Napa Valley Wine Country provides the setting for this cosy mystery. Kate Stillwell - sommelier in training - has been invited to an exclusive vineyard for a tasting by her BFF Tessa Barkley.

Needless to say, murder, a missing BFF, and Kate joins the investigation in the hopes of clearing her friend's name. Sure enough, Kate herself becomes a suspect. Will she solve the crime in time to clear them both?

This was a quick light read - a heady mix of wine and murder - with each chapter paired by wine. There is great imagery in the setting; the characters are three dimensional - strong, flawed, with long hidden secrets. A couple of things did grate - the character of Kate, who comes off slightly arrogant; and of course the complete disregard of police procedure - which is pretty much standard in cosy mysteries (how else can our heroine insinuate herself into the investigation).

Having said that, there is a good build up to the plot twists and reveal, however, we are also left hanging as this will lead into the second in the series "Uncorking a Lie".

A flavour of blood and a smell of deception. Cozy wine&murder mystery.

Katie Stillwell haven't passed the Sommelier Certification test. So the upcoming winery party in the mysterious Frontier winery in Napa Valley feels a bit less glorious. But her best friend had invited her, so Katie is still on. Which is good, because when murder happens, Tessa falls right under the suspicion. But Katie knows her friend and this time, she is not going to run far away, she is her to stay. And solve.

Nice, cozy mystery. As a wine lover, I very much appreciate all the sommelier information, nice touch. Now I am in the mood for the nice glass of red one!

The story itself goes into the cozy category, so don't wait for the Sherlock Holmes brilliant deduction. But the psychological additions (namely the past guilt and the courage to come clean) makes this a relatable read (which I tend to prefer to technically perfect, but "cold" books).
Nice.

This is the first book in "A Sommelier Mystery" and I am ready to read the next one. The book opens with the protagonist, Katie Stillwell, failing the Sommelier Certification test. Hoping that attending the celebration of 100 years of Frontier Winery as the guest of her best friend Tessa will cheer her up, she tries to shake it off. The party starts off well, but shortly after the festivities get off the ground, a body is found in a vat of fermenting grapes. Tessa is the prime suspect, but Katie knows she would never kill anyone. Her goal is to prove her innocence. Katie's father is a well-known police chief and she had actually attended police academy with the intention of following in his footsteps so she is no stranger to solving crimes. Because of this, the detective in charge, Detective Dean, allows her to ride along and he listens to her when she has suspicions and gut feelings. It does not mean he will share everything, but he is a little freer with information than he should be. Of course as often happens, Katie ends up becoming a target as she gets closer to the truth.

Katie Stilwell is a great character. She’s level headed, smart, witty, charming, pays attention to detail, and proves that she does have pluck and sticktoitiveness. Tessa on the other hand, is the party girl who just wants to have fun. Unfortunately, this often gets her into trouble and she has difficulty holding down a job. I was not to impressed with her as a character, but the relationship between these women was very special. The author does a wonderful job getting us into their heads and developing their characters. The final character that I hope will be a main character in this series is Detective John Dean. He and Katie had a bit of a flirtatious relationship and I would love to see this develop. The mystery was well plotted with red herrings and real clues scattered throughout the story. I thought I knew who the killer was, then changed my mind multiple times as the story progressed. This makes for an enjoyable read to me. I loved the information given about the Sommelier process, wine pairings (although I would love to see food listed as well as atmosphere) and the Napa Valley area. There was just enough of this to make it an enjoyable read, but not overtake the story. A great cozy mystery, with enough suspense and description to make this a series that I will watch for.