I thoroughly enjoyed this entertaining mystery set in the Sonoma wine country. I found the characters to be engaging and with a good sense of humor. Plenty of twists left me guessing until the end. I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher and this is my honest opinion.

Seven Deadly Zins is the second book in the A Wine Country Mystery series.

Taylor O’Brian has recently formed Off The Beaten Path and provides tours of the smaller wineries and walking tours of some of the beautiful spots in the area. Her next group that will be touring is a group of investors looking to purchase or invest in local wineries. Tim Slade, who owns a winery near Taylor’s Aunt Jemma asks when his winery will be one of the stops on her tours. She agrees to include with this group. As Tim is explaining the process of producing wine he finds a body in one the vats. The will soon be identified as Realtor Jeffrey Hoag. Tim’s girlfriend, Mandy, worked for Hoag in his real estate office. Sheriff Hennessey feels he has enough evidence to charge Tim with the murder of Hoag. Taylor’s friend, a lawyer, is able to get Tim released on bail.

Also going on in Sonoma, Dr. Brinkman, a meditation guru, has moved to town and is seeking new followers. Mandy has arranged for free tickets to Taylor, Holly, Taylor’s best friend, and Chelsea, a friend and newspaper reporter. Drinks are provided to everyone to “relax” the potential followers. Taylor and Chelsea decide to abstain, but Holly drinks hers. After the meeting, Holly wants to pursue the meditation ritual that Brinkman is backing. Taylor and Chelsea feel that there was something mind-altering in the drink. A couple of days later, Holly wants to go to another meeting and Taylor agrees to go along to make sure Holly doesn’t turn over savings to the group. When they arrive, Mindy sees them and offers to take them backstage to meet Dr. Brinkham. What they find is Tim looking over Brinkaham’s body and Tim has blood on his shirt. Once again the police arrest him and bail will be denied.

Taylor can’t believe that Tim would ruin a vat of wine by putting a dead body in a vat and with the help of Chelsea and Holly they set out to find the killer.

In addition to being concerned about finding the killer, Taylor is also concerned about the new tour company that has just started operating. The owner, Bridget, has a high-tech bus and Taylor is worried about Bridget taking away some of her business.

A wonderful addition this fun series which also has an interesting cast of characters.

Recipes are also included with the book.

I will be watching for the next book in the series.

Taylor O’Brian, owner and operator for Off The Beaten Path tours in Sonoma County, has a lot going on in this book. Her good friend Tim Slade is arrested for murder when he finds a body in a vat of wine during one of her tours, she’s got competition from a new, and rapidly rising tour operator whose business is booming, she’s attracted to two strong and attractive men, and her beloved Aunt Jemma is put at risk when it seems she and the gang are hot on he murderer’s trail.

While there is a lot going on, the story lines all fit in together and you don’t feel like there a disconnected stories taking you all over. What you will find are a lot of suspects, some surprises along the way, and surprise ending that will keep you in suspense until the very end.

I enjoyed the quirky aspects of the quirky tours, the committed friendships that Taylor has, and the wine country setting. I did find Taylor a tad flakey for someone who had such a successful career before heading to be with her Aunt Jemma. Hopefully she will evolve and bring her business acumen to the winery and her business over the next few books. Overall, this is a solid mystery that will have you wishing for more from this author and series.

Princess Fuzzypants here: If I was visiting Sonoma, I would book one of Taylor’s Off the Beaten Track tours. They sound like great fun. It’s her side “hobby” of solving murders that leads her into dangerous waters. It seems during a tour of a local winery, she is there when a body is pulled out of the fermenting vat. Despite his noble effort at trying the revive the deceased, the owner of the vineyard is arrested for the murder of a local realtor.
Taylor must double down her effort when it turns out he is arrested once again, after he makes bail, for the murder of a self help guru. Things are not looking good for him and take a decidedly dangerous turn for both Taylor and her aunt. What is worse, it seems that every time she turns around, the bad guys know what is going on.
I must admit I suspected one of the villains from the outset but the secondary villain was a surprise.
I give it four purrs and two paws up.

My knowledge of wines is limited to white, red and champagne but this series is one I enjoy. The setting of Sonoma county and the characters of Taylor and her Aunt Jemma are the draws for me. Put a cat on the book cover and I'm ready to sit down and get lost in the mystery.
Taylor has come to live with her Aunt and to help her with her business but, at the same time, Taylor wants to strike out on her own. She sets herself up with a VW bus and gives small tours of local wineries. One of her tours is at the request of her friend, Tim. Too bad the tour hits a major snag when the local FDA inspector is found very dead in a vat of grapes. One murder leads to another and the police are even more convinced that Tim is the killer. It takes Taylor and her friends to figure out who the killer really is before Tim ends up wearing an orange jumpsuit in his new home behind bars.
This is the second in the series and it is as good as the first. No sophomore slump here. The mystery is full of the anticipated twists, turns and red herrings and I came away satisfied, ready to put the next one on my TBR list.

A highly entertaining mystery with engaging characters and a great sense of humor.I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading her other series.

The second in the A Wine Country Mystery series.
In this installment, Taylor now has competition on the wine touring circuit. She takes a tour to her friends Tim’s winery. While showing the customers around, they discover a body floating in a vat.
If this isn’t enough, another body is found and linked to Tim. Taylor needs to find out who is committing the murders and trying to frame Tim.

What I did not like about this book:
The police are portrayed as idiots.
The dialogue is weak at best.
Taylor needs to develop her interpersonal skills.

What I did like:
The slow start quickly picked up.
Plenty of reasons for the crimes- good way to delay finding out for sure who did it.

I volunteered to read and review an ARC of this book provided by Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley. These are my unsolicited opinions.

I had not read a cozy mystery since the Aurora Teagarden series by Charlaine Harris, and that was before the term had even been coined, but was aware that it is a huge sub genre within crime fiction and felt that I was ready to give it another go. I was drawn to this because it has a cat and a bottle of wine on the cover, and liked the idea of the Californian wine country setting. It was certainly an easy read, but I don’t see me getting further into the cozy scene.

This is the second in a series about Taylor O’Brian, a friendly young woman who runs a wine tour business in the Sonoma Valley and lives with her aunt who runs a boutique winery. I tried to buy the first book in the series but it was not available for Kindle, and don’t feel that I missed any significant backstory. This is set a month on from that murder, which is referred to briefly but without any apparent spoilers.

Taylor has taken a tour group to visit her friend Tim’s small winery, when a body is discovered in the vat of grape juice. He is arrested for murder but Taylor is sure he is innocent so drafts her friends into solving it, including a journalist, a medium, and an art gallery assistant. Meanwhile a cult like group has moved into the town with a mysterious guru as it’s head, gathering followers and preaching peace and love - but requiring large cash investment from its followers, and only Taylor appears to see through them.

I quite enjoyed this, as Taylor is an amiable if slightly annoying heroine who means well but blunders in to matters she knows nothing about. There is a nice group of characters who are easily distracted from their investigation by girly catch-ups over wine and barbecued food. Taylor has two potential love interests but can’t seem to decide which to pick or what to do about them.
I found her habit of describing what every single character was wearing intensely irritating as it distracted from what was going on. I had hoped for a lot more information about wine and wine-making - I got to the end of the book and still have no clue as to what a Zinfandel tastes like, it’s not a variety we see here in NZ.

Ultimately if you like this genre, you will enjoy this book, but for me it has confirmed that I prefer darker mysteries that don’t treat death as an amusing puzzle. My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. Incidentally, this is my 100th NG review!
Seven Deadly Sins is released on the 8th of January.

Seven Deadly Zins...what a great play on words! Parra’s latest mystery is a great and quick read. I was hooked from the start and found myself wanted to keep reading and live vicariously through the characters. The only criticism I can really give is the ending felt flat given all the build up. It was a little too tidy the summation and capturing of the villains. I also felt like there was a lot of loose threads that I can only hope will be taken up in following books.

Seven Deadly Zins is a typical cozy mystery. It's a cute entertaining read that doesn't require a lot of thought. It's perfect for a relaxing day

Sonoma Vineyard Cozy Mystery
This book is part of a series. I have not read the first book, although I will. This book stands alone well and the reader does not feel 'left out ' of the details. This book is very well written with just the right amount of detail and enough left to the reader's imagination. The final plot reveal was a surprise and that is rare in my reading experience. The characters are completely realistic, all could be your own relatives, none were over-the-top. I would love to read the rest of this series! I received this ARC book for free and this is my honest review.

As a fan of wine, it is a delight to visit wine country. An interesting and entertaining read. The power of suggestion certainly has worked on me. I just realized I am drinking wine while I write this review. After one scene I wasn't sure I wanted to be drinking wine while I read, but that feeling quickly passed.

Seven Deadly Zins by Nancy J. Parra is the second book in the "A Wine Country Mystery series." Each book in the series is set in Sonoma County wine country which is some of the most beautiful land in America. As one who grew up in that area I love the author's descriptions of the area and the small town feel to Sonoma that remains today. Sonoma is unique and rarely written of in mysteries so this series is a delightful read to me and I loved the first in series as well as this new release.

Taylor O’Brian had moved to Sonoma to live with her Aunt Jemma on her aunt’s small winery in Sonoma. Taylor decided to cash in on the local tourist trade and started "Taylor’s Off The Beaten Path Wine Tours." What fun the author's descriptions are of the tours and Taylor's interaction with the tourists. You feel as if your on the tour by the author's wonderful descriptions. Taylor has competition when another local resident starts a competing tour business much to her chagrin.

A neighboring winery owner asks Taylor to include his property on her tourist tours. Taylor brings a group for a tour and along with the wine tasting the find a dead body in a vat. Taylor is on the case and begins to investigate. Her sleuthing skills are proving to be adapt and soon she is discovering suspects and clues.

i love this second in series and hope this series has a long publication with many more releases. The writing is definitive cozy with all the right elements, the charcters are delightful and the description of Sonoma is accurate and enjoyable. its a step into Sonoma life with a great sleuth and a feisty smart protagonist. I like that the author included a paranormal edge with the aunt which was a fun addition.

Thank you for the ARC. My opinion is my own.

Seven Deadly Zins by Nancy J. Parra is the second book in the cozy A Wine Country Mystery series. Each book of the series has it’s own murder mystery to be solved so they don’t necessarily need to be read in order, however, the character building does carry over from book to book.

Taylor O’Brian had moved to Sonoma to live with her Aunt Jemma on her aunt’s small winery when her health came into question. Even though her aunt owned the winery Taylor had wanted to make her own way so she decided to cash in on the local scenery and bought an old VW bus much like the famous Mystery Machine and planned to start up Taylor’s Off The Beaten Path Wine Tours.

Taylor was just getting settled into her home at the winery and her new business when a fellow winery owner and friend asks Taylor to include his property on her upcoming tours. Taylor was happy to oblige until she brings a group for a tour and along with the wine in the vat they find a dead body.

The A Wine Country Mystery series is one that has a quirky and cute vibe to it which I actually love. The characters and setting are both quite nice and I suppose you could add a touch of paranormal to the description with Aunt Jemma hosting seances. The thing with this one to me though was the author was trying to spread the focus of the story around a bit which in the end to me made the outcome more obvious leaving me to rate this edition 3.5 stars. I’ll still be on board another trip to Sonoma when the series continues though.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Cute and fun, but has some predictability. Seven Deadly Zins by Nancy J. Parra is the second book in the Wine Country Mystery series which is set in Sonoma, California. I enjoyed the first book, A Case of Syrah, Syrah, which introduces us to our main character, Taylor O’Brian, and her wine country tour business, Off the Beaten Path. Taylor is back in this entry, and I like Taylor. She’s quirky and fun, a good friend and close to her aunt, but she also falls prey to the typical cozy mystery heroine tropes. She’s always poking her nose in places it doesn’t belong, doing the wrong thing and not listening to law enforcement, and tends to make silly decisions that make no sense. Towards the end of this book, she made one of the most ridiculous decisions I’ve read in a cozy mystery in a long time, but it ended up being the right thing to do!
The setting of small town Sonoma in the heart of California’s wine country is a lot of fun. I live near Sonoma, and this series feels like wine country (a more low-key version). It doesn’t feel stuffy to me, and I know many people feel that wine is snobby (and it absolutely can be), but there isn’t any of that here, which I really appreciate.
The plot of Seven Deadly Zins centers around real estate and an inspirational speaker who inspires people to change their lives. I liked the mystery here. It moved quickly and all of the various characters were easy to keep track of, and with multiple red herrings I didn’t figure out whodunit until it was revealed in the book.
I’d definitely recommend this book and series to those who enjoy cozy mysteries with a fun heroine. So far this series has been fairly light on the romance angle, but there are two suitors here: Sheriff Ron (a law enforcement love interest is a requirement it seems in cozy mysteries!) and a lawyer named Patrick. This is a fun, easy series that does have some predictability, but is a good escape.

Bottom Line: Cute and fun, but like any cozy mystery, has a dash of predictability.

Taylor's back and dealing with all sorts of problems in Sonoma. Her friend Tim finds a dead man in one of his vats, her friend is tied up with a dubious guru, and what's happened to her aunt Jemma? This is classic cozy territory where there are a few strands that eventually merge. It's not especially hard to guess who the villain is but it is a good read nonetheless. I would note, as others have, that this really needed a copy editor. Seriously. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

A very good cozy, engaging and entertaining.
I liked the plot, the cast of characters and the setting.
The mystery was good, full of twists and turns, and it kept me guessing till the end.
It the was the first instalment I read in this series and it can be read as a standalone.
I look forward to read further instalments in this series.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books and Netgalley for this ARC

At their first stop, Taylor O’Brian’s tour group witnesses the discovery of a dead body in a vat of Zinfandel at Tim Slade’s Rock Paths Winery. While Taylor believes Tim is innocent, he is quickly arrested for the murder of Realtor Jeffery Hoag.

Meanwhile, Tim’s girlfriend Mandy is spending his money consulting with Dr. Adam Brinkman, a charismatic speaker and “world renowned leader of positivity”, which creates tension between Mandy and Tim. These two paths come together when Mandy finds Dr. Brinkman stabbed at a speaking engagement where Tim, recently out on bail, is also in attendance. Once again, Tim is arrested for murder. Taylor believes there is a connection between the two murders and that Tim is conveniently being framed for both.

This complex mystery is creatively conceived and a fascinating read. Nancy Parra’s writing skills draw the reader right into the middle of the story for an absorbing experience from beginning to end. Not only are the twists appropriately distracting, the solution is a stunning surprise.

**3.5 Stars**

I haven't read the first book so this was my introduction to the series. I got a good sense of the characters and didn't feel like I was missing out on any information by not reading the previous novel. This was a quick and fairly entertaining read. I like the wine country setting and the characters. My interest waned in the latter 2/3 of the novel and I felt like the elements of the mystery could have been weaved together more tightly, but this was an entertaining read. I would continue with the series and recommend if you like cozy mysteries.

Taylor O’Brian, a tour guide in Sonoma County, takes small groups on wine country tours. Taylor decides to guide some investors to the winery owned by her friend Tim Slade. But when an FDA inspector is found floating face down in one of Tim’s vats of squished grapes, Taylor has to find the killer before Tim is sent up the river.
This was a good whodunit filled with suspense, intrigue, and wine. Taylor was a very likeable character who loved to take control and figure out the truth. She did things that would get her in trouble, although it was always to help someone she loved. The plot was intricate, and there were many suspects and red herrings to keep a reader guessing. I think this book would be a fun read for cozy mystery lovers who love wine. I received an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from the publisher and am voluntarily reviewing it.