Her free ticket, from an anonymous source, pulls Tori into the heart of a deadly conspiracy, entangling her in a treacherous web of murder and deceit.
While whispers of scandal ripple through Granbury, the unthinkable looms. Is Tori about to be arrested for a murder she didn’t commit?
As suspicion tightens its grip, something even more insidious lurks in the shadows, dragging her deeper into a maze of hidden motives and lethal deception. Tori is the killer's next target.
I’ve
been on board with this now three-book Tori Winters Mystery series from the
beginning, and I recommend starting with Deadly Keepsakes simply to get
the wider picture of how Tori Winters became the heiress we see in book three. However, readers can
jump in with any of the three books and be thoroughly
entertained.
Putting
a category label on Murder with Wine and the full series is nearly
impossible. With all the factoids about Granbury, Texas, and environs, plus the
inclusion of real places and things that exist there, Murder with Wine
falls into mystorical fiction. Cozy mystery? Yes, but it’s a gritty cozy that's getting cozier in the romance arena. With
the author’s personal knowledge of law enforcement, it falls into police procedural.
Plus, I’m not sure I’ve encountered this before, but we have an unreliable
omniscient narrator who pops into the story here and there. Oh, and let’s not
forget: with all the food and beverage intake, I’d say it’s solidly fantasy!
Ha! Any regular visitor to Tori’s mansion, would end up morbidly obese and
would never sleep with that much caffeine in their system. I’m thankful that reading about deliciousness doesn’t
have calories, but reading Murder with Wine did keep me awake at night,
so…
“It was as if the night itself was a co-conspirator, weaving an unsettling tapestry of shadows and whispers.”
Dickason
manages to weave mysteries within mysteries that keep the readers brain on high
alert. Her descriptions are delightfully deep and evocative, creating specific
moods. Beware her clues sprinkled throughout the book; many of them are misleading.
A careful reader will definitely know who and what is off – but why? That’s
another thing entirely. In Murder with Wine, I was whipping through the pages and sometimes whipping
back a few to figure out the answers to every question. Even so, I never
saw the resolutions coming or determined what the roles of the key players
really were. Not one of them! Well done, Ms. Dickason. Well done.
In
Murder with Wine, there is a wide cast of fleshed-out characters, many
of whom have been there from the beginning of the series. These people feel
genuine, and very much like they are living their lives just an hour south of
me in Granbury. While reading, I often thought of the Nancy Drew mysteries: Mia
is the Bess Marvin to Tori’s Nancy but also very much her Hannah Gruen; David
is her Ned Nickerson; Parker is Carson Drew. IYKYK. Add to that a returning
cast of not-so-nice snobs and new, possibly nefarious, individuals, and you
have characters to like and loathe and muse upon.
“Light spilled onto the porch, wrapping Tori in its warmth as if the house itself welcomed her home.”
It
wouldn’t be a Hall Ways blog review if I didn’t complain about something, but
my only complaints are that the book ended, the next one’s not available
(yet?), and The Red Door Inn doesn’t exist. REALLY need to plan a girlfriends’
weekend there. I read an ARC, and even though it wasn’t the final copy, it was beautifully
edited, which shows me the level of attention the author gives to her novels. That’s
a true gift to readers – especially this one.
As is often the case with her books, Dickason concludes with "The Story Behind the Fiction" to enlighten readers about what’s real and what’s imagined. I love that she gives a nod to the very real Granbury Ghosts and Legends Tour and its wonderful proprietress, Brandy Herr, who’s nothing like the one in the book, thank goodness. Reading Murder with Wine leaves me hankering for more: more mystery, sure, but more coffee and baked goods and wine and warmth with people who’d surely become besties.
Award-Winning Author Anita Dickason is a retired police officer with a total of twenty-seven years of law enforcement experience, twenty-two with Dallas PD. She served as a patrol officer, undercover narcotics officer, advanced accident investigator, tactical officer, and first female sniper on the Dallas SWAT team.
