My name is Jill Curtis and I’m a travel writer for a syndicated Chicago news service. What I’m I looking for? A break—one big, attention-grabbing story that will move me into my dream job of investigative reporter. And where is the boss sending me and my videographer? Certainly not London, Paris or Rome. No, Michael and I are headed to some small town in Kentucky to discover why thousands of tourists line up to tour their famous distilleries. Maybe we’ll find some delicious vittles to eat and some tasty spirits to sip, but I don’t smell a Pulitzer Prize in the making.

What the boss and Michael don’t know is that my grandmother’s cousin lives in Roseville, home to two bourbon distilleries, and the woman owns a charming B&B. Who wouldn’t rather stay in a rambling Victorian mansion rather than a low-end chain motel on the outskirts of town? Although Granny hasn’t spoken to Dot Clark, the innkeeper, in years due to a teenage argument, I plan to mend fences between the two old ladies while I’m there. After all, what else do I have to do in rural America after the sun goes down?

Turns out the innkeeper’s husband is the master distiller of Black Creek, the smaller of the two distilleries we had planned to tour. With any luck Michael can shoot behind-the-scenes video, while I might be able to interview the head honcho of Black Creek in person. That would be so much better than the canned tour available to the general public. After all, who can turn down a long-lost relative who’s also your houseguest?

What I didn’t bargain for is meeting the handsome son of the master distiller at Founder’s Reserve. . .or tripping over a dead body during tour number-two.

One for the Road by Mary Ellis, Bourbon Tour Mystery #1
Genre: Traditional
Release: January 2021
Purchase Link

Travel writer Jill Curtis loves her job, but she desperately needs a break if she’s to achieve her dream of becoming an investigative reporter. Sent to Kentucky by her boss to find out why thousands of tourists flock to Bourbon Country every year, Jill’s dream seems to be slipping further away. After all, nothing interesting ever happens in small town America . . . does it?

Staying at an estranged relative’s B&B, Jill’s plan to uncover what makes the state’s bourbon tours so popular goes awry when she trips over a body at one of the distilleries and quickly becomes a suspect in a brutal murder. Can she navigate high-stakes bourbon rivalries, centuries-old family feuds and ill-fated romance to catch a killer and finally land the promotion she craves?

Meet the author
Mary Ellis is a USA Today bestselling author who’s written twenty-five novels including Amish fiction, historical romance, and suspense. Her first mystery, Midnight on the Mississippi, was a finalist for the RT Magazine’s Reviewer’s Choice Award and a finalist for the Daphne du Maurier Award. Her latest mysteries are One for the Road from the Bourbon Tour Mysteries from Severn House and Nothing Tastes So Sweet, in The Amish Sweet Shop anthology from Kensington. She lives in Ohio.  Visit her website at maryellis.net.

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