Book Review: A FLAIR FOR CHARDONNAY by Deborah Garner

Synopsis
When flamboyant senior sleuth Sadie Kramer learns the owner of Cioccolato, her favorite chocolate shop, is in trouble, she heads for the California wine country with a tote-bagged Yorkie and a slew of questions. The fourth generation Tremiato Winery promises answers, but not before a dead body turns up at the vintners’ scheduled Harvest Festival.

All four Tremiato siblings have possible motives, as well as a few peripheral acquaintances, but only one could be the guilty party. As Sadie juggles truffles, tips and turmoil, she’ll need to sort the grapes from the wrath in order to find the identity of the killer.

Review

Sadie Kramer owns a boutique, next door to a chocolatier, Mateo. She is worried about Mateo – it’s obvious something is wrong – so she takes a trip to his family owned Tremiato Winery. She stays at the B&B associated with the winery and tries to find out what’s going on in Mateo’s family. 

Mateo is the only family member not part of the winery and estranged as a result; they don't even carry his famous chocolates. But someone’s trying to buy the winery and that is creating conflict all around as Mateo is part owner. It gets more interesting when there’s a murder on the premises. After consulting with Coco, her Yorkie in her tote bag, Sadie decides to figure out who committed murder and only hopes it's not one of Mateo's family members.

The pace is steady, the characters interesting and unique. In particular, the character of Sadie is well-developed and likable, along with Coco.  Although not key to this story line, it is easy to see how Sadie's shop "Flair" will lend itself to a new cozy mystery series.  I look forward to reading more of Sadie's stories.

AMAZON