Mischief, Murder and Merlot (A Wine Trail Mystery Book 8)

Author:    J.C. Eaton

Genre:     Mystery

Paperback; Digital Book

ISBN #:    9781958384077

Beyond the Page Publishing

252 Pages

$14.99; $3.99 Amazon

August 30, 2022

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Back at Two Witches Winery for a short stay, Norrie Ellington is warming to the holiday spirit and the upcoming Hallow Wine Weekend, and she's happy to steer clear of the writer from Wine Enthusiast magazine who's come to do interviews about this year's spectacular Merlot.  But then the critic's dead body is found slumped over a Halloween cauldron display, and despite a stern warning from the local deputy to keep her nose out of it, Norrie instantly switches into sleuth mode.

Intent on discovering why someone wanted to silence the victim, Norrie quickly learns that he was an unbearable snob and known womanizer who had no shortage of enemies.  But as one suspect after another leads to a dead end, Norrie's stumped -- until the one mysterious clue that's been haunting her turns the case around.  Now, as all the ghouls, goblins, and trick-or-treaters come out on Halloween, Norrie's ready to unleash her spirit of justice -- she just has to close in on the killer before the Grim Reaper closes in on her...

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Norrie Ellington is a screenwriter in Manhattan, while her sister mans the family's Two Witches Winery.  But when Francine and her husband Jason are off again on another quest for an elusive insent, Norrie makes the journey to take over the winery until they return -- which, she hopes, will be soon.  No sooner does she arrive than she discovers that a writer from Wine Enthusiast magazine is visiting the local vintners to check out their Merlots.  Norrie is more than happy to leave him to Franz, her own winemaker.

She has more on her plate than writing a new screenplay, she has to make sure the Halloween decorations and events are running smoothly, along with her meetings with the other local vintners.  But one morning she gets a call from one of her workers who tells her that there's more than two witches near their cauldron decoration...someone has added a body and they're very much dead.  After discovering the man's identity, she's told to keep it under her hat -- easier said than done.  Now Norrie, along with her friends, is determined to find out who killed him.

But with people swarming the winery and others from the magazine, she's on the trail of a killer.  But then there's another problem or two that arises, the least of these being that Norrie herself might have to sell her own soul to solve the murder...

This is the eighth book in the series, and I have enjoyed them all immensely.  J.C. Eaton is indeed a talented author (and yes, I know it's a brother and sister team but I will refer to them as one) who can weave a story well, pulling the reader into the tale and making us see the winery and all the action surrounding it.

It is autumn, and you can almost smell the scents in the air as they bundle up for the season; trying to find a killer but stay out of the watchful eye of Deputy 'Grizzly' Gary, as Norrie has labeled him.  This time out she manages to stay under the wire, but just barely.  It was almost as if I wanted to ignore the fact of what she was doing at times.  

The mystery is so well-wrought that even I had no idea of the murderer right up until the point that Norrie began to put it together.  It is a taut tale of greed and murder, intrigue and secrets, and it is told well and leaves us wanting more.  I eagerly await the next in the series.  Highly recommended.

I received an advance copy from the publisher and NetGalley but this in no way influenced my review.

https://smile.amazon.com/Mischief-Murder-Merlot-J-Eaton-ebook/dp/B0B61TCMZY/ref

Goodreads:    https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4885863543

More on J.C. Eaton's Books:    https://www.fantasticfiction.com/e/j-c-eaton/

From Port to Rigor Morte (The Wine Trail Mysteries Book 7)

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

⭐⭐⭐⭐

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...

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

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.

https://www.amazon.com/Port-Rigor-Morte-Trail-Mysteries/dp/1954717156/ref

Goodreads:    https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4019050625

More on J.C. Eaton's Books:    https://www.fantasticfiction.com/e/j-c-eaton/

Death, Dismay, and Rose (The Wine Trail Mysteries Book 6)

Author:  J.C. Eaton

Genre:   Mystery

Trade Paperback; Digital Book

ISBN #:  9781950461783

Beyond the Page Publishing

240 Pages

$14.99; $4.99 Amazon

September 29, 2020

⭐⭐⭐⭐

It's rare that the summer solstice and a full moon fall on the same night, but winery manager Norrie Ellington is all too familiar with the curse that supposedly accompanies the event: the death by suffocation of someone in the area.  She's inclined to write the whole thing off as folktale nonsense -- until the president of the local historical society is found smothered on that very night.  Local law enforcement aren't quite so superstitious, however, and they've pegged a close friend of Norrie's for the murder.

Determined to discredit the curse and get her friend off the hook, Norrie begins digging into the background of the victim, only to discover that he had no shortage of enemies.  And as evidence emerges of his questionable connections and shady dealings, Norrie follows a trail of clues that leads her smack into the racing world at Watkins Glen.  She'll have to shift into overdrive to save her friend, because curse or not, there's a flesh-and-blood killer dead set on making Norrie the next victim...

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Norrie Ellington is managing her family's winery while her sister and her sister's husband are off on an entomology expedition.  She expects them home soon, and just wants to get back to her life in Manhattan, where she's a screenwriter -- which she's currently doing from their home.

Looking for information on an old family legend about deaths that occur when the summer solstice has a full moon -- the last one being in 1948 -- she overhears a conversation between another winery owner and the head of the historical society, Vance Wexler, and it's not a good one, either.  But when a group of entomologists are nearby, and being disturbed by a group of historical society people who are searching for arrowheads, things get testy.  So testy that when someone is murdered, a friend of Norrie's is suspected of murder.

When the local police don't seem to be taking any interest in information Norrie has brought them, she figures the only thing she can do is look around on her own.  Enlisting the help of two men who own another winery, she clandestinely starts a search of her own, finding out more about the dead man than she wanted to know.  Now all she has to do is find a killer without raising the suspicions of the local police.  Easy, right?...

This is the sixth book in the series and just as good as the first.  I enjoyed reading it mostly because Norrie can hold her own among others.  She doesn't get flustered, and she manages to run the winery, do her job, and still find time to investigate a murder.  She doesn't let her two businesses slide which is nice to see.

The plot is an interesting one, actually centering around a curse that two women suspected of being witches placed on the area when they died, and it seems that whenever there's a full moon on the summer solstice a death by suffocation will occur.  Even though Norrie 'pooh-poohs' the idea herself, she starts to become a believer and will do anything to break the curse so her winery will be safe.

But when that leads to the discovery of a murder that seems to be much more than it actually is, she finds herself in a race against time to find the object that is causing the problems.  She enlists the help of Theo and Don, a couple who own another winery and have helped her before, to find answers without letting anyone know what they're doing.

If anything, this book had plenty of action to it, and when one thing led to another, it seemed to bring a dead end, only to start up again somewhere else.  Needless to say, it kept me reading right through the end, which is a good thing.

When the ending comes and the killer is discovered, the motive is as old as time itself.  While it all comes about in the end, I would have liked to have some clue to the murderer, but it was not to be.  Still and all, I will read the next in the series.  Recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Death-Dismay-Ros%C3%A9-Trail-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B08H3VHCGK/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3845576472

More on J.C. Eaton's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/e/j-c-eaton/

Killer Chardonnay (A Colorado Wine Mystery Book 1)

Author:  Kate Lansing
Genre:   Mystery

Mass Market Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9780593100189
Berkley Publishing
304 Pages
$7.99; $7.99 Amazon
May 26, 2020

⭐⭐

Parker Valentine has always dreamed of opening her own winery in her hometown of Boulder, Colorado.  But she gets more than she bargained for when a food and wine critic unexpectedly shows up at Vino Valentine on opening day.  A negative review could be fatal for business, and not only does he seem to hate her chardonnay, he also collapses and dies shortly after drinking it.

Although Parker hoped that the attendees would put a cork in it, soon her winery is at the center of a media firestorm.  With #killerchardonnay trending online, Parker's business is in danger of closing, and she has no choice but to investigate the murder herself.

To restore her reputation, catch a killer, and keep her struggling business open, Parker needs only one thing:  some good proof.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Parker Valentine has always wanted to own a winery, and finally her dream has come true.  Her grand opening has come, and while it's not packed, there are, at least, several people, including her brother Liam and his friend Reid.  Also present is a local restaurant blogger who showed up and Parker - snooping on his tablet - sees that he's given one of her wines a bad review.  But it doesn't matter when the man almost immediately turns up dead, and now she's under investigation as a suspect, and her winery is put on the no-go list by people who liked the blogger.  With her livelihood at stake, Parker knows if she's not the one to find a killer, she'll be out of business -- for good...

I really love mysteries, and I really wanted to like this book.  But, unfortunately, it read like a bad Foreign movie.  To wit: it's as if someone were holding a camera behind another person, watching their every move as they go about their day.  She tells us everything that happens in the right-here-and-now as it occurs.  For example, if she drops a pin she'll say: 'I drop a pin and pick it up,' not 'I dropped a pin and picked it up."  It's disconcerting.  It's as I said, like following someone around to see what they're doing, like you're watching a documentary.  It makes it difficult to believe that she knows what another person is thinking at exactly that time.

This is what I personally disliked about the book.  I don't mind books written in first person, many of them are of course quite good.  But this is "happening right now" and I honestly don't care for this style of writing; in fact, I don't think I've ever read a book that was written like a documentary before.  There were also a few other things, but they were minor, like her statement that her friend Sage was wearing "a fierce blouse that brings out the red in her hair."  What, pray tell, is exactly a 'fierce blouse?'  Is it angry?

I also didn't really care for the potential love triangle, but then again, I really hate them in books anyway.  I'm again stating that if it were a man stringing along two women, you wouldn't think much of him, so why is it okay when a woman does it?  It's not. 

While this book has plenty of potential, and the author has a decent start to a series, I just didn't care for the follow-me-around-while-I-go-about-my-day-feeding-my-cat-etc.; I much prefer the past tense of "I fed my cat and drove to the store," not "I'm feeding my cat and driving to the store."  Very sorry, but unless this author changes the narrator's tense, I won't be reading any more of these books.

https://www.amazon.com/Killer-Chardonnay-Colorado-Wine-Mystery/dp/0593100182/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3348883356

More on Kate Lansing's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/l/kate-lansing/

A Case of Syrah Syrah

Author:  Nancy J. Parra
Genre:  Mystery

Hardcover; Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781683314332; 9781683319160
Crooked Lane Books
320 Pages
$17.61; $10.99; $9.99 Amazon
December 12, 2017 (Trade Published December 2018)

✮✮

Prospects are looking rosy for Taylor O'Brian, founder of "Off the Beaten Path" Wine Country Tours, who lives on a small winery with her Aunt Jemma and leads tours around romantic Sonoma County.  At first blush, things are running smoothly, until a tour member is found dead - with Taylor's corkscrew buried in her neck.

Taylor has no nose for detective work, but as she begins to follow a trail of bottled-up secrets, evens take a sour new turn.  Only two weeks after the murder, her assistant Amy marries Dan, the dead woman's husband, whose short-lived bereavement seems like a sham.  And just as her investigation begins to take shape, Dan's sister turns up dead.  Could Taylor be next on the list?

Now it's up to Taylor to uncork this open-bottle mystery before more blood is spilled.

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

Taylor O'Brian returned to Sonoma County from San Francisco because her aunt, who owns a winery, needs help.  She decided to open her own wine country tour company - Taylor O'Brian's "Off the Beaten Path" Wine Country Tours - in the hopes it will give her a decent income.

Her first tour group consists of her yoga instructor Laura, Laura's husband and several other people.  But when returning to the van after a long hike, Laura is nowhere to be found.  Both Dan and Taylor head in search of her, but it's Taylor who finds her down a ravine.  When she and Dan reach Laura they call 911, but it's too late.  Laura has been killed by a corkscrew to the next - Taylor's corkscrew - and no one even knows who did it.

While Dan thinks she's guilty, Taylor knows something is going on, especially when Dan remarries quickly and it looks as if the police have her pegged for the murder.  Even though the sheriff warns her away from the crime, her aunt urges her to investigate, so she and her best friend Holly set out to find a killer before Taylor is put away for good...

This is the first book in a new series and I really wanted to like it, but I should have known when it was mentioned that Aunt Jemma was a little "hippy."  I think the author meant 'hippie' which we all know what means, but 'hippy' means Aunt Jemma has a little too much flesh above the knees, if you get my drift...I know, nitpicking; but it was only a hint of what was to come, unfortunately.

Anyway, Taylor hires an attorney right away (who turns out to be a hunk, of course) because she's afraid the sheriff (another hunk) might have her pegged for the crime.  Well, here we go, folks: another love triangle in the making.  No surprise there...

So after she's been fingerprinted to eliminate her as a suspect, she takes a casserole to the grieving widower and he immediately accuses her of murdering his wife.  Never mind that she was only alone with the body for a short time - not long enough to force her down a ravine, change into different clothes to stab the woman, change back (because the other clothes would have a lot of blood on them since she was stabbed in an artery) and then climb back up again - but hey - and then, leaving the man's home she's stopped by the police who got a call saying she was harassing Dan.  Even when she shows the casserole, no dice.  The cop outright asks her if she murdered Laura, although I don't know why.  Was he there at the time of murder?  Was it running through the police station that she was a 'person of interest' even though she was told by the sheriff she wasn't?  How did this officer know her connection?  He didn't mention that Dan said she murdered his wife, otherwise he would have put handcuffs on her.  He said she was harassing him.  How did one equate to the other?  Why was he asking her if she killed Laura anyway?  He's a patrolman.  Shouldn't that be up to the homicide detectives, not him?  Did he really think if she were guilty, that she'd randomly admit it?  It sounds to me like the officer was harassing her.  Details count.

Then her aunt actually encourages her to investigate, knowing there's a killer on the loose.  I guess she doesn't think her niece could be the next one killed.  Also, newspapers don't print the names of people of interest.  It keeps them from being sued by injured parties.  They wait until someone has been arrested. 

As you can tell, I wasn't enthralled by this book.  I really dislike love triangles (as it's looking to go that way).  Look at it this way: if the protagonist were a man, and he was stringing along two women, people would think he was a slimeball.  So why is it okay for two men to pursue one woman?  And why would she do that to them?  You'd think authors would know by now not to do this.  Of course, I could be wrong and she might only be interested in one of them, but one of the last few scenes suggests otherwise...

At the end, I really didn't care who the murderer was.  Taylor was dumber than a box of rocks.  First she investigates because her aunt tells her to do it, even though her attorney (and the sheriff) tells her not to.  She doesn't try to hide it.  As you can read, I wasn't a fan of this book and I may or may not read the second in the hope it will improve, because it sure needs a lot of tweaking.

https://www.amazon.com/Case-Syrah-Wine-Country-Mystery/dp/1683314336/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2120864820

More on Nancy J. Parra's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/p/nancy-j-parra/

Chardonnayed to Rest (The Wine Trail Mysteries #2)

Author:  J.C. Eaton
Genre: Mystery

Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781516108022
Lyrical Underground 
220 Pages
$15.00; $4.99 Amazon
September 25, 2018

✮✮✮✮

In Seneca Lake, New York, Norrie Ellington's Two Witches Winery has been selected by the local vintner community to host the annual Federweisser, a celebration of the season's first fermentation of white Chardonnay grapes.  But the festivities are spoiled when Norrie learns that landowner Roy Wilkes has raised her neighbor Rosealee Marbleton's rent so high, she may have to close her vineyard.

Before the rent hike could go into effect, Wilkes is found dead on Rosalee's property - stabbed by a flowerpot stake - and she becomes the police's number one suspect.  To clear her friend's name, Norrie conducts her own investigation.  But as she gathers clues, Norrie finds herself targeted by a killer, and if she's not careful, her desire to see justice done may die on the vine...

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽ 

Norrie Ellington is managing the family winery while her sister Francine and her husband Jason spend a year in Costa Rica searching for a rare bug.  Norrie is a screenwriter who has her own deadline to make, so she's needing all the free time she can get to finish it.

Unfortunately, it won't be this week, and possibly not the next, either.  Her friend and a fellow winery owner, Rosalee Marbleton tells Norrie that a newcomer to Penn Yan has bought land nearby that she has a pipeline for water running though, and he's raised the rent so high she may have to close her winery.  But when Roy Wilkes's body is found by Rosalee she calls Norrie in a panic.  Along with another winery owner, Theo, they investigate and sure enough, Roy is dead.

But when Rosalee's handyman Kelsey is arrested for the crime and it's implied that Rosalee may have put him up to it. she begs Norrie to find out the truth.  Against her better judgment, Norrie agrees.  But will digging into another murder find a killer or will it put her next on the list to die?

This is the second book in the series and I have to say that I liked it better than the first.  The characters are starting to develop personalities and come into their own and I felt that this was lacking in the debut book, and Norrie is becoming more comfortable with the employees at the winery, even though she's not as fond of the place as is her sister.

There were, however, a couple of things that rankled me a bit: in the first book she met a couple of developers that were so "hot" she couldn't think straight; and in this book she meets an attorney and mentions that she's never met anyone so attractive.  How hot is this guy?  Does Norrie find one to surpass another around every corner?  Then I get the feeling that a love triangle might be in the offering.  Please, please no.  Love triangles are never fun to read about at all, and take away pleasure in the book.

The other thing that bothered me is the fact that Norrie doesn't realize just how much like Deputy Gary she is.  She decides one person is guilty and refuses to even consider anyone else might be the culprit.  She just goes around trying to prove she's right.  I get that she's a screenwriter and has a vivid imagination, but she should also think logically and look for clues, sifting through them to find the truth.  Instead, she comes up with hair-brained schemes she decides will bring the killer to justice.  While we, the readers, had a pretty good clue as to who the killer was because of a single act, Norrie was oblivious to that fact.  Also, and I can't help but wonder about this, who is the sheriff in this town, and shouldn't a homicide detective be investigating murders, not a town deputy?  Just curious.

Aside from these things, I found that the story was written well and put together nicely.  The reason for the murder was believable, and even the final confrontation - given the personalities involved - was believable as well.

I thought the bowlers and quilters were probably the funniest part of the story and even made me laugh out loud at one point, and I do love Norrie's "thoughts in her head."  She's pretty sarcastic to herself, and it gives a bit of lightness to the story that keeps it moving along at a good pace.  In the end, I thought this was a pretty decent book and a fairly quick read.  The murder was tied up creditably, and I would like to see what the next in the series brings.  Recommended.

https://www.amazon.com/Chardonnayed-Rest-J-C-Eaton/dp/1516108027/

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2525723549

More on J.C. Eaton's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/e/j-c-eaton/

A Riesling to Die (The Wine Trail Mysteries #1)

Author:  J.C. Eaton
Genre:  Mystery

Trade Paperback; Digital Book
ISBN #:  9781516108015
Lyrical Underground Publishing
220 Pages
$15.00; $0.99 Amazon
March 27, 2018

✮✮✮

Norrie Ellington is a successful screenwriter living in New York City.  She's also been a silent partner for her family's winery upstate - until her sister and brother-in-law take a year-long sabbatical.  With an experienced staff doing the work, Norrie figures Two Witches Winery will run itself while she enjoys the countryside and writes in peace and quiet.

Unfortunately, there's a sour grape in the town of Penn Yan who doesn't care for vineyards.  Bed and breakfast owner Elsbeth Waters complains to everyone who'll listen that the local wineries are bad for her business.  But when Elsbeth's body is found on Norrie's property, the victim of foul play, the screenwriter-turned-vintner dons a sleuthing cap to uncover the identity of a killer who told the B&B proprietress to put a cork in it - permanently...

✽✽✽✽✽✽✽✽

When Norrie Ellington is begged by her sister Francine to come and take care of their family's winery while she spends a year in Costa Rica with her husband, who has a research grant, Norrie reluctantly agrees.  While she's apprehensive about running the winery she couldn't wait to escape from in the first place, she's soon reassured that the staff is well-versed in the day-to-day operations and all she has to do is oversee things and write the monthly checks.

But unfortunately things don't happen that way.  After her sister and brother-in-law are barely out of the country, she's awakened by two employees who inform her there's a body in the vineyard.  And when she goes to investigate, she discovers that it's the woman she had an unpleasant encounter with the day before at the winery's tasting room.  But who would want to leave Elsbeth's body in their vineyard?  And while she finds out that the woman wasn't well-liked, who hated her enough to kill her?

Norrie has an idea that it might be the developers who are trying to buy up everyone's winery to build a mega-one; but proving it might be another matter altogether.  If she's not careful, she could wind up losing everything, including her life...

This is the first book in the series, and since I enjoy the others by this author, I thought I would give it a chance.  It has potential, but I found that there were some things that didn't make any sense (although I will admit I know very little about wineries, only having visited a few in my lifetime.  First off though, was a pretty big thing:

Why did Elsbeth buy a B&B in wine country - paying cash, no less - if she hated the wineries?  Surely she knew that her business would be centered around them, and without them, she might not have enough customers to keep her afloat.  This, unfortunately, was the biggest question, because it didn't make any sense at all.  She had to know this, so I didn't understand why she was complaining about them.  You'd think it would be more to her advantage to make friends and try to work out deals with the wineries, such as trading coupons with them or something of that sort, instead of trying to put them out of business.  I'm also not sure she wasn't the one leaving "problems" at the wineries instead of the developers.

Then it would have been nice to know something about Penn Yan; there were very little descriptions and not enough to make anyone want to visit, which is a big thing in books.  You want your readers to feel as if they're transported to the place they're reading about, but I just couldn't get a feel for any of this, so the book wasn't that interesting.  There were also too many characters to get involved with.  I understand that wineries have many employees, but it would have been nice to center on just a few instead of so many, then the author could have given us descriptions instead of bare bones, as it were.  I never felt we got to know any of them.

Another thing is that Cammy said they didn't want anything in the tasting room to interfere with the wine - meaning Glenda's smudging - but they have a restaurant there?  Wouldn't the smells from the food interfere?  Also, why are employee records kept in the tasting room instead of up at the house?  Wouldn't the owner of the winery want important papers to be kept close instead of where anyone could access them if they had a key to the tasting room?  Also, when the coyotes were out, everyone was concerned about Charlie the dog being kept inside, but not one person worried whether the coyotes would get Alvin, who was outside?  Coyotes will go after goats, too.  Just curious about these.

So with those out of the way, this was a pretty decent start, with Norrie returning home to the winery, which she hates, hoping to hunker down and get her latest screenplay written when Elsbeth is found.  I understand that she wants to find the killer as it's disrupting the winery, but it's a stretch when she goes off half-cocked because she believes she knows who the killer is, and her new friends are basically helping her instead of telling her to let the police handle it.

She goes around questioning the other winery owners - who apparently have no clue what she's doing - and the Elsbeth's niece - who apparently does and tells the police, even though she didn't say anything to her that seemed even remotely like she was investigating, in my opinion.  Then she comes up with the above-mentioned idea that could ruin everything for her family, which tells me she doesn't think things through, but flies on the seat of her pants, which isn't always a good thing unless you have nothing to lose - which she does.

Anyway, when the ending came and the killer was discovered, it came as a complete surprise but seemed rather rushed.  It was almost as if the author was tired of the book and wanted to end it as soon as possible; and I never felt that Norrie was ever in any kind of danger, no matter what happened so there were no hairy moments in the book.  However, since this is the first in the series, I will read the second and perhaps we'll get more info on the countryside around Penn Yan and see how Norrie is fitting in with her new life merging with her old.  A decent cozy that can be read in one evening.

https://www.amazon.com/Riesling-Die-J-C-Eaton/dp/1516108019/ref

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2520484579

More on J.C. Eaton's Books:  https://www.fantasticfiction.com/e/j-c-eaton/