Genre: Mystery
Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781496725240
Kensington Publishing
352 Pages
$7.99; $6.89 Amazon
June 30, 2020
⭐⭐⭐⭐
After inheriting her uncle's Red River Gorge homestead in Eastern Kentucky -- smack dab in the middle of the Daniel Boone National Forest -- Miranda comes up with a perfect business plan for summer tourists: pairing outdoor painting classes with sips of local moonshine, followed by a mouthwatering sampler of the best in southern cooking.
To Miranda's delight, Paint & Shine is a total success -- until someone kills the cook. As the town's outsider, suspicion naturally falls on Miranda. Murdering the best biscuit baker of Red River Gorge is a high crime in these parts. Miranda will have to prove her innocence before she's moved from farmhouse to jail cell faster than she can say "white lightning"...
✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽
When Miranda Trent discovers she's been left her Uncle Gene's farmhouse and belongings in Eastern Kentucky, she's surprised as can be. But then she decides it can be an opportunity for her to start her own business, and not have to struggle to make it as an artist. She opens Paint & Shine, where people can learn to paint and then return to her farmhouse for an authentic country meal, accompanied by moonshine tastes for each course. However, not everyone is glad she's starting her business, since a lot of people are still against consuming alcohol in this town.
The first outing seems to go well, with six customers who are enjoying it. But when they go back to the farmhouse, Miranda has an argument with one of the cooks, Mrs. Childers; and when Miranda goes to check on the meal a few minutes later, she finds the woman lying on her kitchen floor, stabbed with a butcher knife.
Now Miranda's business is dwindling, and she's the main suspect in the murder. If she's going to survive -- and keep the farmhouse and land -- she needs to find out who killed the woman and why. But only if she can stay alive long enough to do so...
This is the first in a new series, and I really enjoyed it. There were only a few things that bothered me, so I'll get those out of the way first. I would have liked to know why Miranda didn't confront the reporter after the newspaper came out, but she ignored it, which couldn't be a good thing in anyone's book; she didn't even mention it to Austin, which I thought she at least might have done. Then, she stated how Austin was going to stay at her place while a killer was on the loose, but we never saw any indication of this happening, so I'd like to know if he did or not. The first deputy who passed out seemed ridiculous -- if you're going to pass out seeing a dead body, you need to find another profession -- I can't even imagine an officer like that stopping people to give them tickets.
I also didn't get the scene between Dan and Miranda when she grabbed at him; it seemed out of character for the person she was starting to be portrayed as, since she never acted this way and the comment he made shouldn't have set her off like that. But as Miranda states as how she's an introvert it didn't make sense; I am too, and I would never react this way to anyone. I also control my tongue a lot better, since I'd rather not draw attention to myself.
Aside from that, I liked some of the secondary characters. Mrs. Hobb grew on me early even though she's not in the book much, and I hope to see more of her in the next one. I also like the idea that our protagonist isn't mooning over a police detective, which usually happens in most cozies. Since I realize this is the first in the series, hopefully there will be more character development of Miranda and the others in the next one.
The plot is written well, and it's an interesting decision to make her an artist who will also offer moonshine from a local distillery instead of wine pairings. While I've never heard of this, that's probably because I'm a city girl through and through. We don't get a lot of descriptions of the countryside, but we do get some, and I look forward to learning more about the area in future books.
While I guessed the murderer early on (I read a lot of mysteries), I enjoyed moving along with Miranda as she put the pieces together and discovered the reason for the murder. While it was sad, we can't ever decipher motives from a killer or the future victim that they face. Sad indeed, but believable just the same. I did like the ending and look forward to the next in the series. Recommended.
https://www.amazon.com/Still-Knife-Painting-Paint-Mysteries/dp/1496725247/ref
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3377577674
More on Cheryl Hollon's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/h/cheryl-hollon/
No comments:
Post a Comment