Book Review: STILL KNIFE PAINTING - Paint and Shine Mysteries Book 1 by Cheryl Hollon

About the Book

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” . . . 

Review 

Miranda jumps into the close knit community, her uncle's home, and his moonshine. A new chapter in her life and she's making friends - she thinks - with the people who worked, and still work, on the grounds. Miranda's business plan includes hiring locals to cook and serve a traditional southern meal. She has a great plan and though several keeping asking if she's really staying, she's ready to settle in and find the secret to her uncle's moonshine. The murder of the cook threatens all she's started.

Red River Gorge is a delightful place, unless you're the outsider. Hollon brings the personalities and setting to life as the story unfolds. There are plenty of suspects and other characters. When Sheriff Larson has to call in help from Lexington, Miranda starts sleuthing on her own.

I'd read Book 3 previously and liked it enough to go back and read this one. I was not disappointed. Hollon brings the reader to rural Kentucky with lots of quirky characters. In addition to the murder, there are a few side plots and the promise of possible romance for Miranda. If you like cozy mysteries, even if you don't like moonshine, you'll enjoy this one. 

The Paint and Shine Mysteries

Still Knife Painting

Draw and Order

Death A Sketch

Blog Tour and Book Review: DEATH A SKETCH - A Paint & Shine Mystery by Cheryl Hollon

 

In eastern Kentucky, Miranda Trent runs a unique tour company called Paint & Shine, but sometimes the peaceful mountains play host to murder . . .

 

Miranda’s business—combining Appalachian adventure tours with art and a bit of moonshine—is the perfect place for an outdoor sporting goods company to hold an employee retreat. It’ll be a challenge, but the money they’re paying will definitely help with building her new distillery.

Miranda has lots of teamwork-fostering activities planned, from sketching classes to Southern cooking, but the executive running things prefers a more competitive spirit. In fact, after the workers are split into teams, they’re told that only the winners will keep their jobs, and tensions begin to spike. Even after a participant is found dead, the contest continues—while Miranda starts drawing her own conclusions about the ambitious attendees. Now she just has to find the proof . . .

Review:

Miranda's on a mission - make enough money with her tour company to building her new distillery. Only there's a deadline on that. The combination of great scenery, art, and moonshine for her usual tours isn't enough. Hence her venture into the corporate world with what she envisions as a team-building experience. Unfortunately, the people in charge of the company have very different ideas, pitting the employees against each other. The silver lining is reconnecting with her old friend, Rowena, only Rowena is obviously fearful of losing her job if things don't work out.

If it had been her choice and she didn't need the money, Miranda would have cancelled the mess especially after the murder. Only the people in charge insisted it continue. Unfortunately, the misfortunes continued as well with an interesting cast of suspects. The bright spot is the forest ranger, Austin Morgan, with more than a passing interest in Miranda.

The characters are well-developed, especially Miranda, Austin, and others in the town. The plot played out with twists and turns, and a surprising ending. Hollon has done a great job of combining eco-themes with art and mystery, a cute dog named Sandy, and a budding romance. I look forward to reading more in this series, and have already bought the first one. Although this is the third  in the series, it can easily be read out of order. If you like cozy mysteries with a strong female MC, you'll enjoy this one.

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in the hopes that I would post an honest review. This has not affected the content of my review in any way.

About Cheryl Hollon

Cheryl Hollon now writes full-time after she left an engineering career designing and building military flight simulators in amazing countries such as England, Wales, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, and India. Fulfilling the dream of a lifetime, she combines her love of writing with a passion for oil painting and creating glass art. 

Cheryl and her husband live in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. Visit her online at http://cherylhollon.com, on Facebook or on Twitter @CherylHollon.

Purchase Links Amazon - B&N - Kobo - Google Play - IndieBound - Kensington  

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Guest Post: CHERYL HOLLON on Writing a Book

Today, it is my pleasure to have Cheryl Hollon as my guest answering the question...

What part of the book do you find most challenging – the beginning, the middle, or the end?

The trickiest part in writing a book has changed over the course of my debut year as a published author. When I started writing the Webb’s Glass Shop series, the ending was an absolute nightmare. I struggled with it like an Olympian wrestler. There were all those loose ends that needed resolution. All the red herrings had to be resolved. Finally there was the orchestration of the reveal. I felt like one of those lace makers juggling tiny threads on too many bobbins.

Now my nemesis is the middle. The middle muddle to be exact. I enjoy the opening scenes where the students arrive for the featured glass workshop closely followed by the finding of a body. As the investigation progresses, more suspects are added, more questions are raised and more motives are revealed. Then – this is where I really get bogged down – an investigation needs to continue to have successes and failures until the resolution. From the middle muddle, this seems a long, long, long way to get to the beginning of the end.

I finally devised a method for getting through the middle muddle with less angst and more interest. I divide the middle into three sections with an arc for each. That little trick gives me the feeling of tackling only a short section instead of a huge block that represents more than two thirds of the book.

This plan helps me approach the middle with more confidence and its definitely more fun for me to write. It is not a surprise that if it’s fun for me to write, it’s usually fun for the reader as well. And who doesn’t want to have fun.

About Shards of Murder:
When a glass-making competition turns deadly, glass shop owner Savannah Webb must search for a window into a criminal's mind…
As the new proprietor of Webb's Glass Shop, Savannah has been appointed to fill her late father's shoes as a judge for the Spinnaker Arts Festival, held in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida. With her innovative glass works, the clear winner is Megan Loyola, a student of Savannah's former mentor.

But when Megan doesn't show up to accept her $25,000 award, rumors start flying. And when Savannah discovers the woman's dead body on festival grounds, the police immediately suspect her of murder. To keep from appearing before a judge herself, Savannah sorts through the broken pieces of glass scattered around the victim for clues as to who took this killer competition too far. . .

Meet the Author:
Cheryl Hollon writes full time after she left an engineering career designing and building military flight simulators in amazing countries such as England, Wales, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan and India. Fulfilling the dream of a lifetime, she combines her love of writing with a passion for creating glass art. In the small glass studio behind the house, Cheryl and her husband George design, create, and produce fused glass, stained glass and painted glass artworks.

You can visit Cheryl and her books at

http://www.cherylhollon.com

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cheryl-Hollon-Writer/357992230995844

http://www.twitter.com/cherylhollon

Buy links:

Pane & Suffering  AMAZON

Shards of Murder Barnes&Noble AMAZON

PJ Nunn Publicist, BreakThrough Promotions p:972-825-1171 | e:pj@breakthroughpromotions.net | w:http://breakthroughpromotions.net | a: Waxahachie TX

Blog Tour: Pane and Suffering

Synopsis:

To solve her father’s murder and save the family-owned glass shop, Savannah Webb must shatter a killer’s carefully constructed façade. . .

After Savannah’s father dies unexpectedly of a heart attack, she drops everything to return home to St. Petersburg, Florida, to settle his affairs–including the fate of the beloved, family-owned glass shop. Savannah intends to hand over ownership to her father’s trusted assistant and fellow glass expert, Hugh Trevor, but soon discovers the master craftsman also dead of an apparent heart attack.

As if the coincidence of the two deaths wasn’t suspicious enough, Savannah discovers a note her father left for her in his shop, warning her that she is in danger. With the local police unconvinced, it’s up to Savannah to piece together the encoded clues left behind by her father. And when her father’s apprentice is accused of the murders, Savannah is more desperate than ever to crack the case before the killer seizes a window of opportunity to cut her out of the picture. . .

REVIEW:

Savannah just wants to take care of her father's affairs and sell Webb's to his assistant, Hugh, but then he dies suddenly as well. Coincidence? Savannah is devastated.  Finding the cipher her father left her with a warning that she could be next convinces her that neither death was due to natural causes.  She just has to get past the bungling policeman.

The glass shop and class Savannah has to teach provide an interesting context for this double murder mystery. The characters of her father, Jacob, Amanda, and Jonathan and the rest of the people in the class add dimension to the story. The plot moves along with unusual twists and turns in the form of geocaches and ciphers to be solved. A change of pace, this was an enjoyable read, and I learned a lot about glass and geocaching. 

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book in the hopes that I would post an honest review as part of this blog tour. This has not affected the content of my review in any way.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Cheryl Hollon now writes full-time after she left an engineering career of designing and building military flight simulators in amazing countries such as England, Wales, Australia, Singapore, Taiwan, and India. Fulfilling the dream of a lifetime, she combines her love of writing with a passion for creating glass art. In the small glass studio behind her house in St. Petersburg, Florida, Cheryl and her husband design, create, and produce fused glass, stained glass, and painted glass artworks. Visit her online at http://cherylhollon.com, on Facebook or on Twitter @CherylHollon.

Purchase Links:
Amazon B&N

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