Weeding out killers wasn’t part of the job description . . .
Kelly Jackson, manager of the Redwood Cove Bed and Breakfast, is excited to participate in an event to raise awareness for the plight of struggling veterans in their Northern California coastal community. Local wineries are sponsoring tastings, and to prepare for a culinary competition, professional chefs will forage for wild edible … edible greens. Kelly plans to come along, despite a warning to beware of poachers, who have been stealing the highly valued succulent Dudleya farinosa. The senior sleuths who call themselves the Silver Sentinels join forces with environmental activists known as the Succulent Saviors to thwart the poaching operation. When a consultant for the sale of a local winery is murdered, the poachers are suspected—but so is a wine merchant, Kelly’s friend Phil. As Kelly and the Silver Sentinels attempt to root out the real killer, what she digs up might just put her permanently underground . . .
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Murder in the Wine Country by Janet Finsilver takes us back to Red Cove, California. Kelly Jackson, manager of Redwood Cove Bed and Breakfast, is participating in an event to raise awareness on the plight of veterans. Kelly is looking forward the foraging expedition to look for edible greens. She is surprised when the game warden advises them to go in pairs because of poachers making off with a rare succulent, Dudleya farinose. The Silver Sentinels need a new project, so they begin looking into the poaching problem. Before the events can begin, a friend of Phil’s, Eric Stapleton is killed. Eric was acting as a consultant on the sale of the Sagatini Winery. Everyone is shocked when Phil ends up at the top of the suspect list. Kelly and the Silver Sentinels set out prove his innocence. Murder in the Wine Country is the 6th A Kelly Jackson Mystery. Each book in this charming series can be read on its own. I like the variety of characters in this series especially the Silver Sentinels. Tommy, Helen’s son, is a cutie who is full of energy. The setting of Redwood Cove is just lovely. The author’s vivid word imagery brings the setting to life. I found Murder in the Wine Country to be well-written and engaging with the story moving along at a steady pace. It was interesting learning about edible greens. The chefs make some tasty dishes with their foraged ingredients. I appreciate that the romance between Scott and Kelly moves along slowly. The spend time together when they can, and they are taking their time getting to know each other. The mystery had a couple of different components to it (which I loved). I liked that Kelly took a more active sleuthing role in this book. It is always entertaining following Kelly and the Silver Sentinels as they dig up clues and uncover the guilty party. Murder in the Wine Country has a great conclusion that nicely wraps up the mysteries. Murder in the Wine Country is a diverting cozy mystery with foraging for flora, wonderful wines, succulent stealers, valiant veterans, and a perplexing puzzle.
This has become one of my favorite cozy series and it was a pleasure to escape our real world problems to spend time with Kelly and the Silver Sentinels in Redwood Cove. This time Kelly is front and center regarding the investigating with assistance from the Silver Sentinels. She is the manager of the Redwood Cove B&B and is involved with a charity event to aid veterans. It will involve wine tasting and various chefs will go out into the woods to forage for edible plants. Sounds harmless enough but they are warned that there have been plant poachers in the area and they might be trouble. Do they have something to do with the recent local crime wave and a murder? Kelly sets out to find the killer when the police focus on a friend of hers as their prime suspect. The wonderful group of seniors are ready to give her all the help she needs. I have to say, I wouldn’t find hanging out with them myself.
This is a very well crafted mystery series with well developed characters and complex puzzles to unravel. Twists, turns and red herrings abound and each mystery has left me a very satisfied reader. If you are new to this delightful series, don’t hesitate to start with this entry. It stands alone very well but you will probably want to get your hands on the previous five mysteries so you can play catchup.
My thanks to the publisher Lyrical Underground and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.