cozy-mystery, law-enforcement, murder-investigation, small-town, distillery, family-dynamics, friendship

Except for the gator, this book could have been set in stifling small town anywhere! The lightning speed gossip, the folks not letting any infraction go even after a number of years, the classmates from a time ago who haven't changed much. That's exactly what happened to Charlotte when she flew back to town leaving her California life behind ten years after graduation to be with her grandfather and do whatever necessary at his distillery, the only really important person left in her life. But in a short time she finds a vital employee dead in a whisky cask and grandpa arrested and jailed for it. The sleuthing gets dangerous and the guy who was her nemesis years ago and is the grandson of the rival distillery is a thorn in her side yet again. Lots of plot twists and red herrings, too! I finished the book in one day because I couldn't put it down!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Beyond the Page Publishing via NetGalley. Thank you!

This was a good beginning to a new series. It definitely has a regional flavor to it.It is very rural Florida in its setting and attitude. The culprit was not entirely a surprise but the author does a good job at creating enough suspects and clues that it could have been a number of people.

When Charlotte Lucky’s grandad has a heart attack, she leaves her life as an actress in Los Angeles and heads home to Gett, Florida to help him recover and run the family Whiskey business. Coming home again Char, or Charms as her friends call her, fiends that ten years hasn’t changed the town and its residents much.

After dinner, Char heads out to check on a batch of whiskey and finds their head distiller floating in the cask, shot dead. When Grandad Jack is arrested for the murder, Charms begins digging around and trying to find the real murderer. When her childhood friend and nemesis, Brodie, tries to alternately help her and warn or off from investigating she’s torn between trusting him and suspecting him.

What secrets are the folks of Getts keeping and who would kill one of their own and why? Charms intends to find out and save Jack, even if it may cost her everything.

This was a great first book in a new series. The characters are well developed and the writing is done well. I could hear the accents and Southern twang come through the written word. Looking forward to more in this series.