Spirits, Spells and Caramel by Rachel Beattie

Veronica Swan is trying to be a private detective in a small town but her biggest case is to discover who is sabotaging the ex-mayor's pumpkin patch. Even with that simple case, she isn't making much headway.  As Halloween approaches, her friend plans a big party in the local diner.  All the town is invited, and everything is going great, until the ex-mayor is found, dead, in the back ally. Suddenly the sabotaged pumpkin patch seems much more sinister. Veronica works with the handsome sheriff, Seth Foster, to suss out suspects, look for motives, and find clues. 

This is a short, self-published cozy mystery, and it was OK.  The different personalities in the little town were interesting and...well...cozy.  I didn't realize when I checked this out that it is the fourth in a series, each of which is set at a different holiday. I was just looking for a Halloween themed mystery on Libby and it popped up. It didn't really matter. There didn't seem to be an overarching plot that was important to the story that I had missed by not reading the other books. The mystery plot was weak and the solution was revealed in a very cliche way.  I don't think in real life murderers confess simply because of an over active conscious. It didn't seem like the main character, Veronica, actually did much to solve the mystery or even encourage the confession.  She was just along for the ride. Still, the dialog was better than the last mystery I read, and it was entertaining enough that I finished it, even though I was reading it on my kindle rather than listening to it.  (120 p. 2025)