Cece Barton is a widowed, single mother new to California wine country. She soon finds herself in the midst of a murder investigation. Using her own sleuthing skills, Cece must investigate the murder herself, all the while dealing with California wildfires all around her and a deputy sheriff on her heels. Well-written, entertaining, and fun, I highly recommend this book to all cozy mystery lovers out there. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced e-reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This is a first in a new series, Wine Bar Mystery, by Maddie Day. Cece Barton is the new manager of the local wine bar.
Cece finds herself involved in a murder investigation of a man that isn’t very nice. There is a large suspect list.

I found the story well-written, the characters engaging, and the promise of an interesting series wanting more.

I thank Netgalley for allowing me to read the book. I was given an advanced copy and am NOT required to leave a positive review.

I received this as an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.


This book definitely hits all the cozy marks: our FMC has a quirky job, small town, great food, side characters you wanna get to know, and cats!

What I didn't love was the fmc making obvious bad choices. Like, telling us repeatedly that she should text the cops & deciding not to. I hope that changes in future novels!

What I liked was the setting. I usually read cozies in the midwest or new England (don't ask why 🤷‍♀️) so reading about northern California was a treat! I also have a fondness for wine, so I loved seeing the field through Cece's eyes. She's also very environmentally conscious and reminded me of a friend's mom that brought back great memories.

I'd definitely recommend to anyone who likes a cozy, and is looking for something *not* set in a kitchen!

Thank you Netgalley for an ARC.

I am a big fan of Maddie Day cozy mysteries so I was really excited to see that she had another series on the way. I absolutely loved this book. I loved the character Cece and the storyline. So excited to read more.

As Much as I wanted to love this I just couldn't get into Murder Uncorked. Firstly, the cover is absolutely gorgeous and of course, I love a good title that goes with the plot. Secondly, the plot was pretty interesting, and just like any cozy mystery the main character Cece gets sucked into the case. The only thing I had a problem with is connecting with Cece, which is pretty important when you know this will be a Main character of the series.

This is the first book by Maddie Day I've read (I'm not sure why I'd never picked up one before!), and the first book in a new series seemed the logical place to begin. Perhaps it's always been true, or maybe I'm just noticing it more as a woman in my 50s, but it's nice to see more books centered around "mature" women without making them seem "old"!

While Cece Barton is officially introduced in a short story, it's possible to enjoy "Murder Uncorked" without reading it. This is a classic cozy with an amateur sleuth, small town, and possible love interest, but it's well done with interesting characters and several false leads. I look forward to following Cece's adventures in future books!

Thanks to Kensington Books for access to a digital ARC on NetGalley.

Thank you the for ARC!
This book was amazing! I love cozy mysteries so this was perfect.
A new series from Maddie day and it was as awesome as her other series. I loved all the characters and the story !

I am a huge fan of wine and thrillers so when I saw this book about both I thought what could go wrong ???

A LOT.

Nikki the main character loses her job and impresses “hot” Derek with her wine knowledge and he gives her a job and then a murder happens (gasp)!

The characters in this book felt like over the top horrible crazy actors, I found myself rolling my eyes at every ridiculous decision Nikki made to find out who the killer was.

This book was a “cozy thriller” , minus the thriller for me. It just wasn’t the book for me and I struggggggled to get through it! But it might be a great choice for others and if nothing else I learned more about wine! Lol

Thank you Netgalley, Michelle Scott, and Kensington books for the ARC.

Great cozy mystery. Had just the right amount of action, mystery, and family drama to make it a perfect read. The characters are great, with real life issues and challenges. The mystery, while a bit predictable, captivated me from the start. Overall an enjoyable read.
I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Going in, I was hoping for a fun read and hopefully a great start to a new cozy series. Unfortunately Murder Uncorked fell short for me. I found the novel very hard to get into. There was so much going on and to be honest I'm still unsure about what Cece's job was and what a wine bar is (they just drink wine from different wineries??).

The characters were forgettable and mixed together. I had a hard time keeping who was who and where they worked and how Cece knew them. The mystery wasn't too surprising and I was left feeling underwhelmed.

Thank you to Netgallery and Kensington Books, Kensington Cozies for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I love cozies and wine and small towns. I love relatable characters and simple suspicions. I love the daily life we experience as we shadow our main character, Cece.
In Murder Uncorked, our author gives us all that. She creates a place that we want to revisit and I happily look forward to the next book in this new series.
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington publishing for this ARC of Murder Uncorked. It was a pleasant summer weekend read, outside with a glass of rose.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher. I was so excited to see another Maddie Day series! I have enjoyed her other series. Cecelia is trying hard to stay out of this murder but it’s hard for her. People and her own curiosity keep bring her back into it. Her twin sister Al and a few other friends help her. I’m excited to see where this series is heading.

Cute cozy mystery book. Takes place around a wine bar in California’s wine country, really enjoyed the main character and all the town’s people side characters. Can see that the author is setting us up for more in the series and would read others

Book Title: Murder Uncorked
Author: Maddie Day
Series: Wine Bar Mystery #1
Publisher: Kensington Books
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Pub Date: October 24, 2023
My Rating: 3.3 Stars
Pages: 288

Awww I just love this title and cover.
The book opens with Maddie Day telling us readers about her inspiration for this story. She also tells us her connection to the reason behind some of the name of characters.

This story starts with Cece Barton, a widowed single mom and recent L.A. transplant to California’s Sonoma County wine country. She is now the new manager of ‘Vino y Yida’ a local wine bar and suddenly finds herself at the center of a murder investigation with a whole bunch of suspects.

Aww I just love a good cozy. In many ways the stories (except for the murders) remind me my youth.
I grew up in a small town where everyone knew your name!! True!
Yes! We walked everywhere. Now I live in Southern California in a small town but just about everyone drives everywhere! However, we do have some fun events when most of us walk into ‘Downtown’ e.g. the annual Chili Cookout Off’ as well as the weekly Summer Concerts in the Park’.

As for this story yes I found it enjoyable and am looking forward to the next adventure in this series!

About the author ~Maddie Day is a pseudonym for Agatha Award-winning mystery author Edith Maxwell.
As Edith Maxwell she writes the Country Store Mysteries, adventures of Robbie Jordan, a country store owner and chef in South Lick, Indiana.

As Maddie she writes the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries with bike shop owner Mackenzie Almeida solving mysteries in a fictional Cape Cod village.

Now this her latest series Wine Bar Mystery with Cece Burton in Northern California’s wine country.

Want to thank NetGalley and Kensington Books for granting me the pleasure of reading this early eGalley.
Publishing Release Date scheduled for October 24, 2023

MURDER UNCORKED
Maddie Day

I don’t typically read cozy mysteries but this was really enjoyable. The characters were quirky, the setting divine, and the story yes, a murder, but not too graphic.

I am a bit confused by the promotional materials indicating that this is the first in the series. There is reference throughout about a previous murder Cece, the main character, solved and I wonder what that’s about.

Cece is delightful. She has been through a lot but has spunk. She was widowed ten years earlier. Her husband was a philanderer and the marriage unhappy. She has a troubled relationship with her college aged daughter. But she is a woman who picks up and moves her life to be near her twin sister and their family at the age of 42 and the friendships she has made in a short time pepper the book. The town characters are just wonderful.

The murder victim is a man she only had work related disagreements with over email yet that puts her high up on the suspects list. She decides to conduct her own investigation to get out from under suspicion.

The only real criticism is all the unnecessary and winding digressions on what Cece thinks about everything from becoming pescatarian, the environment, California wines, fires, etc. Surely, a bit is good to know Cece better but it goes on.

A light, enjoyable read to be enjoyed at the beach or in a comfortable chair on a rainy afternoon. Made me want to go to Colinas and be part of Cece’s posse!

My thanks to both Netgalley and Kensington Books for the opportunity to read this ARC.

For more reviews, got to www.jantramontano.com/readerscafe

Even though this book is listed as the first in a new series, I continually felt like I had missed something earlier (maybe a novella?) because characters kept referencing an earlier mystery that Cece solved. I felt dropped in in the middle, which didn’t make getting to know the characters any easier. The characters are likable enough but I didn’t find them distinct or interesting enough to really get invested in them. By far, my favorite character was Richard.

Murder with wine? 1st book in the series, murder uncorked tells the story of Cece Barton, a widowed single mom, who moved to California and has taken over as a wine bar manager. Unfortunately, a person she is not in great terms with winds up dead and she finds herself in the middle of the murder investigation.
To start off I am not a wine person, so the wine terms definitely went over my head. But I did not let this affect my judgement of the book or the writing. The writing style was a little messy for my liking, characters were being thrown in left, right and center and made me wonder ‘where does this character fit in?’. I had to go back and read some parts again to figure out how they showed up or who they were. Some of them were quite easy to forget too.
Cece was great, she was independent, has a quirky nature but was a little nosy. Her reasons for getting into the investigation was not convincing enough and the way she went about it was quite blunt and straightforward. Which made me wonder how nobody questions her? I found myself skimming through the pages as I went further down. There was no great investigation happening and the reveal was quite underwhelming.
This was not my cup of tea, I don’t think I would go further with this series.

This was a cozy mystery and first in the new “Wine Bar Mystery” series by Maddie Day. This book is due to be published by October 24, 2023 by Kensington Cozies.

Cece runs a wine bar in a small town, a murder occurs and she is a suspect. In order to clear her name and to help catch the culprit she starts investigating on her own. When the person she’s been investigating catches on things will start going wrong.

This book is a quick read and an enjoyable one too. The characters are lovable and the story is smooth. I absolutely love all of the Maddie Day books I’ve read so far and can’t wait to read all of her others. Definitely a five star read for me and I highly recommend. Fingers crossed cece and Ben get together soon !!!

Thank you NetGalley, Kensington, and Maddie Day for allowing me this opportunity to read this ARC.

This book is hard for me to review but I'm going to start with the good things!

1- The short chapters absolutely made this book fly by!
2- The "older" MC! How fun to read a cozy mystery series with the main character in her early 40's. She's at a different stage in her life as a widow and with her daughter off at college.
3- The main character was INDEPENDENT! I loooved to see that! She may, in future books, find a love interest but I am confident she wouldn't need a love interest. My kind of woman!

One thing I struggled with, particularly, was the sheer amount of characters in rapid fire succession. I almost could have used a list or city map. I feel like I was paying attention but still couldn't seem to place who went with where and why at times. There are a lot of current (2023) cultural references in this book as well. Don't get my wrong, there's nothing wrong with that but for me personally, I read to escape. My star rating of this book has nothing to do with my preferences on escaping either, just to be clear!

Overall, this was a miss for me but I am highly interested in this author's writing style and I am 100% going to seek out a different series of hers!

I enjoy some of Day's other series, but this one is kind of off to a bit of a rough start. THat's partially doe to some copyediting errors, which I hope will be fixed before publication. Things like one character telling another 2 big facts while they're at dinner together. And then the second character asks the first one questions as if the previous 10 minutes hadn't happened.

I like the strained relationship Cece has with her daughter and also the interesting past history of her late husband. Good backstory that might come into play more in future books! And I like Cece's relationship with her twin, too.

But the idea that someone tries to run Cece down (and a witness knows it was purposeful) and that Cece "forgets" to tell the detective and doesn't even look at the partial license plate number just feels silly. I like Cece. I don't want her to act stupid.

Day has plenty of talent for spinning good stories--I'm just wondering if this is one series too many. I don't know how cozy authors can possibly keep up with the fast production schedules of multiple series with more than one book a year each! I'm hoping this series will get stronger with Book 2.

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