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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent New Series - Must Read, March 15, 2007
Silenced by Syrah is the third book in the wine lover's mystery series. I loved it. The characters are rich and full of life and just keep growing on me. Nikki Sands the amateur sleuth, is a very true to life character and investigates as an amateur sleuth would without the privelage of law enforcement knowledge or the resources they have at hand. Instead she uses good old fashioned deduction and brain power.
All of the characters are well drawn and rounded out. They are also sympathetic and quite believable, not larger than life or too quirky, which can distract from a book. I find myself rooting for them from page one and throughout the entire book. The secondary characters bring so much to the story as well through their own trials and tribulations. The nice part is that everything is expertly interwoven and all a part of the storyline, so it is not disjointed leaving you scratching your head. Through all three books I've seen the characters grow as well, some have even matured in certain ways, and special bonds/friendships formed. Especially Simon and Marco. At first I thought them annoying, now they are very likeable and good allies to Nikki. You know a book is written well when the characters can grow along with a series.
Ms. Scott's plots are always cleverly woven throughout the book and almost anyone could be the villain. I thought that I had the killer all figured out in this third book but I didn't. I'd like to say I was pleasantly surprised but I wasn't. I like to beat the author at their own plotting game but she won this time as she has the other three times, but all is forgiven. Maybe one of these times I can outsmart this author. But her plotting skills are exceptional.
She is also a wonder at weaving in some sexual tension between Nikki, Derek and Andres, which can put Nikki in quite a predicament at times, and it does, but it NEVER distracts from the mystery. It only adds to the realism of the book, the characters and the plot.
Ms. Scott does a masterful job with the setting and atmosphere in these books. She makes you want to be a part of the wonderful Malveaux Estate and hang out with Nikki Sands and the gang. The Napa valley and all it has to offer in this wine lover's mystery series is as comforting as sitting down with one of Ms. Scott's books and getting away from it all. The only thing that could be better is knowing that she also writes a Horse Lover's mystery series that is just as good. I always look forward to her next book and am a big fan. She is a superb author and I'm glad I bought that first book!
The recipes and wine pairings are an added bonus to this series. My only suggestion is to eat before reading one of Ms. Scott's books. You will get hungry. I would also suggest reading this series from the beginning as you will see the character growth of all of the main characters in the series and this will only add to the entire reading pleasure of this excellent mystery series. Try the Horse Lover's Mystery Series as well. You don't have to be a big horse love to enjoy the book. The writing and storyline will drawn you in from page one. Enjoy!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An enjoyable mystery, but ultimately put-downable, June 20, 2007
I've read every book in Michele Scott's "wine lover" series, and I really enjoy the premise. Nikki Sands is a failed actress (she had a short-lived TV series as a detective) who ends up as manager of a Napa valley winery. Whereupon she just happens to stumble on bodies, and for whatever reason feels it's necesary to find out The Truth herself. So far, so good.
This entry, however, is... okay. Only okay. The mystery itself is fine, in regard to the whodunnit and the author's ability to share clues without spotlighting them. (Sometimes it's contrived, but that's okay for this sort of book.) Scott continues to intersperse recipes between chapters, and that really *does* work, in a very charming way; so does her lighthanded education on wine and food pairing.
Where Silenced By Syrah stumbles is in the plot. In the earlier books, Nikki had perfectly good reasons to be an amateur sleuth. This time, her reasons weren't all that strong, and as I commented to a friend, "She really *is* being a nosy parker!" And while I recognize that other people enjoy the "which man shall I choose" romantic ambiguity, as Nikki has to deal with two compelling beaus... well, I grew tired of it. (Look, girl, make a decision already!) More to the point, it was a distraction from the mystery, and it got in the way of storytelling.
Plus, this book is a little less polished than the others. At one point Nikki leaves the dog at the roadside while she runs after a bad guy, and the poor dog disappears for about 100 pages. I kept worrying that Ollie was _still_ sitting next to the road, until thankfully he appeared in the last chapter or two. Whew, the critter got back home okay. Yes, that's a trivial issue but (a) of such trivia are mystery book clues created (b) Scott made the relationship between Nikki and Ollie far more real than she did for some "main" characters who are barely charcoal sketches and (c) it shows that the book needed one more pass by an editor.
Oh darn, that sounds way too serious. This is a fun book. It's not *quite* as fun as the others, but they were outstanding and this is "only" good. I took Silenced by Syrah with me on a cross-country plane trip, and at no time did I feel that reading the airline magazine would be a better use of my time. If you liked earlier books in the series, you'll like this fine, though you might grab another one off the Summer Reading Pile first. If you haven't read earlier books... well, this is okay, but you really should start with the earlier books just to gain from the character development.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This Book Sparkles, November 25, 2007
Sensual bath treatments, facials, massages . . . mouth-watering Italian food. The atmosphere is fabulous. The book takes place in California grape-growing country, with a winery, an elegant hotel, an Italian restaurant, and a spa. The book also has recipes for that wonderful Italian food.
Nikki finds a body and she is determined to find out who the killer is. The adventures she goes on in order to solve the mystery are fun and interesting, but also tense and edgy. Once she starts going on these adventures, the book was hard to put down.
Nikki is the main character, and I love her. I also love the character of Alyssa, even though she is not a main character. I think she adds a lot to the book.
The solving of the mystery was clever. It had a nice twist.
I can't wait to make the Margherita Pizza. It sounds like the most scrumptous thing ever.
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