What do you think?
Rate this book
Nell Forrest #3
Forbidden Fruit
This time it's personal ...
The last thing Nell Forrest expected when she tried to plant a tree was to unearth the skeletal remains of a former resident. Now her new backyard is swarming with police, there's a television news crew camped next door, and once again she is smack in the middle of a murder investigation. And the timing is dreadful. Two of Nell's daughters are about to give birth and she is surrounded by new in-laws with agendas of their own.
But it soon becomes clear that this time the investigation is personal – so personal that enquiries bring her long-estranged father back into the family fold, and the answers shed some very uncomfortable light about the proclivities of her parents when they were young. Who would have thought that the little country town of Majic had ever been such a swinging place to live?
The last thing Nell Forrest expected when she tried to plant a tree was to unearth the skeletal remains of a former resident. Now her new backyard is swarming with police, there's a television news crew camped next door, and once again she is smack in the middle of a murder investigation. And the timing is dreadful. Two of Nell's daughters are about to give birth and she is surrounded by new in-laws with agendas of their own.
But it soon becomes clear that this time the investigation is personal – so personal that enquiries bring her long-estranged father back into the family fold, and the answers shed some very uncomfortable light about the proclivities of her parents when they were young. Who would have thought that the little country town of Majic had ever been such a swinging place to live?
298 pages, ebook
First published October 9, 2014
55 people want to read
About the author
Ilsa Evans
16 books64 followersIlsa Evans is an Australian author. She has written across several genres from light fiction (such as the books that make up the 'laundry series') to more gritty social realism. Two of her books, Broken and Sticks and Stones stem from the findings of a PhD on the long-term effects of family violence that Ilsa completed in 2005. Ilsa teaches creative writing and carries out public speaking when she is not writing. She lives in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne with her children, assorted pets and several uninvited possums.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
January 9, 2018
Planting an apple tree in the backyard of her new home had felt simple to Nell Forrest – but the unearthing of a skull – which she’d initially thought was an animal – was not on the agenda. With her backyard off-limits to Nell and her family, and filled with police and forensics, Nell decided to do some investigating on the side. After all, her family had owned the butcher shop a lot of years previously; she needed to straighten things out as quickly as possible…
With two of Nell’s daughters heavily pregnant, and her youngest, Quinn, in high school, Nell had a lot on her plate. Five daughters in total, an ex-husband, sister Petra and of course her mother Yen – plus the column Nell wrote on a regular basis. But she was determined to find answers. It was when her father, who’d left them when she was only small, arrived back in town from the UK, that things became interesting. What was the answer? Would they work out the identity of the skeleton in Nell’s backyard?
Forbidden Fruit by Aussie author Ilsa Evans is the 3rd in the Nell Forrest series, and just as fast-paced and well-written as the first two. An excellent cosy mystery, filled with laugh out loud moments, the series is thoroughly enjoyable. Set in the fictional town of Majic, an hour and a half north of Ballarat in Victoria, the countryside and surrounding bushland is easy to visualise. I have no hesitation in recommending Forbidden Fruit, and I’m already looking forward to the next.
With two of Nell’s daughters heavily pregnant, and her youngest, Quinn, in high school, Nell had a lot on her plate. Five daughters in total, an ex-husband, sister Petra and of course her mother Yen – plus the column Nell wrote on a regular basis. But she was determined to find answers. It was when her father, who’d left them when she was only small, arrived back in town from the UK, that things became interesting. What was the answer? Would they work out the identity of the skeleton in Nell’s backyard?
Forbidden Fruit by Aussie author Ilsa Evans is the 3rd in the Nell Forrest series, and just as fast-paced and well-written as the first two. An excellent cosy mystery, filled with laugh out loud moments, the series is thoroughly enjoyable. Set in the fictional town of Majic, an hour and a half north of Ballarat in Victoria, the countryside and surrounding bushland is easy to visualise. I have no hesitation in recommending Forbidden Fruit, and I’m already looking forward to the next.
June 9, 2016
I hadn’t even got to the end of the first sentence before I know that Nell had another murder mystery on her hands – or in this case the back garden of her new home. Mind you it took Nell a couple more pages to come to the same realisation. FORBIDDEN FRUIT is the third in a series of cosy mysteries set in a small fictional country town a few hours out of Melbourne in Australia. I have read both of the previous books in this series Nefarious Doings and Ill-Gotten Gains and I can guarantee they are fabulous.
Nell has this habit of getting involved with murder investigations, then feeling compelled to investigate them herself as she is sure the police aren’t doing their job properly. In the first book a body is found at her mother’s house, in the second she finds the victim after being the last to talk to him and in this one she digs the victim up while planting an apple tree. Nell is a wonderful character who has the best of intentions but keeps getting into trouble. Her relationship with her quirky family is the centre of the story and the murder investigation is built on that. In FORBIDDEN FRUIT Nell not only has to deal with what all mothers dread – the fact that some of her innocent daughters have a sex life, evidenced by the fact that two of them are very pregnant and about to give birth any day. But she also has to deal with the fact that her parents also had sex – and were actually swingers in their day – dabbled in wife swapping – with many other members of the town, Nell is not able to look some of the elderly ladies in the eye again!!! Yep it certainly made inviting the neighbours over for a BBQ very interesting; even more so when the murder victim is identified as one of the other swingers and Nell’s father is the main suspect! Along with trying to be a good mother and exonerate her father, Nell has to deal with the wacky in-laws of her two pregnant daughters; her own eccentric mother and sister; an ex-husband who wants to be friends and show off his new baby, and an absent lover who wants commitment. Majic is a very typical country community which I could really relate to because I recognised many local characters that can be found in country towns across Australia. The sort of place where you can sneeze in the morning and the whole place has you dead and buried by lunch time – because everyone knows everyone else’s business – and what they don’t know they make up. FORBIDDEN FRUIT has humour, suspense, danger and lots of potential murderers and red herrings. I really like the time I spend in Majic and hope there will be more stories further down the track.
With thanks to Momentum Books and the author via Netgalley for my copy to read and review.
Nell has this habit of getting involved with murder investigations, then feeling compelled to investigate them herself as she is sure the police aren’t doing their job properly. In the first book a body is found at her mother’s house, in the second she finds the victim after being the last to talk to him and in this one she digs the victim up while planting an apple tree. Nell is a wonderful character who has the best of intentions but keeps getting into trouble. Her relationship with her quirky family is the centre of the story and the murder investigation is built on that. In FORBIDDEN FRUIT Nell not only has to deal with what all mothers dread – the fact that some of her innocent daughters have a sex life, evidenced by the fact that two of them are very pregnant and about to give birth any day. But she also has to deal with the fact that her parents also had sex – and were actually swingers in their day – dabbled in wife swapping – with many other members of the town, Nell is not able to look some of the elderly ladies in the eye again!!! Yep it certainly made inviting the neighbours over for a BBQ very interesting; even more so when the murder victim is identified as one of the other swingers and Nell’s father is the main suspect! Along with trying to be a good mother and exonerate her father, Nell has to deal with the wacky in-laws of her two pregnant daughters; her own eccentric mother and sister; an ex-husband who wants to be friends and show off his new baby, and an absent lover who wants commitment. Majic is a very typical country community which I could really relate to because I recognised many local characters that can be found in country towns across Australia. The sort of place where you can sneeze in the morning and the whole place has you dead and buried by lunch time – because everyone knows everyone else’s business – and what they don’t know they make up. FORBIDDEN FRUIT has humour, suspense, danger and lots of potential murderers and red herrings. I really like the time I spend in Majic and hope there will be more stories further down the track.
With thanks to Momentum Books and the author via Netgalley for my copy to read and review.
February 25, 2020
Didn't love it, didn't hate it.
An easy read that was entertaining but lots of plot holes and wayyyy too many details about insignificant people that complicated or fluffed out the story.
ohh and ps.. ive never seen anyone ever so relaxed about dead bodies in their back yards or bed rooms ! I imagine most people would be selling up or packing up and running for the hills at the first body let alone the second..but hardly a mention here let alone any need for trauma counselling … ?
An easy read that was entertaining but lots of plot holes and wayyyy too many details about insignificant people that complicated or fluffed out the story.
ohh and ps.. ive never seen anyone ever so relaxed about dead bodies in their back yards or bed rooms ! I imagine most people would be selling up or packing up and running for the hills at the first body let alone the second..but hardly a mention here let alone any need for trauma counselling … ?
February 19, 2020
Oh dear.....this book was fairly ordinary. Full of cliches, vaguely and overtly obnoxious characters and cringeworthy one liners like, ‘Did you forget to take your human pill this morning?’ The story bordered on silly for the most part, complete with a really obvious conclusion to the whodunnit.
I won’t be reading another from this author.
I won’t be reading another from this author.
November 4, 2014
Forbidden Fruit is the third fabulously entertaining book in Ilsa Evans' cozy mystery series set in the small fictional Australian town of Majic, featuring the middle aged accidental sleuth, Nell Forrest.
Forbidden Fruit picks up not long after Ill-Gotten Gains left off. Nell has moved into her newly purchased and renovated home, once the storefront for her absentee father's butcher shop, and is digging a hole to plant an apple tree in her backyard when she uncovers human remains. The body is eventually identified as a young wife and mother who once lived in the adjoining premises and disappeared in the early 1970's. The police suspect Nell's father murdered her, prompting his return from England where he has been living for over thirty years, but Nell is convinced they have it wrong and sets out to prove his innocence.
Nell has her hands full in Forbidden Fruit what with two of her five daughters about to give birth, new in-law's-to-be to entertain, her part time lover, Detective Ashley Armistead, demanding a commitment, and her ex husband parading his newborn daughter around town, yet she can't help but get involved in the investigation when her father is charged with murder. Aided by her sister, Petra, and with clues provided by the gossipy residents of Majic (including Grace June Rae - the character I won naming rights to), Nell uncovers some disturbing secrets about the early years of her parents marriage, and unmasks a killer.
The mystery is well plotted with a trail of red herrings and surprising twists. It was well over halfway before I figured out the identity of the real killer, though not their motivation until the final scenes.
I have loved the humour in this series, from the 'fan' letters (Nell writes a syndicated newspaper column called Middle Aged Spread) that preface each chapter, to the exasperated snark Nell mumbles under her breath. The barely restrained chaos of Nell's family life is a real feature in all three books, as is the eccentricity of the residents of Majic.
Forbidden Fruit, like the entire series, is a delightful blend of mystery, humour and domestic drama. Sadly this will be the final installment in the Nell Forrest Mystery series unless Nell finds a stronger audience. I implore readers whose interest is piqued to purchase a copy from your favourite ebook retailer.
* As of Nov 2014 the first book, Nefarious Doings is free to download from Amazon and both books 2 and 3 are just a few dollars
February 11, 2020
I just love this series - the perfect combination of extremely funny, a satisfyingly complicated mystery, and some dark and serious moments as well.
February 14, 2020
Book club selection so I hadn't read any in the series or anything by this author before. It started off light and an easy read, but I found it became a bit silly so it didn't keep me interested
November 5, 2014
It will not come as any surprise to readers of the Nell Forrest series that she's found another body. In a small town like Majic there's an astonishingly high murder rate, even though this unfortunate victim seems to have been in Forrest's backyard for a very long time. About the time that her estranged father disappeared in fact – make of that coincidence what you will. Goodness knows Forrest's going to.
If there is such a thing as a preferable time to find a skeleton buried in your backyard, now is definitely not it for Forrest. She's finally moved into her new home (she's redone the butcher shop that had been her father's); she's also dealing with her ex-husband's return to town, along with new partner and baby daughter. Two of her own daughter's are about to give birth – one with a difficult decision which seems made from the outset and her own new relationship appears to be teetering somewhere a little too close to rocks.
So situation normal as far as Nell Forrest and the town of Majic are concerned.
Needless to say there's a level of lunacy about these stories which may (or may not) connect with the reader. Somehow, for this reader, the lunacy works. Perhaps it's because of Forrest's level of self-awareness. She's really under no illusions that her life is normal, that what happens around her is par for the course, and that she's in anyway even slightly in control most of the time. Once in a while she might draw breath and have a red hot go at a bit of order in the chaos but it just never seems to last. In this outing, there's also the added poignancy of the return of her father who deserted the family when Nell and her sister were very small.
His return to the fold is complicated by the discovery of the body with it's connections in time to him; with the ups and downs of Nell's daughter's lives; and with some startling revelations about the past in Majic. The discovery that not only did your parents have a sex life (which we all know we'd often prefer to deny) but that the sex life might have been a bit more risky than anybody ever wants to hear about a parent is a surprising development. Even when it goes a bit of the way to explain some of the complications of her own mother's love life.
All of this topped up by a street renaming that has everyone laughing about Nell Forrest Close being a warning, and a lot of amateur sleuthing along with a very personal threat and there's quite a lot to FORBIDDEN FRUIT.
Delivered as always with a lighter touch, and a keen eye for life in Australian country towns FORBIDDEN FRUIT is number 3 in a series on the cozier, light-hearted, slightly madcap and extremely humorous side. Definitely one that fans of that style of crime fiction should be clamouring to read, and most definitely something that Australian readers should be seeking out.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/revie...
If there is such a thing as a preferable time to find a skeleton buried in your backyard, now is definitely not it for Forrest. She's finally moved into her new home (she's redone the butcher shop that had been her father's); she's also dealing with her ex-husband's return to town, along with new partner and baby daughter. Two of her own daughter's are about to give birth – one with a difficult decision which seems made from the outset and her own new relationship appears to be teetering somewhere a little too close to rocks.
So situation normal as far as Nell Forrest and the town of Majic are concerned.
Needless to say there's a level of lunacy about these stories which may (or may not) connect with the reader. Somehow, for this reader, the lunacy works. Perhaps it's because of Forrest's level of self-awareness. She's really under no illusions that her life is normal, that what happens around her is par for the course, and that she's in anyway even slightly in control most of the time. Once in a while she might draw breath and have a red hot go at a bit of order in the chaos but it just never seems to last. In this outing, there's also the added poignancy of the return of her father who deserted the family when Nell and her sister were very small.
His return to the fold is complicated by the discovery of the body with it's connections in time to him; with the ups and downs of Nell's daughter's lives; and with some startling revelations about the past in Majic. The discovery that not only did your parents have a sex life (which we all know we'd often prefer to deny) but that the sex life might have been a bit more risky than anybody ever wants to hear about a parent is a surprising development. Even when it goes a bit of the way to explain some of the complications of her own mother's love life.
All of this topped up by a street renaming that has everyone laughing about Nell Forrest Close being a warning, and a lot of amateur sleuthing along with a very personal threat and there's quite a lot to FORBIDDEN FRUIT.
Delivered as always with a lighter touch, and a keen eye for life in Australian country towns FORBIDDEN FRUIT is number 3 in a series on the cozier, light-hearted, slightly madcap and extremely humorous side. Definitely one that fans of that style of crime fiction should be clamouring to read, and most definitely something that Australian readers should be seeking out.
http://www.austcrimefiction.org/revie...
November 11, 2014
Full review at http://thebookshelfgargoyle.wordpress... (Nov 19)
I received a digital copy of this title from the publisher via Netgalley.
Ten Second Synopsis:
Nell uncovers a skeleton in her new backyard. You'd think that would be the worst of her problems, but in light of other recent events, it's really not that high on the problem list.
I found this to be a fun, funny, engaging and complex mystery and I am now very motivated to collect the first two books in Nell’s adventures and begin again at the beginning. I didn’t have too much difficulty starting with book number three in getting to know the characters, although there is a reasonable amount of back story that I felt I was missing in terms of Nell’s family and marriage that I suspect had been dealt with in the previous novels. I did manage to pick up enough snippets and connect the dots well enough to be going on with and it didn’t disrupt my enjoyment of the story too much however.
There’s a lot going on in the story, aside from just the murder-mystery part and these extra bits just add to the fun and muddy the waters slightly in terms of discovering who the murderer might have been. The beginning of each chapter begins with a short snippet that I assume is meant to reflect the letters that Nell receives as a columnist for middle-aged ladies and the majority of these I found hilarious.
The mystery element of the book is complex enough that I feel it would be hard to pick the murderer/s too early on in the proceedings. I did have a hunch reasonably early on that turned out to be correct in a sense, but the ending is so surprisingly action-packed that there is very little chance that any reader could have seen it coming.
I can certainly recommend Forbidden Fruit as a great pick for a down-time read.
I received a digital copy of this title from the publisher via Netgalley.
Ten Second Synopsis:
Nell uncovers a skeleton in her new backyard. You'd think that would be the worst of her problems, but in light of other recent events, it's really not that high on the problem list.
I found this to be a fun, funny, engaging and complex mystery and I am now very motivated to collect the first two books in Nell’s adventures and begin again at the beginning. I didn’t have too much difficulty starting with book number three in getting to know the characters, although there is a reasonable amount of back story that I felt I was missing in terms of Nell’s family and marriage that I suspect had been dealt with in the previous novels. I did manage to pick up enough snippets and connect the dots well enough to be going on with and it didn’t disrupt my enjoyment of the story too much however.
There’s a lot going on in the story, aside from just the murder-mystery part and these extra bits just add to the fun and muddy the waters slightly in terms of discovering who the murderer might have been. The beginning of each chapter begins with a short snippet that I assume is meant to reflect the letters that Nell receives as a columnist for middle-aged ladies and the majority of these I found hilarious.
The mystery element of the book is complex enough that I feel it would be hard to pick the murderer/s too early on in the proceedings. I did have a hunch reasonably early on that turned out to be correct in a sense, but the ending is so surprisingly action-packed that there is very little chance that any reader could have seen it coming.
I can certainly recommend Forbidden Fruit as a great pick for a down-time read.
December 23, 2014
Forbidden Fruit, the third book in the Nell Forrest Series by Ilsa Evans, is once again a very entertaining and engaging cozy murder mystery set in the town of Majic in Melbourne. This time around Nell once again is embroiled in solving a murder involving her backyard, a woman from the 1970's, her parents and *gasp* swinging of the unmentionable variety. This while in the midst of trying to juggle two pregnant daughters due at almost the same time, the return of her father after 40 years, a friends with benefits who wants to have a more committed relationship and a street that is now bearing her name. Ilsa Evans has penned a wonderful character in Nell as well as her menagerie of secondary characters in a town so different from what one would probably call ordinary but yet strikes a chord of familiarity in the reader as well. This book will have everything thrown at you but amazingly enough you really won't get lost in the mayhem and still will take awhile trying to guess whodunit! Excellent read and looking forward to the next one.
*ARC provided in return for an honest review*
*ARC provided in return for an honest review*
October 17, 2014
I got a free copy of this book from Netgalley. It's the third in a series set in a small town in Australia. I don't imagine I would have bought it if I had seen it in a bookstore -- the cover and title are a bit uninspired. But I enjoyed Forbidden Fruit far more than I expected to. It definitely fits the "cosy mystery" genre in a good way. Evans' detective, Nell, is a great character surrounded by a somewhat eccentric and interesting family -- especially her five daughters (two of them pregnant) and her mother. The mystery itself was interesting enough, but it's really Nell's common sense -- yet funny --character that pulls the book together and made me want to keep reading. Nell's lightheartedness and humour reminded me a bit of Janet Enanovich's Stephanie Plum, but I think I enjoyed Nell more. I have already found and bought the first two books in the series, and look forward to reading them. I expect they too will be good quick reads for times when I am in the mood for something lighter.
October 22, 2014
I received this ARC from Net Galley in exchange for an unbiased review.
A smart, funny mystery with a memorable narrator. There were lots of things going on in this book, and the author balanced them all beautifully. The mystery was engaging and I have to admit I didn't know who the murderer was until the narrator did -- something that doesn't happen often. I really, really enjoyed how funny this book was and, though I haven't read the other books in this series, I will certainly seek them out and recommend them to my friends who love a good cozy or those who just know a little about "middle age spread." I am also pretty happy with the depiction of small town life and the way everyone lives on top of each other and keeps judgy, mental tabs on each other. -- spot on! Watch out for the book club meetings in this one -- I can totally see my grandmother adjusting her wardrobe just like one of the attendees, and it had me snorting with laughter.
A smart, funny mystery with a memorable narrator. There were lots of things going on in this book, and the author balanced them all beautifully. The mystery was engaging and I have to admit I didn't know who the murderer was until the narrator did -- something that doesn't happen often. I really, really enjoyed how funny this book was and, though I haven't read the other books in this series, I will certainly seek them out and recommend them to my friends who love a good cozy or those who just know a little about "middle age spread." I am also pretty happy with the depiction of small town life and the way everyone lives on top of each other and keeps judgy, mental tabs on each other. -- spot on! Watch out for the book club meetings in this one -- I can totally see my grandmother adjusting her wardrobe just like one of the attendees, and it had me snorting with laughter.
May 19, 2015
This was the final and my favourite of the three books in the Nell Forrest Mystery series. I love the way this author writes. The characters, dialogue and relationships are so realistic that you would believe it to be someone telling the story of their life (perhaps without so many dead bodies showing up). Once more, I still didn't know what had really happened 40 odd years before until it all unfolded at the very end.
Wonderful humour throughout. Nell is an awesome character to build the series around. Her responses and opinions were very relatable and I just wish she were a real person because I think we would enjoy each other's company immensely.
I hope there will be a 4th installment of the series at some stage, because Nell has really just started a new chapter in her life. There is so much going on...
Wonderful humour throughout. Nell is an awesome character to build the series around. Her responses and opinions were very relatable and I just wish she were a real person because I think we would enjoy each other's company immensely.
I hope there will be a 4th installment of the series at some stage, because Nell has really just started a new chapter in her life. There is so much going on...
January 5, 2015
I've managed to read all three Nell Forrest books in two nights and that must indicate that I enjoyed them immensely! Which I did!
Nell is wonderful, Petra is very cool, the 5 daughters are fabulous, uncle Jim : lovely and Lillian - amazing.
These stories are certainly light reads but they are entertaining, witty & fun.
Although Nell is being silly about Ashley, you can see where she's coming from!
Looking forward to book 4!
Nell is wonderful, Petra is very cool, the 5 daughters are fabulous, uncle Jim : lovely and Lillian - amazing.
These stories are certainly light reads but they are entertaining, witty & fun.
Although Nell is being silly about Ashley, you can see where she's coming from!
Looking forward to book 4!
February 5, 2016
First off, I really didn't know if I was going to like that but I am glad that I carried on, as I really did in the end. I thought it was going to be a bit 'flouncy' but Nell and her family are anything but. Including a great mystery that, the killer, I did not see coming at all, rounded off a great story. I didn't feel that I had lost anything starting with this book in the series and I will definitely be going back and reading book 1 and 2.
November 1, 2014
Cracker cosy crime delivered up in a small Australian town with a functioning dysfunctional family element. From swingers in the seventies to a modern twist on potential parenting, a great light read on what is unveiled when the skeleton is in the backyard, not the closet.
October 19, 2014
Loved it. Keep you intrigued right to the end. Nell is a "treasure". Awful lot going on for a small country town. Hole there is more to come.
September 25, 2015
Loved this series. Bring on the next one!
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews