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Mischief, Murder, and Merlot–Hallow Wine Weekend
Mischief, Murder, and Merlot
by J.C. Eaton
I enjoyed returning to Two Witches Winery along with Norrie Ellington who is again taking care of the family winery while her sister and brother-in-law fly off to the Philippines in search of a rare insect. She is just in time to manage her part of Lake Seneca’s Hallow Wine Weekend at the same time media arrives to learn about the area’s outstanding Merlot produced this year.
There are shenanigans centered around the cauldron of her winery’s Hallow Wine welcoming display, but the other wineries have vandalism as well. It isn’t too bad until Norrie discovers a fourth person in her display. There were originally only three, and this addition can only be described as dead.
This mystery rates high in complexity as there are several people with possible motives for the murder, including the victim’s wife, mistress, and girlfriend. There are business associates that could be involved and a few of them disappear. Fortunately, Norrie has a great crew who keep the winery, tasting room, and café running as Norrie tries to track down the criminal. She also has a lot of friends who support and help her from neighbors Theo and Don to the gorgeous Stephanie who can distract men with a flip of her hair.
I enjoyed the book; the mystery was well plotted with humor sprinkled throughout. The thing that kept it from being a five star book for me was the number of times Norrie stepped over lines of legal and ethical conduct. As Norrie herself says, “The hamburger bounced around in my stomach the more I thought about what I was going to do. Words like illegal, felony, and incarceration came to mind and they were only a sampling.” A lot of cozy mysteries have the protagonist edging up to conduct that is dangerous and deserves rethinking. Norrie goes too far, and she involves others in activities that could cost them their livelihoods and reputations.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Mystery, Cooking, Humor
Notes: 1. #8 in the Wine Trail Mysteries, but could work as a standalone as the authors are good at explaining the background and characters.
2. The “season” is Halloween and two of the characters are participants in paranormal activities, but the book is definitely not a paranormal book. All of the other characters roll their eyes at and disregard the actions and thoughts of those two characters.
Publication: August 30, 2022—Beyond the Page Publishing
Memorable Lines:
“And you know what the worst part is?” “All the nutcases it will bring out?” “Nope. All the suspects. It’ll be like one big knotted ball of yarn that gets more tangled as soon as someone tries to unravel it.”
I dreamt Donovan’s wife, mistress, and girlfriend had taken over our cauldron, making Macbeth’s witches look like Disney princesses.
Fortified by a second pot of coffee, the six of us sketched out a surveillance plan that we thought would work. Funny, but on paper it was logical and feasible. In reality, it was neither.
Wine Tastings are Murder–death on a wine tour
Wine Tastings are Murder
by Libby Klein
Welcome to the world of Poppy McAllister, a plus-sized, forty-something pastry chef with self-esteem issues. And commitment issues (ask Tim and Gia). And food issues. Food calls her name and sticks to her like a long lost twin. Her latest effort is the kale diet where she discovers that a kale frittata is like “an omelet full of yard clippings.” Also, and you need to think this one through…our featured pastry chef can’t eat gluten!
Wine Tastings are Murder is full of madcap adventures that will keep you laughing through a serious and complicated murder investigation. What in the world are Aunt Ginny and her octogenarian friends doing in the evenings that leaves them cackling, smirking, and sitting on bags of frozen vegetables?
Poppy is owner of the Butterfly Wings B&B, a new business that she is trying to launch. She agrees to cooperate with a company sponsoring a wine tasting at a local winery, but one of the guests has an apparent heart attack—or was the medical event more than that? Suspicion falls on other guests and on winery personnel. Poppy needs to find out if they are who they claim to be and what motives they might have.
The eighty year old “biddies” are not the only source of humor. Poppy hires “Victory,” a chambermaid from Eastern Europe, who does not understand guest privacy, the basics of inn housekeeping, appropriate attire, or the nuances of English. It also gradually occurs to Poppy that Victory has narcolepsy.
Figaro, Poppy’s cat, has met his nemesis in Tammy Faye, a teacup Pom who is the treasured delight of guest Sunny Baker. The two chase each other all over the house leaving a trail of destruction. Technology joins the fun as Aunt Ginny’s new toy Alexa demonstrates that she is always listening. Aunt Ginny doesn’t know how to use Alexa who sounds alarms and speaks at the craziest of times.
On the personal front, you’ll adore little Henry, Gia’s four-year old son. He has Poppy on emotional speed dial without even trying. Amber, a local police officer who has been at odds with Poppy since high school, might be softening just a tad. Then there is the romantic conundrum. Readers are anxious for Poppy to choose between “hunky” Italian coffee shop owner Gia and long ago love, Chef Tim. Read Wine Tastings are Murder to see if there is resolution in either love or murder. I guarantee the outcome will be a surprise.
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to Kensington Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: 1. # 5 in the Poppy McAllister Mystery Series. You could read this as a standalone. It is better to have read the first four for the background, but Klein fills you in well, and the read is worth it if you aren’t able to backtrack on this series.
2. The end of the book contains lots of recipes (6 gluten-free and 1 paleo) that will have you drooling, even if you don’t need gluten-free.
Publication: December 1, 2020—Kensington Books
Memorable Lines:
I was all for eighty-year-olds going “a-courting,” but Royce Hansen had the short-term memory of a fruit fly and Aunt Ginny could do crazy all on her own.
The biddies all nodded and smiled sweetly. “Have fun, honey.” They waved as I left the room. They’re not fooling anyone. They’re definitely up to something.
She made me feel like I was back in the eighth grade again. Fat, awkward, and foolish. Gigi even made my baking, the only talent I had in life, sound like I was adding water to a boxed cake mix and cooking with a high-wattage lightbulb.
Divide and Concord–filming at the winery
Divide and Concord
by J.C. Eaton
Norrie Ellington is a screenwriter who finds herself in charge of the family winery in the absence of her sister. Norrie’s producer decides that Norrie’s Two Witches Winery in New York is the perfect site for the filming of a small part of her current project. It will be for just a “few” days and “only” involves two crowd attracting stars, a camera crew, a diva director and her perfectionist assistant. Unfortunately this filming is scheduled to take place during the Seneca Lake Wine Trail’s Wine and Cheese Festival and occurs in the middle of a massive spring snow storm. Norrie has had run-ins before with the local sheriff, thought of by her as Grizzly Gary, so she is not happy to be the first on the scene of what could only be a murder. Norrie has a lot of balls to keep in the air while she tries to discover the identity of a murderer who seems intent on framing Norrie for the crime.
As usual with a J.C. Eaton book, in Divide and Concord I felt like I was in the middle of the dilemma and had to look outside a few times to make sure it wasn’t snowing. This writing duo is that good. Meanwhile, despite the seriousness of the subject, there are humorous moments and the plot moves quickly with the spotlight on various characters who might have wanted to kill the director. Actually, the woman was so unpleasant it was hard to find anyone who didn’t have a motive. Norrie and willing friends work together to trap the criminal in an Agatha Christie type of setup with a surprise ending.
I would like to extend my thanks to NetGalley and to Beyond the Page Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: 1. #5 in the Wine Trail Mysteries, but is excellent as a standalone.
2. The name Two Witches Winery should not put off those who do not like to read works that include the occult. The name is purported to have historical significance. There are two minor characters with mystical practices but our heroine rolls her eyes at them and manages to use them in the setup to discover the murderer.
Publication: April 30, 2020—Beyond the Page Publishing
Memorable Lines:
“It’s not an impending disaster,” I replied. “An inconvenience perhaps. Or maybe even a nuisance, but it’s not going to be a disaster.” Who the heck am I kidding?
Then, the unspeakable happened. Debora Dabrowski made her entrance into the Two Witches tasting room like Cruella de Vil. The only thing missing was a cigarette holder. She was tall with an angular face and layered black hair with one white streak that framed the left side of her face. Her tortoiseshell wingtip glasses, complete with jeweled rims, completed the look.
Priscilla’s kind of high strung and one Kleenex away from a full-blown sobfest.
My Fair Latte–coffee, wine, and classic flicks
My Fair Latte
by Vickie Fee
Here’s an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of a new cozy mystery series by an established author, Vickie Fee. In My Fair Latte, Halley Greer inherits an old theater from an uncle she barely knew. Immediately, the reason for this bequest to Halley arises as a background puzzle, but the real mystery centers around vandalism and murder in the theater that Halley is working hard to resurrect as a business that combines her two passions—old movies and coffee.
The residents of the little tourist town of Utopia Springs, Arkansas, welcome Halley and encourage her in her new business. She has to clean up both the theater and the upstairs apartment, quite an undertaking as her uncle was a hoarder. Favorite characters are George and Trudy, local artists who take her under their wing, and Kendra who owns the escape room business across the street. There are several romantic interests as well.
I enjoyed meeting the residents of Utopia Springs and watching Halley develop her creative ideas on a shoe string budget. It was great to witness her new friends pitching in to help, building community around her. As the police seem to suspect Halley, she and Kendra investigate to try to put the focus on other possibilities. I found myself doing that myself, but missed the mark until the end. Eartha Kitty, another inheritance from Uncle Leon, has an important role in the story. I am looking forward to the next book in the series, but hoping that I won’t gain weight just reading about the huge, fresh cinnamon rolls that are a staple in Halley’s breakfast routine.
I would like to extend my thanks to Edelweiss and to Henery Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: #1 in the Café Cinema Mystery Series
Publication: March 3, 2020—Henery Press
Memorable Lines:
While it may have been a glamorous leading lady in its prime, the Star Movie Palace was now a faded beauty whose slip was showing from beneath its tattered couture.
Their fanny packs and I-heart-Utopia-Springs t-shirts were like tattooing tourist on their foreheads.
“I dearly love George, but this morning he started tap dancing on my last nerve before I’d even had a cup of coffee.”
Chardonnayed to Rest–lots of fun
Chardonnayed to Rest
by J. C. Eaton
Chardonnayed to Rest is a fun, cozy mystery authored by the husband and wife team that goes by the name J.C. Eaton. It features wineries in Penn Yan, New York. The winery owners there support each other and collaborate on various projects such as the Federweisser celebration which is slated this year to be held at the Two Witches Winery. Norrie, a successful screenwriter is maintaining her career while taking over supervision of the family winery for a year for her sister who is hunting an elusive bug in Costa Rica. With an experienced staff, what could possibly go wrong? Unfortunately, a murder occurs at the winery across from Two Witches.
Norrie does some unofficial sleuthing with friends Don and Theo of the Grey Egret winery. Along the way she meets a handsome lawyer and a likable entomologist. There are also some attempts on Norrie’s life. Someone is arrested for the murder, but Norrie is convinced that they have the wrong person, and she is determined to prove it.
Chardonnayed to Rest moves quickly and has lots of suspects and a resolution I didn’t see coming. Some parts were amusing and some caught me laughing out loud. I can’t wait to see what adventures await Norrie in the next book in the Wine Trail Mysteries.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Lyrical Underground (Kensington Press) for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: # 2 in the Wine Trail Mystery Series, but works as a standalone. There may be a few references to characters who are not actually a part of this book, but that will in no way hinder your enjoyment of or understanding of this book.
Publication: September 25, 2018—Lyrical Underground (Kensington Press)
Memorable Lines:
Rosalee had told me Marilyn was somewhat of a drama queen, but she seemed to have reached full empress status by the time she placed the call to my number.
If my mouth opened any wider, every insect in the county would’ve had a new home.
I was no stranger to good-looking guys, but the minute my eyes landed on Bradley Jamison, it was as if all the other men I’d ever seen were reduced to toads. That was how gorgeous this guy was. Sandy blond hair, cobalt blue eyes that matched his tie, and a physique that could put Chuck Norris to shame.
A Riesling to Die–the body in the vineyard
A Riesling to Die
by J. C. Eaton
Can a New York City based screenwriter run the family winery for a year? Norrie Ellington puts that question to the test in J. C. Eaton’s cozy mystery A Riesling to Die. Norrie’s sister, who needs to leave Two Witches Winery to accompany her husband on an insect searching sabbatical in Costa Rica, convinces Norrie to upgrade her silent partner status to overseer of the winery.
Upon her arrival, Norrie realizes that the winery will not run itself—especially after the death of a local owner of a Bed and Breakfast. The mystery has lots of interesting characters, from the owners of other small wineries at Seneca Lakes, to rich developers, to her own well-chosen staff. Since the body was discovered in one of her vineyards, Norrie feels obligated to try to discover the murderer, despite the sheriff’s warnings to stay out of the investigations. A Riesling to Die is a good basic cozy that I think you will enjoy.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Kensington Books (Lyrical Press) for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: #1 in the Wine Trail Mysteries
Publication: March 27, 2018 — Kensington Books (Lyrical Press)
Memorable Lines:
She brushed some wisps of hair from the side of her face and I noticed something interesting—small pierced holes for earrings. At least three. Why was she trying to look like Little Miss Sunshine when her real persona was more Madonna? Maybe our mousey little girl is a rat in disguise.
Francine’s kitchen table wasn’t a bad place to work. The only sounds were birds and the occasional motorboat on the lake, unlike the ongoing cacophony outside my apartment. Endless honking of horns, the rumbling of traffic, and oh yes, expletives that came out of nowhere, usually accompanied by doors slamming.
It was one of those warm summer nights that made people forget about the last time they had to shovel three feet of snow or scrape the ice off their windshields.
education pathways 