There’s a lot of noir surrounding this rare pinot. As the vineyards in Seneca Lake, New York, prepare for the seasonal “Deck the Halls Around the Lake” festivities, someone is determined to keep pinot noir off the wine list. Hijacked trucks and sabotaged ingredients have made it a hard-to-acquire vintage for the six local wineries—including Norrie Ellington’s Two Witches Winery. The case of … Witches Winery.
The case of the stolen and spoiled wines gets stranger when Arnold Mowen, owner of the company distributing the wine, is found dead, the apparent victim of a hunting accident. As Norrie tries to find the connections between the pinot’s problems and Arnold’s death, she uncovers a conspiracy among many locals whose hatred for the wine distributor was bottled up for far too long . . .
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What a wonderfully intriguing cozy mystery. Norrie is slowly learning the wine process by this book but she gets more of a crash course when strange things start happening leading all the way to a murder. She starts nosing around asking questions until things really heat up. Smooth writing that brings the details to life in a realistic manner while the mystery keeps the reader guessing. Perfect for fans of cozies and wine. I really liked it so I give it 4/5 stars.
Dollycas’s Thoughts
We return to Two Witches Winery in Seneca Lake, New York, right before the big holiday event Deck the Halls Around the Lake. This time pinot noir is the featured wine and someone wants to be sure there is a shortage of this fine vintage. Sabotaged barrels and stolen bottles are making local vintners amp up security and press for answers. Then their wine distributor in murdered. His body is found between Norrie’s winery and Don and Theo’s winery by her dog. The police try to play it off as a weird hunting accident but Norrie knows that isn’t the case. She again teams up with Don and Theo to save their wine and catch the killer.
Book 3 has Norrie’s sister and brother-in-law still in Costa Rica hunting down the rare insect but she is in contact with the head of their program in New York much more this time as he can get her into the places she needs to investigate. You see Mr. Arnold Mowen seems to have promised a lot of people he would bequeath all his worldly possessions to them upon his death. It seems someone couldn’t wait for that event to happen naturally. Some of those people reside in a place that is having a pest control problem and have called in an expert, Norrie’s new friend. Now she needs to find the evidence to tie either these individuals or one of her other suspects to not only the murder but the tampering and stealing of the pricey rare pinot noir.
Norrie continues to impress me, especially when she, Theo and Don mix themselves up in a police investigation. They dig into everything, no matter how far-fetched. Norrie puts herself out there too, where she could get in a lot of trouble. It is so much fun following her around, sometimes in circles to get to the truth.
J. C. Eaton had offset our regular characters this time with some really quirky characters. Lavettia Lawrence, the deceased girlfriend seems to think she has become Norrie’s new best friend and Norrie handles it with grace and uses it to her advantage too. But Lavettia is just one in a rather long list of suspects. The mystery had many components and twists too. Arnold’s will was crazy, not the craziest I have ever heard of but it was out there. It all leads up to a great reveal.
I have enjoyed all three escapes to the Two Witches Winery. The characters are well rounded and engaging, the location is somewhere I would love to actually visit and as a wine novice, I love learning something in every story. Pinot Red or Dead? was a cleverly written mystery with the perfect amounts intrigue and humor. I loved it and am looking forward to more books in this series.
The wineries are having their Pinot Noir wines hijacked from the distribution trucks and tampered with at their wineries. When the owner of the distribution company is found dead, Norris gets involved investigating. There were a number of people who could have been involved. Another interesting book in this series. I am interested to see what’s next for Norris and the winery as well as her relationship with Bradley and interest in Godfrey.
Norrie Ellington finds another dead body before Thanksgiving!
Pinot Red or Dead? by J.C. Eaton is a tremendously hilarious book. Norrie Ellington is so funny that I was laughing each time I picked up the book to read it. There is a lot to love about this book especially the characters.
What I like:
• Written in the first-person with Norrie Ellington, our sleuth, being the narrator. I enjoy getting inside Norrie’s head and seeing how she figures things out, especially when it comes to the mystery. Or just regular day-to-day business about co-owning a winery with your sister.
• The community that Norrie is in, with her winery and the others is truly fabulous, especially when they help her solve the mysteries.
• Norrie is in a relationship with a lawyer.
• Despite Norrie trying to stay out of police business she just can’t help herself. Especially when it might lead to who the killer is.
What I don’t like:
The one thing that I didn’t like was that the sleuth forgot a vital clue from the very beginning of the story. I know not really all that important, but I thought it was.
Five Star
Pinot Red or Dead? by J.C. Eaton has a marvelous mystery, and this book is a great one to start this series for people just jumping right on in. I am giving it a five-star rating and recommending it to anyone that likes cozy mysteries and wine too.
Until the next time,
Karen the Baroness
Happy Reading!
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy from the Author. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
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Cozy Vineyard Mystery in Upstate New York
This book is the third in a series, yet it stands alone well. The author gives just enough background on prior murders so the new reader is not lost and the longtime reader is not bored. There is not quite enough information given on the human characters or relationships for the new reader. The plot-line is great. There are plenty of suspects to consider. There are many red herrings. In fact, too many. Our heroine is constantly taking her theories to the police and doesn’t seem to understand why they find her a nuisance. I got very tired of her flying off on a tangent because she is forcing the facts into fitting her theory – if there are any facts! I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.
Two Witches Winery is part of the Wine Trail Mystery series, and this book Pinot Red or Dead, is the best one yet. The number of suspects in the murder pool were all very guilty of being themselves, even if they were not the killer they are guilty of something. The plot was hysterical and the characters gave you a glance into the minds of many different kinds and varieties. Really loved this book and will continue to read J. C. Eaton’s books.