While this isn't the first murder mystery set in a
vineyard, it is first in a Wine
Country Mystery series.
Syrah or Shiraz is a rich dark wine. Let's see what ill
deeds
could possibly occur in A CASE OF SYRAH, SYRAH.
Due to her aunt's ill health Taylor O'Brian moved from
San
Francisco to Sonoma, California to help her manage the
small boutique vineyard. A wine manager, Juan Martinez,
actually runs the winery so now Taylor gives the tours.
Taylor enjoys the life but she'd love her own business,
so
she's starting to giving wine country tours. While
California has undergone a drought, grapevines use less
water than fruit trees and can be drip irrigated, she
explains to her clients as they sip the zinfandel and
syrah
wines. One client, Dan Scott, annoyingly tries to sign her
up for a course on running a business. Not long after,
Dan's wife, a yoga teacher named Laura, falls partway
down
a cliff. What a terrible start to Taylor's venture.
Despite good first aid, Laura doesn't make it, and
alarmingly a corkscrew is found to have injured her. The
wine tour becomes a crime scene. From then on the amateur
sleuth tale takes precedence, with Taylor being advised to
get a lawyer and everyone's alibis needing to be checked.
I
like that a wide variety of locals are introduced,
including artists and those working with the less well
off,
while the circle of possible suspects is widened by the
fact that tour members had been tweeting their locations.
Threats range from legal ones to invasion of privacy,
identity theft and flung rocks. Distinctively the central
character actually gets charged with causing the death --
making her desperate to find the real killer. Do we care
about Taylor? Yes, she left a career to help her aunt and
wants to be independent, while caring for a cat and
adopting an abandoned pup. She talks the same way to
everyone, regardless of means. Taylor, still in her
twenties, is helpful and keen, mature in some ways but
with
a lot to learn in others. She likes looking at handsome
men
but doesn't drool over them. I cared about her resolution
of the issue and will enjoy reading more of her
adventures.
I did find the telling a bit repetitive as Taylor goes
over
the story with police or friends. At the end we are shown
some food and wine pairings, rich tastes like lamb,
chocolate and cheese for the red wine. Nancy J. Parrah has
previously written several mysteries and her expertise
shows in the careful construction of A CASE OF SYRAH,
SYRAH. Cheers! Pour me another one.
Taylor O’Brian is a new businesswoman, founder of
“Taylor’s Off The Beaten Path Wine Tours,” who lives on a
small winery with her Aunt Jemma. She plans to take small
groups around romantic Sonoma county to discover some of
the county’s outdoor gardens. It’s all running as smooth
as can be until Laura, the leader of the group of yoga
instructors she’s leading, is found dead. And it’s
Taylor’s corkscrew that’s found buried in Laura’s neck.
She’s not sure who to trust, and everyone around suddenly
seems suspect. Only two weeks after the murder, her very
own administrative assistant, Amy, marries Laura’s
husband, Dan, who doesn’t seem very bereaved about being
widowed, and the three yoga masters who were also out on
the tour begin to seem shady. Taylor can’t afford to jump
ship from her new business endeavor, but just as she
begins her investigation, another dead body surfaces.
This time, it’s Dan’s sister. And the killer is coming
for Taylor next.
Now it’s up to Taylor to uncork this open-bottle mystery,
before more blood is spilled. For fans of Laura Childs
and Ellen Crosby, A Case of Syrah, Syrah is the charming
first in bestselling author Nancy J. Parra’s Wine Country
mysteries.
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