Customer Reviews

Death by the Glass: A Sunny McCoskey Napa Valley Mystery

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is clearly aimed at foodies and wine lovers, but even though I can just barely tell a pinot noir from a cab, I enjoyed it. The mystery plot is a little thin (though intriguing), but the real delight is in the dialogue. Nadia Gordon is one of the few authors who can nail witty, contemporary dialogue without it sounding forced or precious. I did live in Northern California for awhile, and I wallowed in the nostalgia brought on by vivid descriptions of (among other things) winter rains, organic produce, and the ridiculous behavior of yuppie wine snobs.

Whether you live in the Napa Valley, or just enjoy visiting it, you'll love the setting of this book. Sunny, the main character, is a lovable, but unintentional sleuth intent on solving a murder. If you're a wine fan, you'll love the references to real wines in the book, learn a little, and enjoy the aromas of a great mystery! I've already purchased her other book!

Sunny spends a large part of her time making something of nothing and approaching strangers in a way that made me uncomfortable. Pleasant writing style overshadowed by the lack of realism.

I picked up Sharpeshooter, the first in Nadia Gordon's Sunny McCoskey series, at a local wine store in San Francisco. I enjoyed it so much that I immediately ordered the other available books in the series and ordered them new rather than used from Amazon (I believe in supporting writers when I enjoy their work) and was not disappointed. If you like food, wine, engaging characters, and intriguing mysteries, read this series! And don't forget the bottle of wine to go with the read!

For mysterious reasons beyond my understanding, the same robotic voice (Kindle's male,) provides a more or less satisfactory experience in reading text. Naturally, I mean to my hearing; how it sounds to others I do not know. This book somehow sounded less well than many others.
To be fair to the robot and to the author, it may be that I was just not in the proper mood for this book at this time. Every author using the device of an amateur detective, has to find some way to make plausible and acceptable to the reader, behavior rarel,y if ever found, in real life. Sometimes it is an innocent person accused of a crime he did not commit, sometimes it is someone important to the person who is in the same boat, sometimes he holds some position which gives him an acceptable role, an attorney, a bereaved spouse, a former police officer, or private detective, etc. Sometimes, however, there is no earthly reason why a person should become involved except for being a God-Awful-Snoop and Busybody. Often, this is quite acceptable, simply because the skill of the author make it seems so by dint of their writing style. Reading readers reviews of books and films, will disabuse any of us from the belief that any particular author is successful with all readers at all times.
I'm afraid, I must admit, that my irritation with the heroine of this book grew with each episode of her inexplicable (to me) intrusion into the lives of the people somehow involved, remotely or closely, with the death of the BODY which is the motivating object of the book. Yes, the author gives us the judgment of the heroines best friend, that she is, in psychological terms, simply acting out her resistance to opening herself open to deep romantic relationships, and, therefore behaving in such manner as to foreclose involvements and provide substitute gratification for them. Sounded pretty good to me, but it did not lessen my irritation, sufficiently, to get me beyond the half-way mark before "removing the book from my device". As I say, I make no claim to offering an objective perspective; this is purely an opinion.
I will say that the author writes well, gives us a "cozy" view of the chefs problems in some small way, and throws in some characters who could be interesting. I would not say this is, in any way, in the humorous cozy sub-genre of mystery story, it is more romantic than fun-filled.
I should note that, as of this date, the price is no longer the inexpensive 99 cents which makes taking a fling at an unfamiliar author worthwhile. Still, for many the heroine might be quite appealing, independent minded, strong-willed, and other things which they admire and will enjoy. Perhaps some day I will recall it from my archive and give it a try. At another time, and in another place, I might be more sympathetic to the need of the heroine to make a deuced nuisance of herself for no earthly reason save her own psychological maladjustment.

My first Sunny mystery; and I will read the others. I liked that you had the information to figure it out, but the answer wasn't handed to you on a silver platter. Also liked there wasn't much fluff.

I rated this as a good summer read because it has some good points. Nice details about the Napa Valley area. I thought the story line was a little off, but it played out with good suspence. The development of the characters left me wondering more about the characters as they seemed very one-dimensional. The heavy cross-referencing to food and wine felt either forced or pretentious...not sure which. Without giving away the plot, it sometimes assisted, sometimes detracted from the story line, although I understand where it was heading. Again, all in all, a good read to curl up with a glass of wine.

This was a good fast read. Perfect beach material. I'm going to pick up the others in her series and read those too.

I have been waiting this book ever since I read Nadja's first Napa mystery and burned my skin badly (beach reading). Previous book was a serious page turner and so is this. I commute to Manhattan every day to work and this book is the reason for some very irratated clients who had to wait outside until I came and unlocked the door. I missed my stop twice going to work and once when getting back home. Parsippany doesn't have too many train stops so I ended up walking back home (3 miles, thank you Nadja). I love the book and I love Nadja. Although I hate you little for making my and my clients life difficult for few days but it was worth it. But I can assure you that when the next book comes out I will stay home in bed and under my warm blanket. Would you Nadja care to join me?

I have been waiting this book ever since I read Nadja's first Napa mystery and burned my skin badly while doing it (beach reading). Previous book was a serious page turner and so is this. I commute to work everyday to Manhattan and this book is the reason for some of very irratated patients (I'm working for an dentist) who had to wait outside until I came and unlocked the door. I missed my stop twice going to work and once while getting back home. Parsippany doesn't have too many stops for the train so I ended up walking back home (3 miles, thank you Nadja). I love the book and I love Nadja. Thank you for making my life difficult for few days but it was worth it. But I can assure you I will stay home when the next one comes out.