No one wants to wake up to someone screaming over the phone, “There’s a dead body on my property,” especially when that someone is your neighbor and the dead body is the second one you’ve had to deal with in the past few months.

I’m Norrie Ellington and unless you’re one of those people who stay glued to their seats watching the credits roll out at the end of a movie, you’ve probably never heard of me. I’m in my twenties and I’m a screenwriter for a Canadian film company that specializes in romance and mystery. And I like keeping that drama on screen, not in my personal life, which, up until now was going great. Until I lost my mind and agreed to sublet my Manhattan apartment and oversee our family winery in upstate New York while my sister and her entomologist husband could track down some godforsaken insect in Costa Rica for Cornell’s Experiment Station.

No sooner did they leave the states when a dead body was discovered in our newly planted Riesling section. Naturally all eyes were on our winery and I had to work my tail off to save our good name. Now, four months later, I get a jarring wake-up from Rosalee Marbleton, the owner of the winery across the road, telling me one of her Corgis discovered a body and would I please investigate.

Investigate? Just because I did a little amateur sleuthing she figured I could step right in and solve the murder in her own backyard. Well, I guess she knew me well enough because the last thing I wanted to see was Rosalee being charged with a murder she didn’t commit. Thankfully, I’ve got some amazing friends, like Don and Theo, the winery owners of The Grey Egret, and my own crew here at Two Witches Winery to assist me as I skirt around the local sheriff’s deputies to get to the bottom of the case.

If I wasn’t dealing with bodies in vineyards, I’d be more focused on my writing. Still, I’ve managed to crank out a few decent screenplays that are bound to make viewers tear up during the holiday season. My sister was right when she said all I needed was a laptop and a phone. Of course, what I didn’t need was Alvin, the winery’s Nigerian dwarf goat who resembles a small camel and whose favorite pastime is spitting at me. At least Charlie, the Plott Hound, likes me. I figure it’s because I feed him people food in addition to his kibble, something my sister never would allow. The dog smells like the local dump even though I bathe him constantly but I’ve gotten used to it. Especially because he insists on sleeping in my bed.

I’m counting the days until my sister and her husband get back here but if Godfrey Klein, their contact at Cornell, has any say, I may never get out of the winery business. One thing for sure, we make an exceptional Chardonnay and I hope all of you get to visit the Finger Lakes in New York and find out for yourself. I’ll be sure to say hello, unless of course, someone else has roped me into solving a murder.

You can read more about Norrie in Chardonnayed to Rest, the second book in the “Wine Trail” mystery series.

Finding a murderer requires 100% proof.

In Seneca Lake, New York, Norrie Ellington’s Two Witches Winery has been selected by the local vintner community to host the annual Federweisser, a celebration of the season’s first fermentation of white Chardonnay grapes. But the festivities are spoiled when Norrie learns that landowner Roy Wilkes has raised her neighbor Rosalee Marbleton’s rent so high, she may have to close her vineyard.

Before the rent hike could go into effect, Wilkes is found dead on Roslaee’s property—stabbed by a flowerpot stake—and she becomes the police’s number one suspect. To clear her friend’s name, Norrie conducts her own investigation. But as she gathers clues, Norrie finds herself targeted by a killer, and if she’s not careful, her desire to see justice done may die on the vine . . .

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About the author
Ann I. Goldfarb
New York native Ann I. Goldfarb spent most of her life in education, first as a classroom teacher and later as a middle school principal and professional staff developer. Writing as J. C. Eaton, along with her husband, James Clapp, they have authored the Sophie Kimball Mysteries (Kensington), The Wine Trail Mysteries (Kensington Lyrical Underground), and coming in August 2018, The Marcie Rayner Mysteries (Camel). In addition, Ann has nine published YA time travel mysteries under her own name.

James E. Clapp
When James E. Clapp retired as the tasting room manager for a large upstate New York winery, he never imagined he’d be co-authoring cozy mysteries with his wife, Ann I. Goldfarb. Non-fiction in the form of informational brochures and workshop materials treating the winery industry were his forte along with an extensive background and experience in construction that started with his service in the U.S. Navy and included vocational school classroom teaching.

Visit their website at jceatonauthor.com and on Facebook.

All comments are welcomed.