Taylor O'Brien and her Aunt Jemma live in Sonoma, CA. Aunt Jemma owns a small winery. Her home is located nearby, along with a pool and a building for wine tastings, weddings, etc. Taylor lives in the pool house. She moved back to Sonoma six months before after her Aunt had a heart attack. She loves the winery and helping her aunt run her business, but she's getting a bit restless. So, she buys a van and starts planning her own Wine Country Tours as a side business. "Off the Beaten Path'' tours will take people to some lesser known, but fabulous, small wineries in the area. Her first tour is booked by a group of local yoga instructors. The first tour might just be the last, however. One of the instructors is found murdered during the tour. Even worse -- the murder weapon is Taylor's corkscrew. Who bumped off Laura Scott? None of the others who were on the tour seem too broken up about her death. In fact, Laura's husband remarries just days after the murder. Then another body turns up.... Can Taylor discover the identity of the killer before anyone else dies? Or before the murderer comes after her!

The background theme of California wines and wineries was interesting,and gave a nice depth to this book. I don't know a lot about wine so the little facts about wine sprinkled throughout the book were interesting to me. The mystery moved along at a nice pace with some great twists and action at the end. I didn't figure out the murderer ahead of time....it was an exciting surprise. And the case led to some interesting developments for Taylor's tour business. I would have liked a bit more character development, and at times some of the characters and situations seemed a bit trope-y (pretty but snooty yoga instructors for example). But, all in all, this is a nice start to a new cozy series. I am interested in seeing how the characters and locations continue to develop in the second book.

Nancy J. Parra also writes as Nell Hampton and Nancy Coco. For more information on the author and her books, check out her website: http://www.nancyjparra.com/

**I voluntarily read an advanced readers copy of this book from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.** ( )

A Case of Syrah, Syrah by Nancy J. Parra
Book #1: A Wine Country Mystery Series
Source: Purchase
Rating: 3/5 stars

**MINI-REVIEW**

The Bottom Line: When Taylor O’Brian came home to help her “ailing” Aunt Jemma, she never thought she would stay, let alone launch a new business. Deep in the heart of wine country, Taylor plans to shuttle tourists around to the area’s best kept secrets and, of course, enjoy a bit of wine along the way. Unfortunately, Taylor’s first tour is marred by tragedy and lands herself in jail and accused of murder! For the remainder of the book, Taylor spends her time ignoring her lawyer’s advice and snooping around in order to clear her name. While I appreciate the initiative taken by Taylor to clear her name, I often found her lack of listening to her lawyer tiresome. What’s more, though I liked Taylor while reading the book, I found she faded rather quickly once I finished the book which suggests to me, Taylor needs to be a bit more fully developed to be a more memorable character. With that being said, everything else worked for me in this book including the plot, the other characters, and the especially the setting. ( )

Taylor O'Brian returned to Sonoma County from San Francisco because her aunt, who owns a winery, needs help. She decided to open her own wine country tour company - Taylor O'Brian's "Off the Beaten Path" Wine Country Tours - in the hopes it will give her a decent income.

Her first tour group consists of her yoga instructor Laura, Laura's husband and several other people. But when returning to the van after a long hike, Laura is nowhere to be found. Both Dan and Taylor head in search of her, but it's Taylor who finds her down a ravine. When she and Dan reach Laura they call 911, but it's too late. Laura has been killed by a corkscrew to the next - Taylor's corkscrew - and no one even knows who did it.

While Dan thinks she's guilty, Taylor knows something is going on, especially when Dan remarries quickly and it looks as if the police have her pegged for the murder. Even though the sheriff warns her away from the crime, her aunt urges her to investigate, so she and her best friend Holly set out to find a killer before Taylor is put away for good...

This is the first book in a new series and I really wanted to like it, but I should have known when it was mentioned that Aunt Jemma was a little "hippy." I think the author meant 'hippie' which we all know what means, but 'hippy' means Aunt Jemma has a little too much flesh above the knees, if you get my drift...I know, nitpicking; but it was only a hint of what was to come, unfortunately.

Anyway, Taylor hires an attorney right away (who turns out to be a hunk, of course) because she's afraid the sheriff (another hunk) might have her pegged for the crime. Well, here we go, folks: another love triangle in the making. No surprise there...

So after she's been fingerprinted to eliminate her as a suspect, she takes a casserole to the grieving widower and he immediately accuses her of murdering his wife. Never mind that she was only alone with the body for a short time - not long enough to force her down a ravine, change into different clothes to stab the woman, change back (because the other clothes would have a lot of blood on them since she was stabbed in an artery) and then climb back up again - but hey - and then, leaving the man's home she's stopped by the police who got a call saying she was harassing Dan. Even when she shows the casserole, no dice. The cop outright asks her if she murdered Laura, although I don't know why. Was he there at the time of murder? Was it running through the police station that she was a 'person of interest' even though she was told by the sheriff she wasn't? How did this officer know her connection? He didn't mention that Dan said she murdered his wife, otherwise he would have put handcuffs on her. He said she was harassing him. How did one equate to the other? Why was he asking her if she killed Laura anyway? He's a patrolman. Shouldn't that be up to the homicide detectives, not him? Did he really think if she were guilty, that she'd randomly admit it? It sounds to me like the officer was harassing her. Details count.

Then her aunt actually encourages her to investigate, knowing there's a killer on the loose. I guess she doesn't think her niece could be the next one killed. Also, newspapers don't print the names of people of interest. It keeps them from being sued by injured parties. They wait until someone has been arrested.

As you can tell, I wasn't enthralled by this book. I really dislike love triangles (as it's looking to go that way). Look at it this way: if the protagonist were a man, and he was stringing along two women, people would think he was a slimeball. So why is it okay for two men to pursue one woman? And why would she do that to them? You'd think authors would know by now not to do this. Of course, I could be wrong and she might only be interested in one of them, but one of the last few scenes suggests otherwise...

At the end, I really didn't care who the murderer was. Taylor was dumber than a box of rocks. First she investigates because her aunt tells her to do it, even though her attorney (and the sheriff) tells her not to. She doesn't try to hide it. As you can read, I wasn't a fan of this book and I may or may not read the second in the hope it will improve, because it sure needs a lot of tweaking. ( )

Taylor O’Brian returns to Sonoma Wine Country to help her Aunt Jemma after a heart attack scare. Wanting something she can call her own, she starts a tour company called Off the Beaten Path but her first tour proves fatal as one of her clients is found murdered at the bottom of a cliff. Not only is Taylor a suspect but her business could be killed before it gets off the ground!

I liked the characters and the setting, I see great potential for growth in both. ( )

A Case of Syrah, Syrah by Nancy J. Parra is the first in A Wine Country Mystery series. Taylor O’Brian has returned to Sonoma, California and is living in pool house at her Aunt Jemma’s place called Sookie’s Vineyard. Taylor has decided to start Taylor’s Off the Beaten Pat Wine Country Tours. Her first tour is for Laura Scott and her employees for a team building day. Taylor is setting out lunch for the group and it is mentioned that Laura is missing. A search ensues, and Taylor finds Laura near a stream down a cliff. Despite being warned by the 911 operator to not go down the cliff, Taylor scrabbles down along with Laura’s husband, Dan to check on Laura. Laura Scott is dead with Taylor’s missing corkscrew in her neck. Sheriff Ron Hennessey is in charge of the investigation and quickly narrows his sights on Taylor. Patrick Aimes, Taylor’s attorney, warns her to not talk to anyone regarding the case and keep a low profile. However, Taylor’s new business venture is in jeopardy along with Aunt Jemma’s winery. Aunt Jemma states that they need to find the culprit on their own. Taylor starts nosing around, but then the investigation gets derailed when an arrest warrant is issued. Someone is setting up Taylor to take the fall for Laura’s murder. Out on bail, Taylor continues her quest for the killer. Then Taylor finds another victim and her puppy, Millie is kidnapped. Will the killer be caught before Taylor gets prosecuted?

A Case of Syrah, Syrah is easy to read, has a lovely setting of Sonoma (California) and an adorable cover. I did find the pace a little slow in the beginning. There is an abundance of speculation and inept questioning by Taylor (she ends up angering people). The author did not take the time to properly develop the characters (or tell us much about the town). I found Taylor a hard character to like. She is irresponsible, impulsive, does not think things through, and ignores counsel from others (I found her annoying and a danger to others). I do not know why she bothered to retain an attorney if she was going to continually ignore his advice (seems a waste of money). Taylor got into one ridiculous situation after another throughout the book. While she does have these traits, Taylor is otherwise very bland (lackluster). Part of the problem is readers are not told what Taylor is feeling. I am giving A Case of Syrah, Syrah 3 out of 5 stars. There are two mysteries in the story. The murder and an identity theft problem. Master cozy mystery sleuths will find solving this one effortless, while others will be surprised when the solution is revealed. There are two possible love interests for Taylor who are (of course) handsome (let us hope this does not mean a love triangle in future books). There will be a twist to Taylor’s tours in the future that I found intriguing. A Case of Syrah, Syrah will appeal to cozy mystery readers who prefer light, humorous cozy mysteries. ( )