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Stella Crown Mystery #1
Till the Cows Come Home
"She's smart. She's tough. She's sexy. She's a dairy farmer?"― Booklist Stella Crown works hard and loves her life. She runs her own Pennsylvania dairy farm with the trusted help of longtime farmhand Howie who stuck with her after her parents died. She rides her Harley on the weekends, and has just enough friends to suit her fiercely independent nature. But on her 29th birthday, things start to change. A local child dies from a strange and threatening illness, a string of mysterious disasters place Stella and her farm in peril, and her childhood friend Abe shows up with a new woman on his arm. It seems like bad luck run amok, but when her livestock begins turning up dead, Stella knows that something, or someone, is out to get her. Agatha and Anthony Award Nominee for Best First Novel
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
About the author
Judy Clemens
15 books80 followersJudy Clemens is the author of LEAVE TOMORROW BEHIND, the newest book in the Anthony and Agatha-nominated Stella Crown mysteries. She also writes the Grim Reaper mysteries, and wrote LOST SONS, which is a stand-alone.
She lives in the beautiful state of Ohio with her family.
She lives in the beautiful state of Ohio with her family.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
January 6, 2022
My Year of (Mostly) Mysterious Women continues with series fiction featuring women detectives. I’m avoiding police procedurals and standalone “women in peril'' thrillers to focus on ladies who are amateur sleuths. Till the Cows Come Home is my introduction to author Judy Clemens and her series featuring Stella Crown. Published in 2011, I abandoned this at the 20% mark (six chapters) and that was with healthy skimming. This breezy rural mystery is one of the ten worst books I've read since joining Goodreads in 2014. It's bad. Howlingly bad. Ready to give it a pass if an eighth grader wrote it bad.
Whenever I quit a book, I accept some responsibility for not properly vetting it. There is material that receives rave reviews that I am not the demographic for. With Till the Cows Come Home, I confirmed that this was not a cozy mystery and in fact, was regarded by some as a pig pen of human toil. The plot involves a young, single farmer in Pennsylvania named Stella Crown who begins to suspect that the illness which killed a neighbor was no accident and the death of some of her livestock is not natural either. She investigates. Could this be Smilla's Sense of Snow in a cornfield? It doesn't seem cozy to me.
I'm not going to make any cow shit jokes here but the writing in this novel is terrible. It's a first person account and Stella comes to the page very, very casual and commonplace. I get that she doesn't practice international law. She's introduced birthing a calf, but rather than thinking or speaking like a hard working woman who knows more about animal husbandry or weather than I ever will, Stella expresses herself like she was raised on daytime TV and can't turn away from The Maury Povich Show to articulate a thought that isn't expressed on television daily.
I heard the door of Howie's apartment close, and I watched as he descended his stairs. By the look on his face, he was still tickled at me. Oh well. Life would go on.
Without exchanging so much as a syllable, we climbed into my truck and drove the quarter mile to the Derstines' house. I parked to the side of the lane so I wouldn't block anybody, then paused to look at the small group on the porch.
"Ready?" I asked.
Howie grunted and opened the door.
The walk up the lane was too short, and I soon found myself giving Claire Derstine, Toby's mother, a hug. She held on for a long time, and I tried not to feel claustrophobic.
"I'm really sorry," I said when she let go.
There's a lot of wasted ink on the page, lots of repetition. Characters are incessantly thanking and apologizing. "Thanks" and "sorry" don't show up on every page, but enough to stand out. There are a lot of pleasantries or pedestrian dialogue that could easily be cut. Clemens might be trying to mimic a real conversation, maybe, but then hits my greatest raw nerve in fiction by having characters refer to each other by name, constantly, which sober human beings never do. "I didn't see where the cow went, Howie, did you?" "I sure didn't, Stella. Maybe Ma knows." Barf.
The title is awful. The main character's name doesn't fit her ("Stella Crown" lands pretty urban or even cosmopolitan on my ears, like Stella Du'Bois in A Streetcar Named Desire or Thomas Crown in The Thomas Crown Affair). And this surprised me, but I did not like the author conveying how vile the local land speculator is by joking that he only likes Republicans. Using a political party, any political party, to characterize someone is so lazy. There are ways to convey that your bad guy is a psychotic individualist with fascist sympathies without calling out their political party. It's poor marketing--alienating half your readers--but worse it's just bad writing.
While reading, as brief as it was, I imagined Mackenzie Davis playing Stella Crown. It'd be a long way down from Black Mirror: San Junipero, Halt and Catch Fire and Station Eleven to this material. I'd change everything in the book except the main character's occupation and the name of her dog, and maybe the fact that she rides a Harley Davidson.
Whenever I quit a book, I accept some responsibility for not properly vetting it. There is material that receives rave reviews that I am not the demographic for. With Till the Cows Come Home, I confirmed that this was not a cozy mystery and in fact, was regarded by some as a pig pen of human toil. The plot involves a young, single farmer in Pennsylvania named Stella Crown who begins to suspect that the illness which killed a neighbor was no accident and the death of some of her livestock is not natural either. She investigates. Could this be Smilla's Sense of Snow in a cornfield? It doesn't seem cozy to me.
I'm not going to make any cow shit jokes here but the writing in this novel is terrible. It's a first person account and Stella comes to the page very, very casual and commonplace. I get that she doesn't practice international law. She's introduced birthing a calf, but rather than thinking or speaking like a hard working woman who knows more about animal husbandry or weather than I ever will, Stella expresses herself like she was raised on daytime TV and can't turn away from The Maury Povich Show to articulate a thought that isn't expressed on television daily.
I heard the door of Howie's apartment close, and I watched as he descended his stairs. By the look on his face, he was still tickled at me. Oh well. Life would go on.
Without exchanging so much as a syllable, we climbed into my truck and drove the quarter mile to the Derstines' house. I parked to the side of the lane so I wouldn't block anybody, then paused to look at the small group on the porch.
"Ready?" I asked.
Howie grunted and opened the door.
The walk up the lane was too short, and I soon found myself giving Claire Derstine, Toby's mother, a hug. She held on for a long time, and I tried not to feel claustrophobic.
"I'm really sorry," I said when she let go.
There's a lot of wasted ink on the page, lots of repetition. Characters are incessantly thanking and apologizing. "Thanks" and "sorry" don't show up on every page, but enough to stand out. There are a lot of pleasantries or pedestrian dialogue that could easily be cut. Clemens might be trying to mimic a real conversation, maybe, but then hits my greatest raw nerve in fiction by having characters refer to each other by name, constantly, which sober human beings never do. "I didn't see where the cow went, Howie, did you?" "I sure didn't, Stella. Maybe Ma knows." Barf.
The title is awful. The main character's name doesn't fit her ("Stella Crown" lands pretty urban or even cosmopolitan on my ears, like Stella Du'Bois in A Streetcar Named Desire or Thomas Crown in The Thomas Crown Affair). And this surprised me, but I did not like the author conveying how vile the local land speculator is by joking that he only likes Republicans. Using a political party, any political party, to characterize someone is so lazy. There are ways to convey that your bad guy is a psychotic individualist with fascist sympathies without calling out their political party. It's poor marketing--alienating half your readers--but worse it's just bad writing.
While reading, as brief as it was, I imagined Mackenzie Davis playing Stella Crown. It'd be a long way down from Black Mirror: San Junipero, Halt and Catch Fire and Station Eleven to this material. I'd change everything in the book except the main character's occupation and the name of her dog, and maybe the fact that she rides a Harley Davidson.
February 13, 2014
Stella Crown has been running her family’s dairy farm, Royalcrest Farm in rural Pennsylvania, since her widowed mother died when Stella was just 16. Life has been hard, and Stella has just been keeping it together wth the help of Howie Archer, a longtime farmhand to the Crown family, when she suddenly gets hit with a rash of accidents within days of her 29th birthday — so many that she soon realizes they aren’t accidents. For years, the oily real-estate developer Hubert Purcell has been hounding Stella to sell out. Has he — or someone else — decided to take things a step further?
Judy Clemens paints a dismal picture of the unrelenting drudgery and financial difficulties besetting family farms in the 21st century. But Stella is so hardened, so judgmental and so dismissive of anyone who isn’t pretty much exactly like her that readers — particularly urban or urbane ones — will find her extremely unlikable. Stella saves all of her compassion for her cows — and her father figure, Howie.
You’d expect Stella to be tough and independent to the point of taciturnity after more than a decade of the responsibility and endless toil of farm life; however, Stella’s so prickly that it’s no wonder that her childhood friend, Abie Granger, turns to a city girl named Missy for love. Who wants to romance a cactus? You know something’s wrong when you find yourself rooting for Missy over Stella!
Clemens saves Till the Cows Come Home from its unlikeable protagonist by providing a compelling mystery. The novel also serves as a pretty good primer on the hardships and insecurity of modern farm life. But, overall, the title’s much better than the novel, despite its being nominated for the Agatha Award for best new novel. Still, I’m intrigued enough to be willing to download the next novel in the series, Three Can Keep a Secret, from the library for another try.
Judy Clemens paints a dismal picture of the unrelenting drudgery and financial difficulties besetting family farms in the 21st century. But Stella is so hardened, so judgmental and so dismissive of anyone who isn’t pretty much exactly like her that readers — particularly urban or urbane ones — will find her extremely unlikable. Stella saves all of her compassion for her cows — and her father figure, Howie.
You’d expect Stella to be tough and independent to the point of taciturnity after more than a decade of the responsibility and endless toil of farm life; however, Stella’s so prickly that it’s no wonder that her childhood friend, Abie Granger, turns to a city girl named Missy for love. Who wants to romance a cactus? You know something’s wrong when you find yourself rooting for Missy over Stella!
Clemens saves Till the Cows Come Home from its unlikeable protagonist by providing a compelling mystery. The novel also serves as a pretty good primer on the hardships and insecurity of modern farm life. But, overall, the title’s much better than the novel, despite its being nominated for the Agatha Award for best new novel. Still, I’m intrigued enough to be willing to download the next novel in the series, Three Can Keep a Secret, from the library for another try.
February 14, 2012
Although I read it quickly, this book was exhausting! I can't believe how much turmoil this author throws at her protagonist...and keeps throwing at her. This poor woman keeps going through more...and more...and more...crap! Both literally and figuratively! Haha, I don't believe I've ever read a book where the author was more mean to her main character. Job has nothing on Stella Crown! An impressively strong female lead is always a pleasure to encounter.
June 27, 2012
Let's face it, when you misspell a word in the title, you are not off to a good start.
Read
October 5, 2009Started but didn't finish. More than I wanted to know about dairy farming.
April 23, 2012
Fun book so far!
October 30, 2016
Till the Cows Come Home by Judy Clemens is the first book of the Stella Crown mystery series set in contemporary Pennsylvania. Stella is a dairy farmer and a tattooed Harley-Davidson enthusiast. With the help of long-time family friend Howie, she owns and operates the farm her parents established. She works very hard, but loves her life. That is, except when a greedy land developer comes to call, and tries to buy her out. As a mysterious illness sickens and kills children in her small town, Stella is hit with a series of crises on her farm. The crises are not accidents - someone is trying to ruin her business. But the local police detective is distracted by his son's critical illness. Stella must pursue the clues on her own, relying on her friends in the tight-knit community. Meanwhile she's distracted by jealousy over a long-term almost-boyfriend, and tempted by a sexy stranger in town. Howie investigates on his own, but never gets a chance to reveal his findings to Stella. She finds a tie-in between the illness and the attacks on her farm, and tries to end the crimes herself. Stella is a strong protagonist in a daunting struggle to survive and keep her farm.
December 9, 2017
Stella Crown became sole owner of her dairy farm when her widowed mother died when Stella was sixteen. Thanks to the hired hand, Howie, she has managed to keep the farm going. As she comes up to her twenty-ninth birthday, however, everything seems to be going wrong--one accident after another, including the unlikely death of a newborn calf. Stella suspects these can't be all accidents, and Howie seems to agree. In addition, something is sickening children in the area, and no one seems to know what the cause is. When a boy dies, the entire community is terrified.
The reader learns just about all there is to know about running a small dairy and managing a farm. Alongside this Stella has a Harley, which she babies and rides to release tension and because she loves to ride.
The mystery is a good one, but the detection--other than jumping to conclusions--doesn't begin until half way through. After that, things move swiftly, and Stella faces one attack after another. The solution to the crimes against Stella and against the children is complex but satisfying, though I wondered if everything needed to be in one mystery.
The reader learns just about all there is to know about running a small dairy and managing a farm. Alongside this Stella has a Harley, which she babies and rides to release tension and because she loves to ride.
The mystery is a good one, but the detection--other than jumping to conclusions--doesn't begin until half way through. After that, things move swiftly, and Stella faces one attack after another. The solution to the crimes against Stella and against the children is complex but satisfying, though I wondered if everything needed to be in one mystery.
May 19, 2017
Stella Crown a.k.a. Job
The main character, Stella,is hit from the left then the right then the back then the front - over and over! It was so intense I had to read the book in small chunks and give myself time to breathe.
Besides a great plot, characters were well developed and believable. Everything is about dairy farming but you don't need a ton of background knowledge on the topic to understand the situation. This was book 1 of the Stella Crown series. After all that was endured, I can't imagine what the author can come up with for the rest of the series. I gave the book 5/5 stars, however now as I reflect on it, 4.5 or even just 4 stars would be truer. Nobody could realistically have so many things go wrong in such a short time - unless she is a modern day Job.
The main character, Stella,is hit from the left then the right then the back then the front - over and over! It was so intense I had to read the book in small chunks and give myself time to breathe.
Besides a great plot, characters were well developed and believable. Everything is about dairy farming but you don't need a ton of background knowledge on the topic to understand the situation. This was book 1 of the Stella Crown series. After all that was endured, I can't imagine what the author can come up with for the rest of the series. I gave the book 5/5 stars, however now as I reflect on it, 4.5 or even just 4 stars would be truer. Nobody could realistically have so many things go wrong in such a short time - unless she is a modern day Job.
July 30, 2018
This is going to be a fun mystery series, for sure! What's there not to like about the combination of a gutsy, attractive, independent, motorcycle-riding, dairy farmer!!!
Stella has inherited the farm she's was born & raise on after her parents died. A trusty farm hand/friend of the family helps with the heavy work load required of a dairy farmer.
The plot revolves around a strange illness affecting children in Stella's community, then land grabbers that are eager to turn the farms into multi McMansions, and bad luck further when love interests and jealousy run amok.
BTW--I did learn a lot about dairy farming, milking and calving, etc.
Wonder what the next in the series will bring?
Stella has inherited the farm she's was born & raise on after her parents died. A trusty farm hand/friend of the family helps with the heavy work load required of a dairy farmer.
The plot revolves around a strange illness affecting children in Stella's community, then land grabbers that are eager to turn the farms into multi McMansions, and bad luck further when love interests and jealousy run amok.
BTW--I did learn a lot about dairy farming, milking and calving, etc.
Wonder what the next in the series will bring?
June 14, 2017
Likable characters
I learned a lot about running a dairy farm, about the hard day in day out work it takes. I liked the book's characters (except the bad guys, of course). This was a good read, not great or unforgettable, but good. I would read the next installment in the series in a NY minute.
I learned a lot about running a dairy farm, about the hard day in day out work it takes. I liked the book's characters (except the bad guys, of course). This was a good read, not great or unforgettable, but good. I would read the next installment in the series in a NY minute.
November 27, 2018
I really, really enjoyed this. Stella isn't like any heroine I've ever known... especially one that knows cows! And Ma Granger is a trip! Her and her whole family! What a pleasant mystery this is and wow at the end! Great writing, Judy! Well done!
January 24, 2015
Those were the longest three days of my life with Stella down on the farm. It can almost quell any romantic notion I have of farming, well at least dairy farming. This was a fast paced book that had me right there. Stella is a new feisty, never say die heroine. She has just enough attitude to keep most people from messing with her.
Stella's 29th birthday should be a piece of cake, but instead things start going wrong one right after another on and around her farm. A bull calf is born with the help of the vet, Carla. Stella gives it to the eager youngster that helps her trusted hand, Howie. The manure lagoon sprouts a few leaks, a cow dies out in the field, power outages, flooding, and even more sinister deeds befall Stella all in a matter of days. She forges ahead under the bleakest of circumstances despite the amount of muck and mire she has to wade through.
When a handsome barn painter comes calling, Stella can't resist the small reward of a little eye candy around the farm and hires him even though her common sense, Howie and her finances tell her it's not a good idea.
This was an excellent novel that never missed a beat. Non-stop action and an ending to leave a lump in your throat. That Stella is one tough cookie...but no milk please! I'm looking forward to going to get Clements next.
Stella's 29th birthday should be a piece of cake, but instead things start going wrong one right after another on and around her farm. A bull calf is born with the help of the vet, Carla. Stella gives it to the eager youngster that helps her trusted hand, Howie. The manure lagoon sprouts a few leaks, a cow dies out in the field, power outages, flooding, and even more sinister deeds befall Stella all in a matter of days. She forges ahead under the bleakest of circumstances despite the amount of muck and mire she has to wade through.
When a handsome barn painter comes calling, Stella can't resist the small reward of a little eye candy around the farm and hires him even though her common sense, Howie and her finances tell her it's not a good idea.
This was an excellent novel that never missed a beat. Non-stop action and an ending to leave a lump in your throat. That Stella is one tough cookie...but no milk please! I'm looking forward to going to get Clements next.
October 23, 2012
Judy Clemens is relatively new on the author scene, readers of her mysteries will find a fun and refreshing writing and a real life involvement in the daily life of a Pennsylvnia farm owner who is also a person who takes her entire community into her concern so becomes involved in the various crimes that staqrt to occur. It is also interesting that as you read through her novels you will see there are age and surrounding changes in all. Our prime character by the way is lady who rides a Harley. For most fun read her books in order so you can totally enjoy the gradual changes that occur.Our heroine's name is Stella Crown who lives on and works her inherited farm, to help run the farm she has a long time worker named Howie. Suddenly people start dying from a strange illness, uncalled for accidents begin happening to her and others in the area. When her livestock begin dying Stella knows someone is out to get her.
It's a complicated plot that seems to get more complicated as Stella starts to unravel it. These books are fun reads, they are easy and quick to read and plain fun to get involved in. Read them, you'll be glad you did.
It's a complicated plot that seems to get more complicated as Stella starts to unravel it. These books are fun reads, they are easy and quick to read and plain fun to get involved in. Read them, you'll be glad you did.
August 27, 2007
TILL THE COWS COME HOME (Amateur Sleuth-Pennsylvania-Cont) – G
Clemens, Judy – 1st book
Poisoned Pen Press, 2004-Hardcover
Stella Crown, with her farmhand Howie, has been running the family dairy farm since her parents died. At the best of times, it's very hard work. But it just became harder with a rash of accidents, or are they, happening on the farm. At the same time, children in the town are becoming very sick, and two have died, but no one knows why. Are the two things coincidences?
*** Clemens has created a fully dimensional, very believable character in Stella and surrounded her with an excellent supporting cast. She paints a realistic picture of farm life and has structured a solid mystery around it. My only hesitation is that, to me, it seems a bit too structured and a bit predictable. But the overall result is a good, solid, enjoyable first book.
Clemens, Judy – 1st book
Poisoned Pen Press, 2004-Hardcover
Stella Crown, with her farmhand Howie, has been running the family dairy farm since her parents died. At the best of times, it's very hard work. But it just became harder with a rash of accidents, or are they, happening on the farm. At the same time, children in the town are becoming very sick, and two have died, but no one knows why. Are the two things coincidences?
*** Clemens has created a fully dimensional, very believable character in Stella and surrounded her with an excellent supporting cast. She paints a realistic picture of farm life and has structured a solid mystery around it. My only hesitation is that, to me, it seems a bit too structured and a bit predictable. But the overall result is a good, solid, enjoyable first book.
January 19, 2014
Stella Crown runs a dairy farm, but finds that times are tough and getting tougher. Developers want to buy her out, but she won't sell. Then someone seems to be sabotaging her farm, killing her cows, vandalizing her property, making life miserable in general.
In addition to that, there seems to be some kind of virulent flu outbreak in the small county. Children are sick and dying.
Then bad goes to worse when murder happens.
I really love the writing and the characters. The only reason I didn't give this book a five was the outlandish ending that was too farfetched to believe.
Still, I've gotten all the other books in the series and plan to have a little Stella Crown marathon this week.
In addition to that, there seems to be some kind of virulent flu outbreak in the small county. Children are sick and dying.
Then bad goes to worse when murder happens.
I really love the writing and the characters. The only reason I didn't give this book a five was the outlandish ending that was too farfetched to believe.
Still, I've gotten all the other books in the series and plan to have a little Stella Crown marathon this week.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 17, 2012
Not sure what I expected from this series, after reading two from the Grim Reaper series by this author. Grim Reaper series is a bit grimmer. This one is pretty gritty - certainly not a cozy mystery. I especially like a heroine who does go off impulsively and foolishly to confront suspects or just further the investigation. Stella is smart, resourceful and not a fool. What a relief and a joy. The mystery is fairly complicated as well and not at all obvious (at least not to me). Learned more about running a dairy farm than I wanted, but it still was enjoyable.
August 24, 2008
This was a tough book to rate. I read it in basically two sittings in one day because it was difficult to put down, but there were certain things that happened that were rather gut-wrenching to the point that I really wanted to stop reading, but still couldn't. Also, much of the ending I guessed early on, but it was still mostly satisfying. I'm going out looking for the next in the series now, so I guess that overall means I really liked it.
February 26, 2011
I started this book before Christmas and it is not reflection of the quality but rather the fact that I got absorbed into too many books at one time and this one sat by the bed for several weeks with no attention. I found the story line to be dynamic and the characters to be sympathetic and intriguing. The twist at the end was well written and I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.
Wish Good Reads allowed for half stars...this would have been a three and a half.
Wish Good Reads allowed for half stars...this would have been a three and a half.
February 24, 2011
I enjoyed this mystery and will read more by this author, but I didn't give it more stars because although it was good, it wasn't all that much of a stand-out in the crowed mystery genre. Still if you're looking for a fairly quick little mystery and you'd like to learn about dairy farming or motorcycles, its a good read.
August 10, 2011
Since I love the Grim Reaper series, I thought I would try some of her earlier stuff. It was suspenseful, with a strong "different" kind of female lead. She has a cattle tattoo on the back of her neck, with the long horns extending along the sides of her neck to the front. Pretty cool for a dairy farmer!
February 9, 2012
Since my grandfather was a farmer and I'm a bit into mud myself (gardening), how could I not like a book about a beleaguered female dairy farmer? She even has tattoos and fixes her own Harley. Loved that it wasn't a formulaic whodunit. Loved that lots happened and that I was introduced to a new background.
October 7, 2012
Loved the Grim Reaper series, so thought I'd give this series a try. I know nothing about farming or cows, but that didn't matter. The characters are different and the writing makes you feel like you know these people. I seldom go back to read older titles (no time!) but I will continue with this series.
November 7, 2008
Enjoyable series - new to me, but six or so books strong - Clemen's Stella Crown is a dairy farmer turned detective when her farm starts experiencing sabotage.
Nice example of the genre and a good rec for those looking for a new cozy series.
Nice example of the genre and a good rec for those looking for a new cozy series.
April 24, 2010
You have to be able to deal with a lot of farm/dairy info to enjoy this book, but I found it interesting as summer vacations used to be spent on my grandmother's farm in SD. Convincing main character and good plot.
September 22, 2012
I really liked this mystery. It touches on important questions for all of us re the future of farming and farmers. It's also very well written, with a light and sensitive touch, sometimes sad and sometimes fun. I really enjoyed it and I look forward to reading the next volume.
December 26, 2012
This is a fast paced mystery with so many twists and turns you won't want to put the book down. The characters are wonderfully woven into the story and you may find a tear in your eye from time to time. I look forward to reading the rest of the books in this series by Ms Clemens.
January 18, 2013
This is a fun story with a little mystery, I enjoyed the agricultural references and the characters were well developed.
To sum this up, it was a fast paced mystery with so many twists and turns , I didn't want it to end.
I highly recommend it to everyone........
To sum this up, it was a fast paced mystery with so many twists and turns , I didn't want it to end.
I highly recommend it to everyone........
January 27, 2016
The Stella Crown books have a great main character. She rides a Harley, runs a dairy farm, and has a tattoo on her neck. The story is definitely not run-of-the-mill. A sleeper of a read, won't be picked up by enough people so I'm recommending it here.
February 18, 2007
First of the Stella Crown mysteries. Set on a Pennsylvania Dairy Farm. I loved this easy to read mystery!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews