If it were left to me, my day would start at 10 am. But it isn’t and Max, my gorgeously handsome partner in life, wouldn’t allow me to waste away in bed all day. He is up by 7 and has put the first pot of morning coffee on, knowing that the smell alone will get me up and at ‘em.

When it is just the two of us, I’ll amble down the stairs of our London flat in my favorite batik dressing gown to sip my coffee at the big marble island that is the gathering place in our house. If I am traveling somewhere with Whitt, my younger sister and frequent partner in crime, I will rush into the bathroom before she gets up to be sure she doesn’t take all the hot water with her hourlong showers. What that girl does under water for that long is beyond me. She must be a recovering mermaid.

So it was, with Max and me finishing the last of the coffee as we flipped through the Times, when Grant’s name flashed across my phone screen. Grant, my ex-husband, whom I haven’t spoken to in a decade. Before I could even get through hello, he explained in a panic that he was in jail, in Italy, suspected of murdering his wife whom he had tried to report as missing. I was inclined to rally the troops to come to his defense. Divorced or not, he is still family. Max was a bit more reticent. So we put it to the court of Mama.

And with that, our regular Sunday “connection” call with Mama and Daddy turned into a full-blown war council. It started out normal enough with Mama filling us in on the family news, giving us unsolicited but always welcome advice, and reminding me regularly of how a proper southern lady should comport herself under even the most trying of circumstances. Meanwhile, Daddy sat and listened. Then I casually mentioned that Grant had called. I explained why and all hell broke loose.

“That boy may be a lot of things, but a killer he ain’t!” Mama declared.

And much to Max’s surprise, Mama and Daddy both insisted that we head to Spoleto to “help the boy out.”

To his credit, Max is still learning the dynamics of my southern clan. When he first joined the family, he thought I was telling tall tales about Mama’s steel magnolia hold over family governance, well hidden behind her lady-like demeanor. Now he’s just rightfully, and lovingly, scared of the woman. As such, whatever she says goes.

So here we are in Umbria’s prime truffle country, staying with friends of Max’s from his New York days and trying to piece together how Grant could be charged with murder when nobody has turned up dead– yet. Besides an elusive wife, her apparent lover, bored policemen, and skeptical lawyers, when you have good food, good friends, and really good wine, what could go wrong?

Murder and Chianti, A Blake Sisters Travel Mystery Book 6
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: September 2024
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link

When her ex-husband Grant is jailed in Italy for the murder of his current wife, Finley’s decision to help him uncovers long-held secrets that threaten reputations, marriages—and her life.

Grant’s wife goes missing while on their second honeymoon, and he calls Finley in a panic. With the support of Mama, Daddy, and Evans, Max and Finley head to Spoleto to see what they can do to help him out. But when new evidence suggests that his wife isn’t really dead, things take a sudden turn and dark secrets come to light that put a completely different spin on the facts. Finley and Max must discover who the mysterious man is, who appears with Grant’s wife in photos taken of the two, and what twisted game they are playing before Grant is convicted of a crime that never happened.

Follow Finley, Max, and their friends across the Umbrian countryside in the latest Blake Sisters Travel Mystery as they search for truffles, truth, and good wine in this saga of pricey tubers, illusive wives, and sublime Chianti.

About the author
Carter Fielding is a millennial with an old soul. She likes old maps, old photographs, vintage records, and vintage champagnes. A Southerner, with roots in Anderson, S.C., she also likes a good mellow bourbon, a day that calls for wearing a barn jacket and wellies, and the smell of wet earth after a good rain. Above all, she likes a good mystery, one that has her scratching her head half-way through trying to figure out who did it, one that takes her to places she has never been before, one that lets her discover more than just dead bodies–without having to kennel the dog. Carter lives in Northern Virginia with her Boykin spaniel, Trucker, and uses her passion for books and travel to create characters she hopes readers will love. She especially likes the characters in the newest installment, Murder and Chianti.