This is a great start to a new series! I really enjoyed this book and I’m excited for more in thePaint & Shine Mystery series. This story is about an artist named Miranda who has inherited her uncle’s ,s home in the Blue Ridge mountains of Kentucky. In order to make ends meet, Miranda decides to offer an adventure to visitors, which includes a hike, painting class to create a rendering of a famous landmark, en a Southern dinner at her farmhouse featuring a local moonshine tasting.

When her cook is found dead - with a knife in her chest- on Miranda’s very first adventure, Miranda knows she’ll have to solve the crime and clear her name to stay afloat.

I loved the introduction of the characters who I am sure readers will see well into the series. I liked the mystery and the descriptive writing style. This was. A great mystery that kept me guessing and I would recommend to anyone who enjoys a good cozy mystery.

I really like the setting of Still Knife Painting -- the fact that it takes place in Kentucky and the Daniel Boone National Forest is a big positive to me. I also like the emphasis on painting in the forest and moonshine. Miranda's potential love interest, Austin, is a forest ranger, not the normal police detective! It is not a fast-paced book, but it is still engaging. I would recommend this book to fans of Jessie Crockett' Sugar Grove mysteries.

Still Knife Painting is a keeper, one to read over and over again!

In this story, the first, of a series, we find Miranda Trent living in a "scenic corner of Appalachia". She has inherited her uncle's home in eastern Kentucky and is figuring out a business plan to attract summer tourists.

Her business is booming until her cook is found dead. Can she solve the mystery? You have to read it to find out, but I can tell you it's a great cozy mystery.

This is a promising start to a new series. The protagonist needs to become a more likable. The mystery was well-plotted with some nicely placed red herrings to throw the reader off. I am looking forward to see how the series develops.

All thoughts and opinions are my own, and in no way have I been influenced by anyone.

This is the first in a new cozy mystery series - Paint & Shine mysteries. Admittedly it took me a long while to read this book. I did actually start it in June 2020. I wanted to like it, but it felt extremely drawn out. Why did everything take so long to happen when the storyline from start to finish is a bit over a week? I swear just from the time of the murder to the police arriving took like 20 pages.
So this was on its way to the did not finish pile but I kept trying. In the end, I’ll give it 3 stars because it was a cool concept and it has an interesting ending to the murder.
My problems with the story are the way it feels like is taking forever for things to happen when it is only days and there are many stereotypes of “backwoods” Kentucky. I have never been to eastern Kentucky, but I find it hard to believe that it would be this stuck in the past. I could totally be wrong.

I very much enjoyed Cheryl Hollon's Webb's Glass Shop Mystery series and have been looking forward to her new series, beginning with Still Knife Painting. It still has an artist protagonist, but the discipline and setting are very different.

Miranda Trent is an artist. She recently inherited her uncle's home in the Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky. She designed and opened her business "Paint & Shine: which caters to tourists. She takes visitors on a cultural adventure tour consisting of learning about the area, painting a local spot, and a dining experience paired with local moonshine tasting. A caveat to her inheritance is that she also has to open a moonshine operation on the property, which has her jumping through hoops and trying to find her uncle's recipe. Things are staring off a bit rocky and when her cook is murdered in her kitchen, her business looks like it might shut down before it even gets a foothold.

I enjoyed this story and thought it was a good start to a new series. I enjoyed the characters, even though there is a lot of development yet to come. I really like Miranda, she is strong, smart, creative, persistent and capable protagonist. The setting and the premise of the business were very interesting and attractive to me. The mystery moved along at a good pace, with the murder occurring very close to the beginning of the story. I had no idea who the murderer was or why it had occurred until the reveal which had a bit of danger involved in it. Overall a fun, enjoyable cozy mystery which has me looking forward to the next on. There are also some recipes included in the back of the book.

I really loved this book in a new to my series. Tha characters and location really and to the story. I can't wait to read the next one. This book keeps you guessing until the end

I enjoyed this book, it has a great setting and unique main character job. However I found Miranda a little flighty and unable to carry through with her ideas. I will give the next book a try but I want to see where this series goes before I say I love it

This is a really delightful cozy mystery. The story was really interesting and keep me guessing until the end.

A fabulous first in series with a unique setting! The main character has an interesting occupation that makes this cozy mystery really stand out. The mystery was well-planned and I was kept guessing until the very end. I look forward to reading more books in this series!

This book is an interesting start to a new series. The characters are interesting but didn't quite seem developed enough. I like the setting and really enjoyed the description of the area.

I am becoming a huge fan of the cozy mystery genre due to books like this. You can read this as an escape from the everyday in a weekend. A really good mystery.

I really enjoyed this promising start to a new series. If you are from the South, a lot of this book and many of these characters will resonate with you! The mystery didn't grip me as much as I would like, but the characters and atmosphere made up for it.

This is the first book in a new series and the first book I have read from this author. This book is about Miranda Trent an artist from NY who has inherited a farmhouse from her uncle in Kentucky. She comes up with the idea to start her own business offering a hike with a painting lesson, a authentic country meal and a moonshine tasting.
All seems to be going well until someone kills the cook. Of course Miranda being new to town and the fact the victim was found in her kitchen is the main suspect. The problems I had with the book is I found parts of it to be overly descriptive. I found myself becoming bored with the many details. My next problem was Miranda herself. At the beginning she was not too bad, as the story moves on she became a bit one dimensional and at times very judgmental and even rude. I found that I could not like her at all even though the mystery part of the book was well done.

I like the other series by this author so I settled in expecting to love this book. Sadly I found the main character to be rude, clueless, and downright annoying. Miranda supposedly has ties to the area and spent summers there. Yet she expects the rural citizens to act like people in New York City and goes as far as getting annoyed when they do not. Rural people are not ignorant, and it is offensive for the author to portray them as such.

I really can't say that I enjoyed this book. It had a very slow start and it was very difficult to understand where the character was coming from. Yes, we know that Miranda Trent is starting a new business in Campton KY but why she left NYC and moved to KY as well as the business model that she is working doesn't really coming to the forefront until much later in the book. She seems to whine a lot about people in this small town not being on her side, but she doesn't seem to engage them either. The other characters who are involved in the murder (there has to be one in a cozy mystery, right?) all seem to have issues that didn't make this a fun read. Numerous characters have weak stomachs having a hard time retaining their lunches, and law enforcement officers all need a good swift kick in the pants.

I was very disappointed in this book because I love Cheryl Hollon's other series with Webb's Glass Shop and had high hopes that this one would be just as good.

IMHO, this needs a major rework and editing. The storyline/plot, once the details came to light as to the motivation of the character, were sound. The start just needs to be more informative so that the reader can become more engaged with the character.

Still Knife Painting was a charming start to a brand new series. I loved Miranda’s idea of having guests go on a hike and paint the beautiful landscape to take home with them. The scenery described sounded so breath-taking that I wish I was there with them. The murder mystery was very well-written and I loved how it kept me guessing. Looking forward to reading book number two and spending more time with Miranda.

This series was perfection! The setting and characters really kept me hooked. When book 2 comes out I will be getting it asap!

Princess Fuzzypants here: Miranda has inherited a homestead in the hills of Eastern Kentucky in the Middle of The Daniel Boone Park where she wants to pair her own painting skills with her uncle’s moonshine talents for a cultural experience tour. She realizes it may take time for the locals to accept her especially since some of them are very anti-moonshine. She is prepared to win them over but she is not prepared for what happens on her first day in business.

The lady she’s hired to prepare authentic cuisine for her groups ends up with a knife in her chest just before lunch is served. The fact that she and Miranda had words over the moonshine part of her package makes Miranda the leading suspect. When the big shots from Lexington roll in, they clearly think they have their killer. Thankfully the local law enforcement that has local knowledge but not the tools of the Lexington group, believe there is someone else who committed the crime. It does not help that the two lead law officers on the case have a contentious history that keeps getting in the way of their playing nicely with others.

With the support of the local park ranger and others in the community, Miranda solves the mystery and learns she is now accepted. It was an enjoyable first outing and filled with local atmosphere and interesting characters. Four purrs and two paws up.

Still Knife Painting is an engaging start to a new series by Cheryl Hollon! I particularly loved that it’s set in my ‘stompin’ grounds’ as they say down here – and that it’s based on fun experiences the author had in this part of Kentucky as a child (as discussed in the author note that begins the book). Something about that kind of connection makes the book even cozier right from the outset. The characters are quintessential to this genre – delightfully quirky enough to make you love them but suspiciously quirky enough to keep them on your ‘potential culprit’ list. Miranda took a bit of warming up to, but I’m intrigued to see where Hollon takes this character through the rest of the series. Well-written and entertaining, this read is a fun way to spend a weekend!

(I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book)