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Alarm Clock & Weather HD (Free) - Digital Night Stand for iPad

Weather and Travel

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App

The hit iPad app (August 2010 Staff Favorite) is now available in a generously equipped Lite version...

My PlayHome Stores

Entertainment and Education

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App

From the creators of the award winning "My PlayHome" series! "My PlayHome Stores" allows your child...

issuu - Read Magazines

News and Lifestyle

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App

Discover, read and share your new favorite magazines on issuu, all for free. With issuu for iOS,...

Google Play Newsstand

News

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App

Google Play Newsstand is a personalized news reader that provides a single destination for browsing...

Marine Mammal Physiology: Requisites for Ocean Living

Michael A. Castellini and Jo-Ann Mellish

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Book

Suppose you were designing a marine mammal. What would you need to think about to allow it to live...

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2165 KP) rated Killer Chardonnay in Books

Aug 7, 2020

Poisoned Opening

Parker Valentine’s dream is coming true today with the opening of Vino Valentine in her hometown of Boulder, Colorado. However, her joy turns to worry when renowned local food and wine blogger Gaskel Brown shows up. He is notoriously hard to please, and his blog can make or break local restaurants. After sampling her chardonnay, Gaskel dies, and the police are quick to label it poison. Everyone is blaming Parker for the crime, and no one is coming to her store for fear they will be next. In order to save her dream, she has to find the killer. Can she do it?

Since I don’t drink wine, I almost passed on this debut, but I’m glad I picked it up. The book starts quickly, introducing us to characters while also setting the murder in motion. The pace continues to be strong with plenty of secrets and motives before we reach the climax, where everything fell into place. All the characters were also fantastic, with some good growth thanks to the subplots. The book is written in first person present tense, which is a bit unusual, but I quickly got used to it as I read. There are a handful of four-letter words, but they are worth noting mostly in passing. If the food descriptions make your mouth water, you’ll welcome the three recipes and wine pairings at the end. This book was aged to perfection, and I’m already looking forward to Parker’s next case.