Norrie Ellington has been babysitting her family's winery, Two Witches, while her sister and hubbie have been involved in bug research (hubbie is an entomologist). Unfortunately during her sojourn at Two Witches she has been coming across a number of dead bodies, not a great thing to be known for. This time she didn't discover the body, two young boys did and since Norrie has the experience in these matter, the boys want her to tell them how to handle. Norrie is involved even though she doesn't want to be. The victim, when Norrie confirms that the boys, Eli and Stuart, didn't make it up, turns out to be manager of the seasonal laborers who has been in disagreement with Eli's father. The boys turn into fount of details/information but they get themselves into more hot water that their age would suggest.

I really enjoy this series not just for the mysteries, which are well-written, but the characters are fun and wine hints delectable. ( )

Norrie Ellington is a screenwriter who got roped into taking care of her family's winery when her sister Francine and her husband left the country temporarily for research. Since she's been there, she's discovered more bodies than she wanted, which was zero. But just when things are settling down, a boy from a neighboring winery comes to Norrie with a problem: he and his friend have discovered a dead body. Norrie's curiosity gets the better of her, and she enlists a friend to check it out...unfortunately, it is the body of a dead man, and he turns out to be a labor manager who supplies seasonal workers for some of the other wineries. Even more unfortunately, the boy's father was seen arguing with the man, and now he's the main suspect.

So Norrie and her friend Theo, (owner of Grey Egret Winery) are once again embroiled in a murder mystery. Hoping to stay under the radar of the local sheriff, who already has had his eye on Norrie many times (and not in a good way), are trying to find the real killer. But with little Eli and his best friend Stuart are tangled up in the web, Norrie has her hands full. She also might find that the web is more twisted than she knows, and a killer just might be more surprising than she thinks...

I do like J.C. Eaton's books quite a bit. They're very descriptive and also quite a twisted web; so much so that you might need a cheat sheet to keep things straight. In this series, Norrie just wants to go back home and forget the winery, but family obligations won't allow that. Also the fact that she keeps getting involved one way or another in murders. It's bad enough that she's found dead bodies, but now people are bringing dead bodies to her -- as in the case of Eli and Stuart, who do just that, telling her she needs to go look at one.

The entire situation becomes more strange and often funny with the boys being a bit more precocious than anyone could ever imagine. So much so that Theo wants to stay far away from them (as if that's going to happen). But it's also rather endearing and the story is fun and engaging, and worth reading in one sitting, as I did.

When we get closer to the end and everything begins to join tightly, Norrie's mind starts to put it all together quickly and it's a different climax with a humorous twist that had me chuckling. I really did enjoy this mystery and hope to see more of these characters in the next. Recommended. ( )

amateur-sleuth, law-enforcement, family-dynamics, friendship, pets, situational-humor, verbal-humor, winery, murder, murder-investigation, cozy-mystery*****

This is just too much fun and sleuthing! Easily stands alone but I'm reading the others for the fun! Norrie is a script writer and co owner of brother's grapes and wine business and is minding the preparation for the introduction of a new port wine when everything goes sideways. A pair of boys she knows come to her with a problem. The first murdered body. Norrie heads into things without thinking and is joined in the lunacy by friends and other wineries despite the head shaking attitude of the local law. Tons of situational and verbal humor! Fun characters and interesting observations. Loved it!
I requested and received a free temporary ebook copy from Beyond the Page Publishing via NetGalley. Thank you! ( )