Tis the season for the Oktobear Fest and Sasha Silverman is busy with events to promote her family's store, the Silver Bear Shop, and Factory. Meanwhile, her high school rival, Holly Parker, has returned to town and started her own business, competing with both Sasha's and her cousin's local stores. Unfortunately, Sasha finds Holly's assistant dead and now the question is whether Holly was the intended victim rather Gina. Can Sasha contend with all the festive events while investigating who killed Gina?

I love teddy bears so I couldn't resist something as precious sounding as the Teddy Bear Mystery  series. And oh, the teddy bears they describe! I'd have loved to visit something like the Cranbeary Tea Party at Oktobear Fest when I was a young girl. The artwork and creativity of the names of the bears and events, as well as the descriptions of the statues, is amazing and makes me wish this were a real event.

The mystery itself, however, has a dark side. Sasha has to face her high school rival in a potentially deadlier scenario than either of them expect. Holly's actions in BEAR WITNESS TO MURDER provides Sasha with plenty of potential suspects as it seems Holly infuriates everyone she comes into contact with. Holly is definitely not a likable person and her actions in more than one scene had me infuriated with her. However, Holly wasn't the only character who made me furious as Sasha's mother and her obsession with Sasha's cheating ex-husband is completely obnoxious. I hope the next book resolves this issue or her mom moves out of the picture completely as I just couldn't understand her logic at all!

Overall, I enjoyed BEAR WITNESS TO MURDER. The concept of the teddy bears is engaging and entertaining and Meg Macy does a great job at capturing the small town feel of Silver Hollow. BEAR WITNESS TO MURDER is the second book in the Teddy Bear Mystery series. Generally, I'm pretty good at jumping into the middle of cozy mystery series and feeling comfortable with the characters but BEAR WITNESS TO MURDER took me a bit longer than normal to acclimate. The plethora of characters is a bit overwhelming at first but once I settled in, I was able to enjoy the storyline. I look forward to reading future books in the series (sans Sasha's mom and her obsession with Flynn, I hope) as the cuteness factor makes BEAR WITNESS TO MURDER a hit.

Book Summary

As autumn air settles into the quaint small town of Silver Hollow, there’s nothing more popular than Sasha’s teddy bears—and murder in cold blood . . .

Silver Bear Shop and Factory manager Sasha Silverman is cozying up to the fall season by hosting Silver Hollow’s Cranbeary Tea Party, the opening event of the village’s Oktobear Fest—a too-cute celebration themed around teddy bears. She barely has a moment to agonize over the return of her former high school rival, Holly Parker, whose new toy and bookstore in town could spell big trouble for the Silver Bear Shop and her cousin’s small bookstore . . .

But when Sasha discovers Holly’s shop assistant dead with a knife plunged in her body, the unpleasant woman suddenly looks like a real backstabber. So does Sasha’s ex-husband, rumored to have rekindled the fiery extramarital affair he once had with the victim. Now, before a gruesome homicide case takes the fun out of both the Fest and her personal life, Sasha must identify the true culprit from a daunting suspect list—or risk becoming as lifeless as one of her stuffed bears . . .