A Shot of Murder is the first book I have read by this author.

The story starts ten years after leaving the small town of Gett, Florida, for Hollywood stardom, Charlotte "Charms" Lucky—who has never quite lived up to her surname—returns home to run the Lucky Whiskey distillery while her grandfather recovers from a heart attack.

Unfortunately, too many characters are named the same and sometimes things were repeated over and over again. The potential is there, but needs. work.

This is going to be one of those rare occasions where I'm going to rate and share a review on a book I didn't finish.

Let's start with some positives... The setting, story concept, and main character were interesting enough to keep me reading for as long as I did. So, well done. This could turn out to be a really fun read. Which is why it got two stars, instead of one.

Constructive criticism time: I made it through 19% of the book and really wish I had the stamina to keep reading, as I could see the potential begging me to continue. But the extreme lack of editing or proofing just made me give up. It became so wince worthy that it was colouring my view of the storyline and making me start to dislike the characters. I honestly don't think they were poorly written. I don't think the book was poorly written. I strongly feel the book, characters, and author were let down by the ARC having little to no proofing or editing done to it before it was sent to reviewers.

Normally, with ARCS, I expect the odd mistake. But when I started being able to tally up to 5 a page, sometimes in a SENTENCE, a had to stop. I know, as a reviewer, I'm not perfect when it comes to writing, grammar, etc. But my reviews aren't sent through the process of editing, proofing, spit polishing, etc.

And the formatting was NOT set for Kindle, and so new paragraphs started mid-sentence. New chapters were just number at the bottom of the page, and the actual new chapter started on the next page. Shocking formatting I'd barely accept from my 11 year old in a school project in Word. Definitely not in a Netgalley ARC.

So please take this constructive criticism as help, not an insult. I feel 'A Shot for Murder' has the potential to be a great, fun cosy mystery. I just couldn't handle to total lack of decent editing. I feel the publisher has really let the author and book down by sending out such a badly formatted and seemingly unedited ARC.

Princess Fuzzypants here: Charlotte returns to Everglades Florida when her grandfather has a heart attack. She leaves her so-so Hollywood career so she can help him recover and run the family distilling business. Her surname is Lucky, a moniker she shares with the Boutique whiskey they make. The name does not describe what awaits her.

First she finds the body of the key employee in a barrel of whiskey and her grandfather is arrested for his murder. Then all sorts of dangerous and threatening things begin to happen to both her and the business, not the least of which is the damage the deceased managed to do prior to his demise. Charlotte figures if someone had not already killed him, she might have done the deed herself.

As Thomas Wolfe wrote, you can never go home, at least not if you do not expect the mistakes you made growing up in a tiny town to be forgotten. Charlotte is reminded daily of her peccadilloes and the worst perpetrator is her childhood nemesis, Brodie, who happens to be part of the family who share their name with the town. The feud between the Gett and the Lucky families is as turbulent as ever, a fact not made any easier by Charlotte’s conviction that one Gett or another is the killer.

This book drips with atmosphere as thick as the humidity around her. With a truck load of colourful characters, including a gator named Boots, this is a rollicking and suspenseful mystery that kept me guessing to the end. I thoroughly enjoyed the read and look forward to the second book in the series.

Five purrs and two paws up.

A Shot of Murder by J. A. Kazimer is about Charlotte “Charms” Lucky who returns home to run the Lucky Whiskey distillery while her grandfather recovers from a heart attack. There is another distillery in town who provides strong competition so Charm will have to work harder than she imagined. Things get worse when her dead high school boyfriend is found in a Lucky Whiskey cask and her grandfather is arrested for murder. This is a light story. The town is Gett, FL. There is a Gett relative in every business in town. A feud between the Getts and the Lucky’s continues in regard to who has the best distillery. The story is suspenseful, characters are well thought out and very likable. Charm has to solve the murder in order to help her grandfather.

A Shot of Murder by J.A. Kazimer is the first book in the new cozy A Lucky Whiskey Mystery series. Just as with other cozy mystery series out there each book of this series will have it’s own mystery to be solved so they can be read on their own too without worrying about cliffhangers.

In A Shot of Murder Charlotte “Charms” Lucky has returned to her home town of Gett, Florida after a decade of trying and failing to succeed in Hollywood. Charms has returned to help with her families Lucky Whiskey distillery after her grandfather’s heart attack.

Growing up in Gett wasn’t always fun when your family is on the outs with the rich Gett family the town was named after either so Charms is not surprised she doesn’t get a glowing welcome. What she never expected though was to find a body at the distillery with a Gett investigating and her grandfather a suspect.

Normally I am one that seeks out overly quirky and unique cozies and I suppose A Shot of Murder should have qualified but there were just several things that bugged me with this opener. Now one may not bother other’s but is a pet peeve of mine is too many same named characters to sort out…The Getts. But that became background with a few other issues with repetitiveness and just over the top silliness in the actions/dialogue of the characters that ended up feeling like poking fun at small towns. In the end definitely not my favorite opener in a cozy series.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

There is a lot to like in A Shot of Murder. Charlotte Lucky is a protagonist who has a lot of possibilities for character development as the series continues. Brodie Gett has been set up as a fun mix of an antagonist, love interest, and friend. I like the interplay between Charlotte and Brodie a lot. Again, there is plenty of space for developing their relationship in a number of directions. Gett, Florida, is a good cozy mystery series location - it is small enough to get to know and big enough to hold the readers' interest. I especially like that the Luckys and the Getts run rival Whiskey distilleries - long term rivalries make for compelling stories.
I liked the mystery in A Shot of Murder - I totally fell for the red herrings, which made the big reveal much more exciting.
What I didn't like was the number of malapropisms, homonym errors, and grammatical errors that were not caught by the editors in the ARC. Hopefully, the copy for publishing will be clean.

"Never be ashamed to be a woman," and I wasn't. Not now. Or ever.

There was a day I sat browsing through Netgalley, and I ended up requesting an absurd amount of cozy mystery galleys. A shot of Murder is the last in that group that I could actually read (one I couldn’t….always make sure there aren’t 20 other books in the series before you check it out.) So thank you to Netgalley and Midnight Ink for a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Also some content warnings: murder, attempted rape

A Shot of Murder
By J.A. Kazimer
Published: June 2019
Read: July 2019
Format: ebook galley
Genre: cozy mystery
Page Count: 303 pages
Rating: 2/5 Moose

Synopsis
Charlotte “Charms” Lucky returns home from LA when her grandfather Jack has a heart attack. The small town of Gett, FL is definitely the opposite of big shot LA, but it does have something that LA doesn’t: the whiskey making business.

It’s a brief return, just to help Jack get back on his feet. Charlotte will help run the business, but it’s all in good hands as they have the best distiller in the business. Until he turns up dead. With the competition breathing down her neck to try and buy out the business, and her old time rival back in town as well, Charlotte now needs to clear her family name and save her grandfather from jail.

Characters
Charlotte Lucky - "Charms" returning home from LA to take care of her grandfather after he has a heart attack.

Jack Lucky - Charlotte's grandfather, who raised her after her parents died. Also the owner of Lucky Whiskey

Brodie Gett - honorably discharged from the army and former adversary of Charlotte

Rue Gett - 80 year old grandmother of Brodie and Danny. She's the owner of Gett Whiskey

Danny Gett - town's sheriff

Rants, Raves, and Reviews
I don’t pretend to think writing cozy mysteries are easy or anything. Mysteries need to make sense, with clues thrown through out the book and a reasonable solution. In some ways, this book had a good plot: two families have been competing for the best whiskey for 200 years. Lucky’s distillery is having some money issues, and Gett’s is sniffing around to potentially buy them out. Also maybe Charms and Brodie are super into each other and don’t quite realize it. Or at least she doesn’t.

That’s about where the fun stops. I don’t know enough about the author, but I don’t get the impression she’s lived in a small town in the south. Now granted, I lived in a town in the midsouth that wasn’t quite as small as this, but still ridiculously small enough that everyone knows everyone’s business. So I am not going to act like I know everything, but this doesn’t feel like someone who understands small town life.

By the end of this book you know super well:

Charlotte painted the water tower and oh boy does everyone hate her for it (it is mentioned 26 times.)
Getts are the worst.
Maybe gators are the worst. (gators are mentioned 34 times)
Brodie Gett is actually the worst according to Charlotte.
Hey did you know that this town is small and redneck-ish?
And also super white for South Florida?
Our main character is/was an actress and did a small role on NCIS and an STD commercial. Will she go back to LA?
Lucky is the best whiskey and it must be mentioned every time whiskey is mentioned
Seriously, this book suffers from being way too repetitive. And just poorly constructed. Everyone is so angry at this woman who, as a teenager, changed the water tower from saying “Gett” to “Getting Lucky.” NO ONE holds a grudge that long without a reason. Was it brand new? Did it cost them some best small town in America award? No. It’s just something that happened, and apparently nothing else has happened in the last ten years that is even close to that bad.

This town is on the poorer side, with less than 1,000 people. Yet it doesn’t seem that whiskey is what’s keeping the town a float: in other words, this isn’t a town that solely exists because of the two distilleries. Well, okay, it probably should be, but it isn’t quite presented that way.

My other major issue with this book is that at one point Charlotte was almost raped by a guy named Boone Daniels. Not the pioneer Daniel Boone, of course. Brodie Gett, who we are constantly told was a terrible person, saved her and beat up Boone. And then apparently she was distraught because he didn’t try to kiss her? AFTER A GUY ATTEMPTED TO RAPE HER? A guy that’s still in town, who is only met with kind of mild contempt from most people.

That night Brodie had kindly drove me home, lecturing me on the evils of all guys. Besides himself, of course. For the barest of seconds, I thought for sure he'd try and kiss me. But he didn't leaving me oddly disappointed.

I’m sorry, but, no. I am to the point that if there is a rape story in a book, it needs to have a point. It needs to carry weight. It needs to not be able to be replaced by something else tragic without changing the story. It also shouldn’t have the person who almost gets raped disappointed because her hero didn’t try to kiss her. Christ that was a slap in the face.

Overall this reads like a decent third draft that needed a good beta reader to firmly tell the author “hey. Here’s a few issues we’ve got.”

Final Moments
It is a fine cozy mystery, but I can recommend so many better ones. Ones that don’t feel repetitive or have such an easy plot to solve. Ones that don’t quite insult all of Florida and southerners. (Only we Southerners can do that.)

All in all, I will probably potentially give the second book a read to see if things improve, but I don’t know if I actively recommend this one.

Also, it weirds me out when the main character in books refers to their chest by her actual measurements, multiple times.

A Shot of Murder is a lighthearted Southern cozy mystery and the debut novel in A Lucky Whiskey Mystery series. The story is told from Charlotte Lucky’s point-of-view. She has returned to Gett, Florida to help her grandfather after his heart attack, but Charlotte continues to hold onto her studio apartment in LA (a girl can hope). When Lucky finds their head distiller of The Lucky Whiskey Distillery shot to death in one of their casks of aging whiskey, her grandfather is arrested. Lucky begins questioning people around town and accusing them of murdering the man. Readers are then introduced to what seems like the entire population of Gett with many of them having the last name of Gett or related in some capacity. The two whiskey families (Gett and Lucky) have been feuding for two hundred years and Lucky is happy to keep the tradition alive. The Gett family is wealthy and owns many businesses in town while the Lucky family is decidedly unlucky. The bickering and rivalry continues throughout the story. Brodie Gett offers to help Charlotte, or Charms as he calls her, is clearing Jack’s name. Distrust, miscommunication and misunderstanding persists between them all through A Shot of Murder. Other recurring themes are Charlotte’s Prius (mentioned approximately 30 times), Brodie’s Jeep, the STD commercial Charlotte starred in (big mistake), extraordinarily bad food at the Gett Diner, and Charlotte blamed for writing Getting Lucky on water tower as a teenager. The townspeople are portrayed as redneck Southerners, with bad tempers, shabby clothing, large trucks, big guns and bad grammar. Alligators seem to pop up whenever Charlotte is in trouble (which is frequently) and incapacitated. The mystery was hard to concentrate on with everything else that was going on along with the multiple attacks threatening Charlotte’s life. I had no problem, though, identifying the guilty party along with the reason for the violence. There is one man (Boone) who believes a woman’s place is on her knees (and, unfortunately, he does not mean praying) and is particularly violent towards Charlotte. Foul language is rampant in A Shot of Murder. Charlotte is an immature woman with her foot stomping when she does not get her way, petulant attitude, eye rolling, accusations, rudeness, yelling and foul mouth (plus she is clumsy). I found reading A Shot of Murder to be a frustrating experience (it gave me a migraine). I did like Rue Gett and her grandson, Brodie. It is plain to see that Jack loves Charlotte plus I liked that the book is set in Florida. A Shot of Murder could have benefited from a severe editing and a major rewrite.

This is the start of the new Lucky Whiskey Mystery series and I have to say I am looking forward to more! There are some repetative things in this book, like certain vehicles being mentioned multiple times and how cute one of the main characters is, but I can forgive that for the fun time I had while reading this. I didn't know who the guity person was and I really enjoyed the interaction between the two main characters. I did feel bad that the main female character wasn't allowed to forget an incident from when she was younger, but could relate that in small towns, that is entirely possible. They rally around you when there is trouble, but won't let you forget - anything!
I recommend this book as a light, summer read and am looking forward to book 2!

A Shot of Murder is a small town murder mystery. This is the beginning of a new series with very real, southern characters. Charlotte Lucky is the main character and the people in her small home town definitely have opinions about her. The premise is that the distiller of a local family whiskey maker is killed and hidden on Lucky Whiskey's property. In short order the wrong person is arrested and Charlotte must solve the case.

This reminds me very much of the Wine Country Mystery series by Ellen Crosby. If you enjoyed that series or want a quick murder novel this one might work for you.

"A Shot of Murder" earns 5/5 Oak Casks...Entertaining!

I looked at the creative book cover and was intrigued to read J. A. Kazimer's new book in her Lucky Whiskey Mystery series. A whiskey distillery in Florida? I'll take a shot of that! J. A.'s book follows the traditional, yet entertaining, cozy formula I enjoy with Charlotte "Charms" Lucky, a young women who's lately not experienced much luck, coming home to run the family's whiskey business while her grandfather recuperates. She discovers running the business isn't easy with a centuries-old feud and business competitors to contend with and locals that can't forget her youthful pranks causing more headaches. But, it's her high school boyfriend found dead and her grandfather's arrest that causes the most difficulty. I enjoyed the first-person narrative sharing Charms' inner thoughts, flashbacks, and frustrations along with vivid descriptions and dialogue. There was talk that the book was "repetitive," but for me it didn't take away from the mystery and my enjoyment of the characters. I look forward to the next book, but I have one suggestion, selfish a bit, I'd love to have had a few culinary treats and libations included: a whiskey cocktail or a few entrees or desserts to tempt the senses. Whiskey is the perfect flavoring for so many treats.

This was a really great start to a new series. I loved the characters, especially Charlotte. Her interactions with the townsfolk were a delight and I liked her straight away.

The balance of drama to comedy was perfect. The mystery was very engaging and had me guessing until the end. There were many suspects with plausible motives and the twist at the end definitely added to the story. This was a brilliant opening for the series. Highly recommended. Rating: 4 Stars.

I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel, at my own request, from Midnight Ink via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.

Florida Rednecks, Whiskey Distillery and a Cozy Mystery
Great premise for a new series. The story is interesting and fun. Some of it would come across as stereotypical redneck fare, except that I have lived it and know it is so. There were so many typos it was tough to read! I don't know if the author was trying to effect redneck speech, finger faults or if she does not have a firm grasp of plurals, possessives or prepositions. Loss and loose do not mean the same thing (page 143). I read another review that blamed it on being an advanced copy, I hope those errors are caught before publication. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.

This is a delightful story, well written and with excellent characters. The only problem is that it's piling on a little too much of the same. As I've read an ARC, I shouldn't comment on grammar, but in general: why has the word "me" been banned and must be avoided at all cost?

A humorous southern mystery. Many delightful lines. The murder kept me guessing. The typos kept me stumbling with hopes that all are caught before final publication. I realized that I was reading an advance reader copy. Amusing relationship between "Charms" and "Grodie Brodie." I guessed early on about the water tower, but the murderer was not apparent to me. Nobody walks anywhere in Los Angeles, so Charlotte walking three miles to get to her dinner engagement was a treat. LA had not changed this southern gal. I look forward to reading the next one in this new series.

Charms has returned to Florida to help in her family's whiskey business (and lick her own wounds) and walked right into a murder mystery when she finds the distiller dead and stuffed in a whiskey barrel. There are multiple themes in this new entry in the cozy genre= too many for me at least. There's a rivalry with Gett Whiskey, a possibly rekindling romance, a grandfather who has been arrested, and so on. I also felt it would have benefited from another edit. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

This is the 1st of the Lucky Whiskey Mystery series. Charlotte (called Charms) Lucky (I kept wanting to say Lucky Charms lol) returns to Gett Florida to help her Grandfather in the family whiskey business after he has suffered a heart attack. The prior ten years found Charms in Los Angeles trying to be an actress and now coming home she learns some things have not changed. She also learns the whiskey business is hard the and riff between the Gett and Lucky families still exists. It doesn't help that Charms finds a dead body in one of the Whiskey caskets and the sheriff (Gett family) arrests her Grandfather. Another Gett brother Brodie (oops almost wrote Grodie as this is what she calls him a lot .. Grodie Brodie) wants to help Charms clear her Grandfather's name. Is he trying to help her, hit on her or distract her from the real killer who might be in his family. This series has a lot of potential. I do find the main character very immature at times and it will be interesting to see how the modern day version of Hatfield and McCoys plays out.

Charlotte Lucky returns home to Gett, Florida to help her 75 year-old grandfather, Jack, recovering from a heart attack, run the family distillery, Lucky Whiskey. Bad news – Charlotte finds Roger Kerrick, Lucky’s distiller, stuffed into a cask in the rackhouse.

Lucky Whiskey’s chief competitor is Gett Whiskey, run by Rue Gett, grandmother to Brodie, Charlotte’s high school nemesis, and Danny Gett, local sheriff. Danny quickly arrests Jack for Roger’s murder sending Lucky into a tailspin. Trying to figure out what to do next to keep the distillery operating, Charlotte uncovers the fact that Roger embezzled $50,000 from the company and they were almost broke.

Charlotte decides the only thing to do is to find the killer and get her grandfather back. Brodie offers to help her investigate but she’s not sure she trusts him, and Danny directs her to stay out of his investigation. Ignoring the sheriff’s warning, Charlotte starts sleuthing. A fire breaks out at the distillery. Charlotte is run off the road by a vehicle Charlotte believes is Brodie’s Jeep.

J.A. Kazimer devises a good plot, but the story is very slow to develop. The characters are interesting, especially the relationship between Charlotte and Brodie, who, since the first grade, refers to her as Charms. The action picks up as Charlotte identifies suspects and tries to find motives and alibis. Looking forward to reading the next Lucky Whiskey Mystery.

This is the start of a new Lucky Whiskey Mystery-series. Charlotte "Charms" Lucky has come home to Gett Florid after ten years of glamorous life in Hollywood. Her grandfather is having health issues and Charlotte is taking care of him and the Lucky Whiskey distillery, a family business. Charlotte finds a body in one of the whiskey casks and her grandfather is accused of murdering an employee. Gett is a small town of 845 people where the Gett family owns another local whiskey distillery. Gett's and Lucky's are in competition. Charlotte starts to investigate the murder. She just can't believe the grandfather who took care of her after her parents died, could kill a man. Gorgeous Brodie Gett promises to help Charlotte with her quest.
Charlotte is resourceful and headstrong. She can identify the brand of whiskey from people's breath. Brodie is a Gett and has secrets of his own.
In the start I had trouble getting in the story. There were so many characters and sometimes I had to go back and check who they were. After a while the story sucked me in. The setting is interesting. The alligators seem to be a part of people's daily lives. They pop up when you least expect it.
This was a nice cozy mystery. I look forward to reading more books from this series.
Thank you NetGalley and Midnight Ink for a copy of this book.

It's a good cozy, engaging and entertaining.
I had some issues with Charlotte because she grates on my nerves but the cast of characters was quite likable.
I liked the humour, the plot and the mystery that kept me guessing till the end.
Recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.