This is a fantastic cozy mystery! I didn't realize it wasn't book one when I started and it read just fine without having read the first one though I will be going back and reading that one next! I loved the location of the book and the fact that they found the skeleton while hiking. I must admit I always wonder if there are any nearby skeletons whenever I'm out hiking. The book had a couple points that were supposed to be coincidences but really felt unbelievable. There was also a bit of extra fluff in the book that could have been cut out. Overall though I enjoyed it and look forward to continuing the series.

I love learning something from the books I read. I've never given much thought to the process of making moonshine so it was very nice to learn about it and what is involved as well as the cocktails she creates with it. The mystery was interesting and kept me guessing. And the possibility of romance(s) added a new dimension to the story.

Miranda is an artist living in the process of establishing a distillery on the farm she inherited. She works hard to get what she wants, even in the face of setbacks. She seems to have a great relationship with her mom. Her new business – Paint & Shine – is the perfect way for her to combine her two loves – art and moonshine. And spend lots of time out on the trails with her art students. When her cousin’s body is found during one such outing, Miranda is eager to figure out what happened and, with Austin’s help, pursues her own investigatation, which has the added benefit of bringing them together more often. The plot unfolds at a steady pace, in the process exposing readers to a taste of life in rural Kentucky, its people, and its folklore. Sounds like a cool place to visit.

A well-written, enjoyable. cozy mystery.

4.5 Stars

This is the second book in the Paint and Shine mystery series by Cheryl Hollon.

Miranda is back for book two of this new exciting series about an artist and local guide who has created a business called Paint and Shine. She takes people on excursions to unique places and teaches them how to paint or draw. Kind of a cool concept and when you pair it with the Appalachian area it is just a real winner of a series.

While she is guiding a tour, they uncover the bones of a dead man who ends up being Miranda’s missing cousin from years ago. Miranda’s mother comes in to assist her with her aunt and also help out as she has one accident after another as she tries to get her moonshine business up and running. It is kind of charming how the fix it guy and Miranda’s mother are sweet on each other.

This mystery really keeps your attention while also getting you really familiar with the community you will continue to see as recurring characters. I am just loving this so much! I can’t wait for book three!

Great series to follow. Must read series for me!

If you love a cozy mystery, definitely check this one out. Great new must read book great series too!

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title. Opinions are completely my own.

This is the 2nd installment in the Paint and Shine mystery series. Miranda Trent is an artist and tour guide while she is trying to establish a moonshine distillery. Miranda received an inheritance from her uncle and one of the conditions is she establish a distillery for his famous moonshine. While she is doing this she is also running paint and hiking guides where she takes tours to the Daniel Boone National Forest. Her latest tour is a group called Risky Business Adventures and they want to take a hike up a rather challenging hike and she is also joined by her “boyfriend” Ranger Austin Morgan who often joins up with her groups to provide background of the area. One of the group along with Miranda fall into a close by tree they fall into the skeleton of someone. Miranda is concerned it is her cousin Howard Cable who disappeared 5 years ago. Miranda’s mother Dorothy comes into town to be there for her sister Ora in case the remains turn out to be Howard. The remains are that of her cousin Howard but that is what has everyone puzzled as he was an avid hiker and outdoorsman and even if he was injured it is hard to believe he could not have reached help in time. Miranda promises her Aunt Ora that she will look into Howard’s death and Austin agrees to help her. This was a fast paced and interesting mystery and I enjoyed Miranda’s mother being in the story and learning more about the distillery and her plans for the farmstead. Looking forward to the next installment.

I thoroughly enjoyed my virtual visit to the Appalachian Mountains. With a local culture that thrives on moonshine, art, and adventure, it’s a place to escape the humdrum of urban life. Of course, there are plenty of challenges for entrepreneur Miranda Trent as she attempts to get her moonshine business off the ground. Between a flaky contractor, her demanding mother, and a murder, Miranda’s got her hands full.

The mother-daughter angst, which begins with high tension, gradually ebbs as the stakes for the murder investigation build. As a result, the storyline always has something going on and moves quickly. What begins with issues surrounding family and business issues soon turns into a solid cozy mystery puzzle. With plenty of plot twists in this clever cozy, I was kept guessing until the end.

Miranda is focused on getting her businesses off the ground. She is taking a group of experienced hikers to a secluded spot for some great drawing. When one of the group ends up stumbling into a pile of bones, Miranda is convinced she knows who the bones belong to. Miranda is determined to find out what happened while also dealing with all the setbacks she's encountering in her moonshine business.

I really like Miranda as a character. She's really fun and unique. I also find her business really interesting. I'm loving getting to know her and the area she lives in. I also enjoy all of the local characters that she meets. This one definitely kept me guessing throughout the whole book all the way up to the end. I cannot wait to see what's next.

Draw and Order by Cheryl Hollon is the 2nd book in A Paint and Shine Mystery, and another great addition. I love Ms. Hollon's A Webb's Glass Shop Mystery series, and I am excited about this new series. Miranda inherited her uncle's Red River Gorge homestead in Eastern Kentucky in the middle of Daniel Boone National Forest. Miranda is an artist, so she came up with a business of Paint & Shine. Miranda takes people for a hike in the forest, than they stop and paint the beautiful scenery. She also provides the group with sample moonshine and eat southern cooking. While on a hike bones are found. I found this book to be a good read, and I am looking forward to the next book in the series. If you enjoy cozy mysteries, I recommend this book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Draw and Order by Cheryl Hollon is the second book in the Paint & Shine Mystery series. I thought the book was an interesting concept.

Miranda’s family is from a rural area in western Kentucky. When her uncle passes away, he leaves the family homestead to her with the caveat that she has to get a moonshine distillery up and running within three months and it has to feature his special recipe. Miranda’s coming “home,” starting a new business, and introducing the folks of the town was the basis of book one. Book two digs a little deeper and introduces even more of the townfolk and Miranda’s family.

Miranda is an artist, and so she decides to start what she calls a cultural experience, which includes a hike in the local National Forest, an art lesson that includes folks creating their own nature artwork, then usually some sort of meal which generally includes moonshine. I really like this concept. The tourists allow Ms. Hollon to have an unlimited number of murder victims and suspects, but also a chance to highlight the area. The author’s notes in this book mention that her family is from the area, and much of the local and even some characters are drawn from her life. And it shows with the care that she uses to paint the picture of the characters and locations.

Where I get a little lost is the murder mystery itself. While I found Draw and Order to be better all-around than Book 1, Still Knife Painting, it felt a little incomplete to me. It seemed that this book was more about Miranda building her life in this new town and testing the waters of a relationship with her neighbor/friend Austin and the mystery played second fiddle. Miranda just randomly stumbled on clues, and then the mystery was solved. Don’t get me wrong, there’s sleuthing and trying to fit the puzzle pieces together, but I don’t feel Miranda actually solved this one.

In addition, I have a little pet peeve with Ms. Hollon’s writing style. Most authors often throw random internal thoughts from the characters into their stories. But there’s something about the thoughts themselves, and the way that Ms. Hollon writes into the story that just rubs me the wrong way. It frankly jolts me out of the zone that I was in with the story, often wondering what I just read had to do with anything.

All in all, I enjoyed Draw and Order. I can’t say that the series will be on my auto-read list, but I’ll probably eventually read future books in the series. If you enjoy small-town cozy mysteries, you might want to try this series.

In backcountry Kentucky, artist Miranda Trent has inherited her uncle’s property… on the condition she gets his moonshine distillery up and running again. Getting all the equipment arranged and jumping through hoops of red tape to get the distillery licensed is tricky and not cheap, so she’s running Paint and Shine tours, taking hikers to scenic spots and giving them art lessons, occasionally helped out by her love interest, forest ranger Austin. The book starts when Miranda and a painting group stumble across a skeleton… which turns out to belong to a cousin of Miranda’s who went missing five years earlier.

This seems like a fairly massive coincidence, and it’s not the only one in this book, as it turns out her cousin was a member of the very same adventure group Miranda was out with on the day they stumbled over the body. There are a couple of really puzzling things that happen, like sabotage on Miranda’s property, which seem totally pointless since even if Miranda stopped asking questions, the police still were. There’s also an odd sub plot about a semi-homeless handyman Miranda employs to fix her barn roof which he keeps stuffing up.

This is an intriguing mystery; we get to know a lot about the victim as Miranda starts off by delving into his past to try and work out what motive someone would have had for killing him. The problem is that there is an awful lot of the book that is not devoted to the mystery, with subplots galore going on. Miranda’s romance with Austin is barely hinted at and certainly didn’t make any forward progress as Miranda seemed to spend most of her time cooking with her mother when she wasn’t working. About the only thing Miranda and Austin did together was research possible suspects, about as unromantic a date as it’s possible to imagine.

I liked the location, the snippets of history, Miranda working to get her distillery up and running, and a lot of other things. But there did seem to be an awful lot of waffle and filler to make up the word count. And I’m not all that keen on the last 5% of any given cozy mystery with culinary themes being made up of recipes, either. Three stars, but I’d have liked it a lot better if about 25% of it was cut out.

Draw and Order by Cheryl Hollon is the second in her Paint and Shine mystery series. Based on Kentucky, the premise is fairly unique she has inherited her uncle's farm and what's left of his still as well as all his 'shine recipes. Along with becoming a distillery, Miranda is an artist and so is putting together a business incorporating art classes and local culture, mostly food, but some history as well. She has taken a group of businesspeople calling themselves Ricky Business Adventurers to a location in the Daniel Boone National that was a little beyond most of her groups. They claimed a fair amount of hiking expertise, so she went for it. While up there, a woman tripped and fell and cut herself. Upon further exploration, it turned out she'd cut herself on the remains of a human skeleton. Immediately, Miranda knew it was her cousin, Howard Cable, who had been missing for five years. Of course, the coroner and the forensic anthropologist had to confirm that bit, which they did within a day or two. Now it needed to be determined what had happened.

This is a fun book, with all kinds of down home wisdom and quirky personalities. The best one in this book is Ron who is kind of a handyman, but with his own way of doing things, which generally drew out the process and increased the price, although the work was done well. Like, all small communities, everyone knows a bit of the story, it's just a matter of putting it all together. Plus there is the new still to worry about. Nothing is every easy. Hollow is a natural storyteller and gives just the right amount of detail to make this an outrageous cozy, while still including a mystery, which can be solved not necessarily by the local sheriff, who like many these days is very budget conscious and really, hysterical. A good read with an amusing premise that cozy readers should not miss.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Draw and Order by Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #netgalley #drawandorder

Draw and Order by Cheryl Hollon is the 2nd A Paint and Shine Mystery. It can be read as a standalone if you have not had a chance to indulge in Still Knife Painting. I thought Draw and Order was well-written with a developed main character. The author captured the beauty of the area with her picturesque descriptions. I love the sound of Miranda’s farmhouse and barn. Miranda is trying to get her distillery up and running while conducting Paint and Shine Cultural Adventures. The fates seem against her distillery as she has one set back after another. I enjoyed the humor sprinkled throughout the story. Miranda needed the patience of Job to deal with Ron, the handyman. Miranda’s cousin has been missing for five years. While on a tour with Risky Business Adventurers, they stumble upon a skeleton at Battleship Rock. Miranda’s Aunt Ora asks her to investigate and gets justice for her cousin, Howard Cable. Miranda has the assistance of Park Ranger, Austin Morgan who is her neighbor and potential romantic partner. There are a handful of suspects some with stronger motive than others. I like how the mystery tied into local legends and the area where Miranda takes her excursion clients. The whodunit does get off to a slow start with it picking up steam toward the middle of the book. The reveal is anticlimactic. It depends upon your sleuthing prowess on when you solve this mystery. I liked the why and how it related to our main character as well as the local area. I enjoyed learning more about Miranda and her family. I do sometimes find Miranda frustrating, but she is a generally likeable and a relatable character. We get to see Miranda and Austin’s relationship deepen as they spend more time together. Draw and Order is an enjoyable read. I look forward to the next A Paint and Shine Mystery. Draw and Order is a joyful journey with a missing man, plein air painting, crispy chicken, an irritating repairman, several suspicious suspects, a curious cave, and smooth moonshine.

This is the second Paint and Shine Mystery. I have to admit I only kind of liked the first book, but I am so glad I gave the second book a try. The mystery starts as a found skeleton, links to a missing persons case and ends up as a complex murder due to an obsession with money and history.
Miranda Trent takes an adventure group on an advanced hike to do some sketching. The skeleton is found by accident and Miranda is sure it is the remains of her cousin Howard. Miranda is proven correct and when the sheriff doesn’t take things seriously Miranda investigates with Austin’s help.
I think Austin is the perfect love interest for Miranda. Of course it hasn’t gone beyond friendship yet. We meet Miranda’s mom and some other characters in the small Kentucky town where the story is set. Miranda’s paint and shine business is having more success than in the first book but she is struggling to get her distillery set up for making moonshine.
I think a cold case might be a right path for this series. It allows Miranda more leeway in her investigations without stepping on the sheriff’s toes so much.
I would recommend this as a fun read.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review this book prior to publication.

Moonshine and an art lesson??? Sign me up!! I love how cozy mysteries always have unique characters that often run their own businesses, are great cooks or do crafts of some kind. This book takes all three aspects and wraps them into a unique business plan for the main character which fits nicely into allowing her time to sleuth! Miranda is a talented artist, who has perfected family recipes and is going to start her own moonshine distillery to fit in nicely with her guided hikes that end with a painting lesson. Unfortunately she also has a knack for finding dead bodies! The characters in this series have a wonderful depth to them that helps you connect and want to know more about them. This is only the second book in the series and it is definitely more like visiting old friends than just picking up the next book. Now if someone could find me a vacation like the ones that are described in the books, I'd be all set. Although, I would hope that my vacation would come without any murderous friends or dead bodies! I absolutely can't wait to see what antics this crew of characters gets up to next and hope the moonshine starts flowing soon!

This is the second release in the new cozy series "Paint And Shine " by cozy author Cheryl Hollon.
Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley for the opportunity. My review opinion is my own.
I have read the first in this delightful series and highly recommend the series.

Our protagnist Miranda is taking a new group of hikers climbing to visit a mountain, sip moonshine and paint.
When they group arrives they find a skeleton and Miranda is involved in the mystery of the death when it is discovered that it is her cousin . With the help of her friend a ranger she soon finds her cousin had secrets and clues to his death abound.

This was a solid well crafted mystery that I enjoyed as much as the first in series. The setting of Appalachians in Kentucky is wonderfully described by the author . This is a charming new series that I highly recommend.

After finding the body of her missing cousin, Miranda is determined to find out what happened to him. Even with the help of ranger Austin, will Miranda be able to solve the case, and bring a killer to justice?

Excellent second book in the Paint & Shine cozy mystery series. There's twists and turns, danger, a little misdirection, and a romance blooming?

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor or expectation.

Miranda Trent is a local guide who owns a business she calls Paint & Shine. She enjoys her tour groups and now is hoping to expand her business into brewing moonshine, a special family recipe that had quite the rep in its day.

This tour, however, gets cut short when they discover a skeleton shortly after the climb. Turns out the bones are that of a distant cousin and her aunt would like Miranda to find out what happened as this was clearly no accident.

I enjoyed the descriptions of the climb and scenic area of the Daniel Boone National Forest. Also nice to get a “timeline” of the narrative, but it seemed a bit slow to get off the ground and then rather muddled in the investigation.

Miranda struggles with improvements to the moonshine side of the business. Austin appears to be growing on her, although we don’t get enough development of Austin to complete his picture quite yet.

The conclusion rather side-swipes, catching the reader off-guard. Twists along the way derails thinking about the perp, but then he really wasn’t at the forefront anyway. Interesting insight into the business of moonshine and recipes at the back of the book.

FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary review copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. These are my honest thoughts.

Draw and Order is Book 2 in the Paint & Shine Mystery series by Cheryl Hollon.

Miranda takes a group up on a hike to draw and one of the participants stumbles upon some bones. Miranda has a terrible feeling that she knows who the person was. Her aunt asks her to investigate, she’s on a deadline to get her distillery up and running, and she’s running her Paint and Shine business, so she is extremely busy.

The mystery is interesting and it let us meet more of Miranda’s family. The relationship between Miranda and Austin is moving along. I’m really enjoying this series.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the free copy of this book and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

I am loving this series. Yes, this is only the second book, but I am ready for number three. I love the setting in these stories. Small towns and the folks who live in them are the best to me. I really want to try some of these drinks Miranda keeps mixing up. There are recipes included. I enjoyed both the story and the characters. I can’t wait to see what Miranda and Austin get involved in next. I received this book from NetGalley, but my opinion is my own.

Miranda takes a group on an outdoor painting lesson that leads to a discovery of skeletal remains and a overnight stay on a mountain. It doesn't take long for Miranda to realize that remains might be her cousin Howard. Howard disappeared five years before. His mother always believed that her son would return home some day and takes it hard when she learns her son is dead. Miranda is also having trouble getting her distillery up and running. A vital piece of equipment hasn't been delivered yet. She's on a deadline to get her moonshine business up and running. Will she get her business running in time?

I was kindly provided an e-copy of this book by the publisher and/or author via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.