DEADLY TO THE CORE

A recent widow opens a cidery.

Still mourning the loss of her husband and healing from the car crash that took Brian’s life, Kate Mulligan is ready to turn the page. So when she inherits her great-uncle Stan’s orchard, she leaves her home in Pittsburgh for rural Orchardville. Working in a cidery has given her the tools she needs to turn Stan’s apples into cider, and watching Brian restore houses has taught her how to frame walls and build a bar and tasting room. But no one’s taught her how to solve crimes. So when Carl Randolph, Stan’s on-site manager, turns up dead in his cabin, Kate has to learn fast. Her neighbor Daniel Martinez is willing to help with sleuthing as well as carpentry, throwing in an occasional home-cooked breakfast for good measure. Her childhood friend Marguerite Yost comes along for the ride as Kate chases down leads. But it’s a map she finds stashed in Carl’s freezer that promises to be the most intriguing clue, if Kate can only figure out what it means. Tremel moves slowly and deliberately both in releasing clues and in chronicling Kate’s complicated friendship with Daniel, but readers will find her measured pace worth the wait. The solution to the puzzle is surprising, sensible, and satisfying.

A refreshing take on the wine bar mystery.