I thoroughly enjoyed this intermezzo between my normal horror and thriller binges. Cozy throughout, Maddie Day has created a welcoming world where a wine bar manager (a break from bookstore locales) becomes a 42 year old Nancy Drew to solve a mystery. I requested this one on Netgalley, and as the title above shows, it is listed as Cece Barton Mystery, #1. Number 1 to me implies the first in a series, so I was happy to get in on the ground floor. Throughout the book, however, Cece kept referencing things (past murders, people not around, etc) that told my brain - something is amiss. It made me feel like I was missing something, or my brain was broken.

I had to pause my listening to become my own Nancy Drew and check out the author - Maddie Day, unknown to me and also an alias for Edith Maxwell, also unknown to me. According to Goodreads, there is no book before Murder Uncorked which releases 10/24/23. Ok, must be my brain. Back to listening. AND THEN IT HAPPENED AGAIN. What the heck is Cece talking about that clearly happened months earlier?

Now I became Columbo and went to the author's website where, ta-da, mystery solved. In September 2023 Christmas Mittens Murder is the actual first in the series, called a novella. So, Netgalley and Goodreads, what's up????

If you love the Cozy mystery genre, you will absolutely love this one. It's a little less than 8 hours and flows quickly. Well written, great characters and, on audio, Linda Jones voices all the characters with great skill.