolate, and bourbon just like her lead protagonist. Abigail Keam has also authored the “Last Chance for Love” series set in the Last Chance Motel in the Florida Keys. She has also written an epic fantasy series known as the “Princess Maura Tales” that features a princess named Maura, who is trying to save her kingdom and her throne from internal and external threats.

It is no wonder that Abigail Keam writes about a protagonist who loves bees as she is an award-winning beekeeper with more than 10 awards from the Kentucky State Fair. Abigail won the prestigious Barbara Horn Award for having a perfect 100 rating at one of the bee-keeping competitions. As such, it is very much a breeze writing about the life of her protagonist as being a professional bee farmer she has attended many fairs, and farmers markets to exhibit and sell her honey. Abigail lives with her husband and a variety of creatures including honeybees in River Palisades Kentucky. Her first novel “Death by a Honeybee” made the shortlist for the 2011 Best Books by USA BOOK NEWS. The novel also won the Readers Favorite Prize Gold Medal Award in 2010. Her other novels in the “Josiah Reynolds” series have also been shortlisted and won several awards over the years.

The “Josiah Reynolds” series are witty and humorous combination of fuzzy and cozy mystery that could each be read as a standalone. Each novel in the series comes with its own standalone plot and narrative though the lead protagonist in all the novels is Josiah Reynolds, a middle-aged Kentucky woman who faces up to serious challenges. Josiah is a woman that takes life with a sarcastic humor alongside her oddball and quirky friends from her hometown of Lexington, deep in Kentucky horse country. When we are first introduced to the character she is a small-time book keeper who subsidizes her small income with beekeeping. Some novels of the Josiah Reynolds series have explosive conclusions while most end with a cliff hanger that leads into the next mystery of the following novel. Nonetheless, all of the novels of the series incorporate suspense and sassy humor as they follow the life and times of Josiah Reynolds. The mystery series is best described as finger licking good fried chicken with a scoop of ice cream, and a side of chocolate pecan pie.

Josiah Reynolds had once been married to a prominent architect who had built “The Butterfly”, their unique home more than three decades past. Her one child from the marriage is now working with the Special Force of the CIA-FBI doing highly secretive missions. She had become separated from her architect husband a few years before his decease, when he moved in with a woman he had been seeing on the side. Unperturbed by the betrayal, she has shifted her focus to her art collection, taking care of her beautiful house, caring for her animals, farming bees, and nurturing Matt Garth her caretaker who also serves as her personal lawyer. Given that her husband left much of his liquid wealth to his other woman, Josiah struggles to pay her bills and hence has to engage in bee-keeping to make ends meet. But all that is to change when she discovers a body while going to check on her hives. Given that it is the body of someone she happens to know she dives into the investigation, turning into an amateur sleuth. Josiah makes for an engaging lead protagonist especially for a middle aged woman who happens to be asthmatic, arthritic ,and not the sunniest of dispositions.

“Death by a Honeybee” the first novel is an enthralling novel of the series set in Bluegrass Kentucky. Bluegrass is a place that combines old and new money, race horses, and beautiful countryside that is perfect for a murder mystery. Josiah Reynolds who happens to be a woman with a very male sounding name is the lead protagonist in the novel. She spends much of her days tending to her bees, a variety of animals she rescued from the shelters, and her big house known as “The Butterfly”. Her life suddenly gets interesting when she stumbles onto the dead body of a man that she had only recently had a very public row with. She had almost fought with the man while selling her product in the farmers market. The author incorporates some interesting aspects of beekeeping as she writes of the lead character and an intriguing supporting cast. One of the most intriguing is Matt the caretaker cum lawyer who lives on Reynolds farm. Matt loves the movies and is always quoting something or another from the most recent popular ones. He is also gay, which makes for quite an explosive combination with the cranky and asthmatic Josiah Reynolds.

“Death by Drowning” the second novel of the series sees the lead Josiah Reynolds recover from a close shave with death to solve another murder mystery in Bluegrass, Kentucky. The novel is a brilliant sequel to Death by a Honeybee as it follows a Reynolds as she deals with a combination of optimism, fear, anger, and the pain of recovery. She had been living in Florida to recover from her latest ordeal but now has to come back home try to find the man that had killed her friend’s son. She lives in fear for her own life even as several subplots take place in the background.Luckily for her, Josiah got herself two bodyguards paid for by her daughter. As she struggles to get back to a normal life, she gets help from Matt her caretaker and the nurse Jack who all wish to see her back on her feet taking care of her bees once again. Her housemates also act as lookouts against the man responsible for her injuries, a cop gone rogue.