Author: J.C. Eaton
Genre: Mystery
Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #: 9781954717152
Beyond the Page Publishing
218 Pages
$14.99; $4.99 Amazon
April 20, 2021
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With her overlong stay at Two Witches Winery extended yet again, screenwriter Norrie Ellington wants nothing more than to lay low and avoid murder investigations at all costs. Then two neighborhood boys show up at the winery saying they've discovered what looks like a dead body in the a nearby woods, and Norrie's curiosity gets the better of her. When the body turns out to be a local labor manager and the sheriff suspects a neighboring winery of foul play, Norrie turns sleuth again.
Following the few clues found at the scene, Norrie soon learns that the victim had been charging exorbitant amounts for the seasonal workers he supplied to the vineyards, meaning any of the owners could have wanted him out of the way. And when another dead body is found, Norrie's dizzying list of suspects threatens to overwhelm her. But with the stakes higher than ever, her biggest fear may be that if the local sheriff doesn't kill her for meddling, there's a murderer on the loose who surely will...
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Norrie Ellington is a screenwriter who got roped into taking care of her family's winery when her sister Francine and her husband left the country temporarily for research. Since she's been there, she's discovered more bodies than she wanted, which was zero. But just when things are settling down, a boy from a neighboring winery comes to Norrie with a problem: he and his friend have discovered a dead body. Norrie's curiosity gets the better of her, and she enlists a friend to check it out...unfortunately, it is the body of a dead man, and he turns out to be a labor manager who supplies seasonal workers for some of the other wineries. Even more unfortunately, the boy's father was seen arguing with the man, and now he's the main suspect.
So Norrie and her friend Theo, (owner of Grey Egret Winery) are once again embroiled in a murder mystery. Hoping to stay under the radar of the local sheriff, who already has had his eye on Norrie many times (and not in a good way), are trying to find the real killer. But with little Eli and his best friend Stuart are tangled up in the web, Norrie has her hands full. She also might find that the web is more twisted than she knows, and a killer just might be more surprising than she thinks...
I do like J.C. Eaton's books quite a bit. They're very descriptive and also quite a twisted web; so much so that you might need a cheat sheet to keep things straight. In this series, Norrie just wants to go back home and forget the winery, but family obligations won't allow that. Also the fact that she keeps getting involved one way or another in murders. It's bad enough that she's found dead bodies, but now people are bringing dead bodies to her -- as in the case of Eli and Stuart, who do just that, telling her she needs to go look at one.
The entire situation becomes more strange and often funny with the boys being a bit more precocious than anyone could ever imagine. So much so that Theo wants to stay far away from them (as if that's going to happen). But it's also rather endearing and the story is fun and engaging, and worth reading in one sitting, as I did.
When we get closer to the end and everything begins to join tightly, Norrie's mind starts to put it all together quickly and it's a different climax with a humorous twist that had me chuckling. I really did enjoy this mystery and hope to see more of these characters in the next. Recommended.
More on J.C. Eaton's Books: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/e/j-c-eaton/
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