cover image Grapes of Death: 
A Tangled Vines Mystery

Grapes of Death: A Tangled Vines Mystery

Joni Folger. Midnight Ink (www.midnightinkbooks.com), $14.99 trade paper (288p) ISBN 978-0-7387-3752-2

As Folger’s fast-paced debut begins, Elise Beckett is happy with her job working at her family’s vineyard, River Bend, near Austin, Tex. Her boyfriend, Stuart Jenkins, wants her to move in with him in Dallas and take a prestigious job in horticulture research, but Elise prefers to continue with a special hybridizing project at the vineyard. The only downside to life at River Bend is her irascible Uncle Edmond. No one seems too sorry when Edmond is found dead, having drowned apparently by accident, but Elise is determined to get to the truth. In the process, she butts head with investigating Deputy Sheriff Jackson Landry, though sparks of attraction soon fly between them. The characters are vivid, the plot is cleverly and coherently woven together, and the suspense builds up to a hair-raising escape and rescue. Agent: Christine Wittholm, Book Cents Literary Agency. (Sept.)