Review: LABELED FOR DEATH by Michele Drier

Synopsis:
Vineyards around Monroe are being harvested, the ripe grape bunches sliced off the vines and trucked to wineries, where they’ll be crushed to make some of California’s finest wines. 

Amy Hobbes, managing editor of the Monroe Press has other stories in mind, until Clarice Stamms, her cops reporter blows in with news about another harvest, two bodies tucked up under the vines. The field workers were stabbed and their throats sliced. Are they just victims of a worker’s anger?
When the town’s most popular and well-known hooker turns up at the vineyard’s labor camp, sliced and stabbed as well, Amy and Clarice are on the hunt again, the adrenaline tingling down their nerve endings.
Who’s the killer stalking the vineyards and why?

Review:
Murder and wine make a perfect pairing! Amy Hobbes is really the editor and Clarice is the police beat reporter, but Amy is helping Clarice as the "bad luck" of the DiFazio/Govicche vineyards.  It all seems a bit too coincidental. In order to figure out a motive and possibly solve the mystery, Amy has to research the history of the vineyards.  Drier provides an informative history, going back to prohibition.  At the same time, she moves the story forward at a steady pace. 

This is the second in the series and there is sufficient back story on Amy that she is a likable character and this story can be read as a stand-alone.  That said, I suspect as in most series, it would be a good idea to read EDITED FOR DEATH and get to know Amy and Clarice even better!  I plan to go back and read that one...

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