A Nip of Murder

November 1, 2014
Daisy, the Balsam boys and the other likker-sipping characters from Murder and Moonshine (2013) are back for another round.When Bobby Balsam asks for a red velvet cake from Daisy McGovern, the co-proprietor of a back-country Virginia bake shop, Daisy doesn't mind taking his order. He's the sweeter-natured of the Balsam brothers, even though he's so dim he can't find his way around in the dark. If it were a favor for Rick, his older brother, Daisy wouldn't bother; he's crafty, unpredictable and maddening. He's also probably the wealthiest man in Pittsylvania County, thanks to his bootlegging business. But Daisy has a bigger problem than Rick. Three men break into the bake-shop kitchen, Daisy's business partner stabs one of them to death in self-defense, and the two surviving intruders make off with 90 pounds of cream cheese in crates. Daisy tries to turn her mind back to the red velvet cake, which Bobby wants for his wedding to a woman he's known two weeks. His fiancee is staying at the nearby Fuzzy Lake Campground for some serious geocaching, a kind of hide-and-seek for grown-ups. When her brother asks Daisy out, she takes him to a nip joint that Rick owns to see what happens when she trades in a red chip she found on the floor after the break-in for a jelly jar of whiskey. The joint also turns out to be the hiding place of the cream-cheese crates-minus the cheese. A second break-in, a rumor of hidden treasure and an apparent case of bat white-nose fungus lead Daisy on an extended hunt-and-rescue mission in this lively blend of local color, homicide and whiskey-fueled high jinks. Miller puts Daisy squarely center stage in her second outing-not that she doesn't belong there, but even her sexy nemesis remains in her shadow in this entertaining sequel.

COPYRIGHT(2014) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 1, 2014

In a tiny town in southwestern Virginia, waitress Daisy McGovern and her best friend, Brenda, have converted the local diner into a bake shop called Sweetie Pies. One morning, three bandits walk into the bakery, steal 90 pounds of cream cheese, and one of them ends up stabbed to death on the bakery floor. Who is the dead man? Could he be one of the strangers in town for a three-week geocaching trek? Bodies begin to pile up as Daisy tries to figure out what cream cheese, stolen historical maps, and more dead bodies all have in common. VERDICT In her second outing after the acclaimed debut Murder and Moonshine, Daisy McGovern is the very definition of a spunky steel magnolia, having survived her husband's abandonment and done what she can to rebuild her life. Fans of mysteries set in rural Southern communities will identify with Miller's characters. Recommend to anyone who misses Anne George's "Southern Sisters" mysteries. [Library marketing.]

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2014
Trouble has a way of finding small-town bakery owner Daisy McGovern. The second in the Moonshine Mystery series (after Murder and Moonshine, 2013) finds the Appalachian pie maker the victim of a robbery. Three men broke into her bakery and stole 90 pounds of cream cheese. Which would be kind of funny, except for the fact that her business partner accidentally stabbed one of them in the process. The crime coincides with the arrival of a group of geocachers racing around the mountains searching for hidden caches. Oh, and Bobby Balsam (brother to bad-boy moonshiner Rick Balsam) just got himself engaged to one of the geocachers. Daisy can't help poking around for clues and more than once ends up at the wrong end of a rifle. And, also more than once, Rick is there to keep her safe (and to remind her that she has an open-ended invitation for some more hands-on assistance, if she's interested). Stolen maps, bats, and red-velvet cake round out this fun southern mystery.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)