The Honey Trap: A Beekeeping Cozy Mystery

By Sarah Simon

The bees know something is wrong. And Wren knows enough about bees to listen.

Beekeeper Wren likes things that make sense: orderly hives, careful records, early mornings at Grover Hill allotments, and neighbors best appreciated in manageable doses.

Then her friend Renata is found dead beside the pumpkin patch.

Bees are everywhere. Renata's protective veil is damaged. And what appears to be a tragic encounter with an agitated colony leaves Wren with one stubborn problem:

The bees aren't behaving the way they should.

When the official explanation doesn't fit what Wren knows, she starts paying attention-to timelines that don't quite line up, equipment where it shouldn't be, carefully kept records, and the small contradictions people reveal when they think no one is listening.

Detective Ray Okafor would prefer evidence to theories. Wren would prefer people to stop mistaking expertise for interference. Unfortunately for both of them, her inconvenient observations have a habit of being useful.

And at Grover Hill, there are plenty of secrets hiding between the garden plots.

With the annual Harvest Show approaching, gossip spreading faster than bindweed, and a close-knit community discovering just how little its members really know about one another, Wren must separate ordinary grudges from something far more dangerous.

Because someone may have counted on everyone blaming the bees.

But Wren knows her bees.

And if Renata's death wasn't an accident, someone at Grover Hill has gone to extraordinary lengths to make it look like one.

Can Wren follow the clues hidden in plain sight before a carefully constructed lie becomes the truth everyone believes?

The Honey Trap is a character-driven cozy mystery featuring a sharp-eyed amateur sleuth, an unusual beekeeping puzzle, community-garden secrets, dry humor, an observant detective, and a close-knit cast where everyone knows everyone-until murder proves otherwise.

Perfect for cozy mystery readers who enjoy clever clues, distinctive hobbies, warm community settings, gentle humor, and mysteries solved by observation rather than luck.

Step through the gate at Grover Hill and discover what all the buzz is about.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0HLHZ8SWH
• ISBN13: 9798177147505
• Release Date: September 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 172 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.0" x 9.0"