Still Knife Painting by Cheryl Hollon is the first book in the NEW “Paint & Shine” cozy mystery series. Publisher: Kensington Books, coming June 30, 2020.
Miranda Trent has set up a sweet life in a scenic corner of Appalachia—until she stumbles across the trail of a killer . . .
After inheriting her uncle’s Red River Gorge homestead in Eastern Kentucky—smack dab in the middle of the Daniel Boone National Forest—Miranda comes up with a perfect business plan for summer tourists: pairing outdoor painting classes with sips of local moonshine, followed by a mouthwatering sampler of the best in southern cooking.
To Miranda’s delight, Paint & Shine is a total success—until someone kills the cook. As the town’s outsider, suspicion naturally falls on Miranda. Murdering the best biscuit baker of Red River Gorge is a high crime in these parts. Miranda will have to prove her innocence before she’s moved from farmhouse to jail cell faster than she can say “white lightning” . . .
Dru’s Musing:
I could not put this book down with its enticing mystery that catered to what I enjoy in a whodunit. The mystery was tightly woven with a well-written story-line and a small pool of suspects that lent itself to the page-turning nature of this light drama. The pacing set the stage to how well this story was being told as well as the comfortable tone that made it easy to follow along as the author intended. Miranda is a great protagonist and I liked how first she is trying to save the family farm and then second trying to clear her name and business. I enjoyed the little bit of information that was given for each character that helped ferret out the killer. There were a few surprises that enhanced my reading pleasure. The author knows how to tell a story with an eclectic cast of characters, multi-plot twists, engaging dialogue and visually descriptive narrative that set the mood for each scene as the story progressed. This was a good read from Ms. Hollon and I can’t wait to see what adventure is waiting for Miranda in the next book in this delightfully appealing series.
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FTC Full Disclosure – I received an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) from the author.