I received an ARC of this great cozy mystery. Engaging characters and a kept-me-guessing plot. Highly recommend!

An intriguing new cozy mystery series has the main character, Miranda Trent, setting up a paint and sip excursion business in the remote farmhouse that her uncle left her in the hills of Kentucky. She has a limited amount of time to make a go of it and set up her own distillery or she loses her inheritance. Not everyone is happy that she is highlighting moonshine in her business and when the cook ends up dead in Miranda's kitchen all eyes are on her as the guilty party. I quite liked the premise of the book and the characters of the book are quite well done. There were several loose threads that I am hoping the author intentionally left laying to pick up in the next book, but am surprised that the main character didn't address a few of them in this book especially as she was setting this character up as one who has a tendency to charge forward without thinking things through. It seemed odd that the character would allow the newspaper reporter to go unconfronted about the hatchet job she did or to at least bring it up to the brother who appears to be setting up to be Miranda's love interest. I'm definitely intrigued and curious to see how things develop in the next book!

Thank you to Net Galley, the author, and publisher for allowing me the opportunity to read an advance copy of Still Knife Painting, the first in a new series. Cheryl Hollon starts over with a new heroine in a new creative pursuit---from glass art in South Florida to painting and moonshine in the hills of Kentucky.
Miranda Trent, the protagonist, is an artist who has spent time living in New York, but she has family roots in Kentucky. When her uncle dies, she inherits his cabin and decides to move back there and start a business venture. She offers a tourist cultural experience that combines a hike to a scenic overlook in the Daniel Boone National Forest (Lover's Leap), painting lessons, and a history lecture from a local park ranger, followed by a lunch of traditional local cuisine paired with authentic moonshine.
Not everyone is on board with Miranda's plans to serve moonshine to her clients. In fact, one of her main detractors is Naomi Childers, head cook for the venture. And on the first day of operation, Naomi is found stabbed on the kitchen floor before lunch can be served. Because Miranda and Naomi had been overheard arguing frequently, Miranda is the main suspect.
Except the police seem convinced that the death was an accident. Nevertheless, Miranda is determined to get justice for Mrs. Childers, prove that her death was murder, and find the real killer. Otherwise, her fledgling business will fail because of bad publicity.
I found Miranda a bit abrasive and unsympathetic, and her motive for stepping into the role of amateur sleuth somewhat shaky, since the bumbling police write it off as an accident. And when the killer is revealed, the proof is not totally convincing.
The story starts slowly; I was about 20% into it when the murder occurs. After that, the pacing picks up and the story structure is good. Miranda has a cute puppy and a potential love interest that can develop over the series. The book includes recipes.
The author did a great job depicting the setting and the backwoods culture. Overall, I enjoyed the read.

Miranda, an artist from NYC, inherits her uncle's house in Kentucky where she starts her own business, a still life painting, as the title suggests. I found this idea really interesting. She combines taking a hike in the Daniel Boone Forest to this specific site to paint a picture of the view. Then they hike back down and take her van to her house where she has someone there preparing food and an acquaintance comes to talk about moonshine, where is when the intrigue comes in. Someone is murdered and the case doesn't move fast enough for Miranda, so she and a friend, Austin take it upon themselves to solve the case. I thought this was an original idea and was surprised by it which made it easy for me to continue reading to find out the who done it. Great Job Cheryl Hollon. I am going to read another one of your books I have sitting on my night stand.

Miranda recently moved from New York to eastern Kentucky after inheriting her uncle's farmhouse. She sets up a business running a scenic painting class followed by an authentic homestead luncheon paired with moonshine. Part of her uncle's will stipulated she would have to have a running distillery within a short period after moving in. Not all of the locals approve of alcohol, but Miranda needs a way to support herself. One person who doesn't think drinking moonshine is a proper pastime is the religious woman cooking the meal for Miranda's clients. The two women have had several public arguments about it. When the cook winds up dead before the meal is over, Miranda is afraid she'll be the prime suspect.

When the police seem to think the death is an accident, Miranda has a gut instinct that they're wrong. She needs to investigate on her own, otherwise a killer might be hanging around her new property.

I recently read the first two books in the author's Webb's Glass Shop Mystery series and enjoyed them. This is a new series and I also enjoyed it. While this seems a bit specific for a cozy mystery series - a painting class paired with moonshine tastings - I did enjoy the characters, the puppy, and even the setting.

Taking a page from the popular wine and paint classes, author Cheryl Hollon invents the Paint and Shine series. This includes painting, of course, but there's moonshine included.. Not sure how that will work out, but the book was fun. Miranda Trent is surprised, but delighted when she inherits her uncle's farmhouse in Kentucky. Having spent much of her childhood summers at the farmhouse, it has always felt like home. Her Paint and Shine classes include a hike to the country scene for the painting, a discussion by a park ranger and then dinner and moonshine pairings. She hires two local women to do the traditional cooking, but both are anti-moonshine so they are not the most pleasant employees. When one of them winds up stabbed to death, this was not the way Miranda hoped to begin her new life Love the painting concept, not so sure about the moonshine. This is the first in a new series.

I received this book from NetGalley. I have read this author's stained glass series before starting this series. I found the conversations stilted, they did give same clues that were important and others that were useless to the main story line. Its another woman being back in an area they have been away from for awhile, get they immediately find their new boyfriend and treat him like a gopher. The whole concept of painting and then a meal with moonshine will get stale quickly. Already in this book the concept was redundant. .

Cheryl Hollon
Still knife painting
I enjoyed this first book ,entertaining and a fun read..
Looking forward for the next instalment of this book .

There was a lot I liked here, like Miranda, the mix of painting and moonshine and "cultural experiences," and the way the author captured small-town life. I even learned a bit of history in an enjoyable way!

What I didn't like were Miranda's totally over-the-top, exaggerated reactions in a few cases. A friend makes a disparaging joke about the police driving on dirt roads and getting all dusty--worth a chuckle at best--and Miranda literally laughs so hard she cries. And when a moonshine colleague says something mildly annoying about her dropping number of clients, she rears back and starts to reach for the guy's throat. Really? And yet she later says she considers charm and persuasion to of her best blessings. But throughout the story, she is blunt and tactless. So Miranda's characterization feels uneven...patched together. She also acts highly condescending to the police in an annoying way.

Also a couple of annoying comments here and there I couldn't figure out. Like when the killer is apprehended, someone makes a comment that that person will "find a new career in counseling...fellow inmates." No idea what that's referring to, as there was no history of counseling and nothing that I could figure out that wry comment was a callback to. It just feel patchy, like it needed another edit before going to print.

So, I enjoyed the setting and premise, but I'm not sure I'd read another book with Miranda as the main character. I think I'd try one more...

Review copy provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

What a great new series. Loved reading this book. I recommend it for other readers. Miranda moves to Kentucky with her dog sandy. To hear more read the book.

A delightful cozy mystery. Still Knife Painting is well written and entertaining. Great plot and character development and a beautiful setting. I received an arc from the publisher and Netgalley and this is my unbiased review.

The first in a new series. Miranda Trent has inherited her Uncle’s farmhouse in Kentucky about an hour outside of Lexington. She returned from New York City where she was working as an artist. She spent her summers with her Uncle and decides to start a business called Paint and Shine which she calls a cultural adventure where you hike and then paint and afterwards have a dinner at her farmhouse coupled with local moonshine pairings. Many in the area are still not found of moonshine including her main cook Mrs. Childers. As she heads to the Hemlock Lodge to get her first tourist adventure off she runs into Doris who warns her many are not found of the moonshine aspect of her business. The tour starts off a little late but she thinks it a success until the other cook Mrs. Hobbs finds Mrs. Childers dead in the kitchen with a knife in her chest. Lots of jurisdiction issues in this between the Wolfe county sheriff and Lexington police along with someone breaking into the farmhouse after the death. Miranda feels she must do some investigating as it happened at her house she is the prime suspect. She asks the Ranger Austin who helps with her tours to help with the investigation. See a potential romance with those two. This was a good start to a new series. Interesting location and learning about rural Kentucky.

Miranda Trent inherits a farm from her Uncle Gene. One of the conditions of the will is that Miranda open a moonshine distillery on the property. Miranda plans to start a business from the farm that will include teaching painting of nature scenes in the area and home cooked meals with moonshine tasting. Her main cook for the evens at the farm is Mrs. Naomi Childers, who strongly disapproves of the moonshine portion of the event. She only agreed to do the cooking when Miranda promised a large donation to Mrs. Childers' favorite project - the Church Roofing Fund. Naomi's close friend, Mrs. Viola Hobb, will be assisting with the cooking portion of the project.

Miranda's initial group has five clients - a newly wed couple, two women from New York and one local person, Shelon Adams. A sixth client, Joe Creech, arrives later when the group is at the scenic trail where the painting exercise will take place. After the painting session, Miranda drives everybody back to her farm for the home-cooked meal and the moonshine tasting. Dan Keystone, owner of a local distillery, shows up with the liquor samples, but before dinner can be served, there is a terrifying scream from the kitchen. Mrs. Hobb comes in to find her friend lying dead on the kitchen floor, stabbed with a kitchen knife. The local Sheriff does not feels he has the experience to handle this type of investigation and requests help from the Lexington, KY Police Department. Unfortunately, the Detective assigned to the case has a long-standing dispute with the local sheriff.

Who killed Mrs. Childers? Why was she killed? Can the two lawmen overcome their personal differences and work together to solve the crime? Will Miranda be able to figure out what happened and be able to save her farm and business? What will happen to the farm if Miranda is unable to fulfill the terms of the will?

Cheryl Hollon has written a fantastic start to this new series. The characters and situations are very realistic. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing clear to the end and looking forward to Miranda's next adventure.

It was hard for me to finish this book because I wasn't feeling a connection to any of the characters. I really didn't mind the writing and I know some friends would really enjoy this book. I will pick up Cheryl Hollon's other series.

An interesting mystery with a good dose of "local" aspects.
The challenge with a debut book is to get all the necessary details in. You don't have past books in the series to cover extra material.
The author succeeds. But I wonder why: 1-There is the provision that she needs to have a working distillery within a certain time limit (especially given the local climate with several adamant anti-moonshine people) and 2- What's up with the moonshine authority she has working with her.

This book is a first in a new series by Cheryl Hollon. I'm a fan of her other series, so I was excited to read this book.
Unfortunately, this book just didn't click for me. I couldn't connect with any of the characters and I found the main character lacking a personality.

I could not put this book down with its enticing mystery that catered to what I enjoy in a whodunit. The mystery was tightly woven with a well-written story-line with a small pool of suspects that lent itself to this page-turning nature of this light drama. The pacing set the stage to how well this story was being told as well as the comfortable tone that made it easy to follow along as the author intended. Miranda is a great protagonist and I liked how first she is trying to save the family farm and then second try to clear her name and business. I enjoyed the little bit of information that was given for each character that helped ferret out the killer. There were a few surprises that enhanced my reading pleasure. The author knows how to tell a story with an eclectic cast of characters, multi-plot twists, engaging dialogue and visually descriptive narrative that set the mood for each scene as the story progressed. This was a good read from Ms. Hollon and I can't wait to see what adventure is waiting for her in the next book in this delightfully appealing series.

Loved this book! Really fun first-in-a-series read. Very enjoyable to read about a main character that has a different occupation than you normally read about. Fun to see a different setting, too and the way things are different for non-city folk. Great mystery. Lots of great side stories! Really enjoyed the history tie-in. The only thing missing was the spice cake recipe!

Fun read in the new Paint and Shine Mystery series! After Miranda inherits her uncle's country homestead, she decides to make a business out of it combining arts with moonshine tastings and local cooking. Being a cozy mystery, naturally there is a murder and Miranda has to find out who the culprit is if she's going to save her reputation and business. This was a good, fun read. Not too serious and at times a little silly, but definitely a nice distraction from real life. I enjoy this author's Glass Shop series and I'm glad to see her writing a new line of cozies.

I really enjoyed this book! The characters were interesting and complex. Miranda has moved into her uncle's house that he left her, and is trying to start up a new business. When murder happens it puts a damper on her success. Sandy, her puppy is precious! Lots of info about the way people are out in small country towns in Kentucky. I love the details the author puts in the story about her characters and the landscape. The story had a lot of twists and turns, different stories weaving throughout the book.I loved that the list of characters is listed at the end of the book and I loved that recipes for food and moonshine mixes are included at the back of the book. I am going to try the recipe for peanut butter potato pinwheels! I cannot wait for the next book in this series!