A great book by a fantastic author. The writing is excellent and the mystery keeps you turning the pages. Characters are well developed. Highly recommend.

This second installment in the series is better than the first one in my opinion. There are fine-looking Scots, still hot rockstars, history, vicar in love, pet sheeps, whisky and dead bodies. What more do we need?:)

Generally I do not read much cozies, as I am a smart mystery lover and the cozies tend to be on the safe and even naive side. But here the motives are very solid and also they are well-connected with the real pain of human hearts (because why to murder?).

I have enjoyed this pleasant leisure read!

I am a huge fan of a good cozy mystery series. I love the small towns, the continuing plot lines of secondary characters. Melinda Mullet does not dissapoint.

Abi is such a relatable heroine, and with Liam her trusty hound at her side there's really nothing that can stop her. Not even murder.

A loveable and unique cast of characters, enough discussion of scotch to give me a thirst for a dram, and a small town I'd love to send a summer in.

This is the kind of series one can binge read, the can that becomes am automatic yes, waitong anxiously for the next.

I was given this book by Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book had a lot to offer - aging rockers, murders, Scotland, and an unintentional sheep farmer, but I just had a hard time getting in to it. I liked the main character, Abi, an international reporter who inherited her uncle's whiskey business, and the secondary characters were interesting, so I think it was more me than the book. The mystery was compelling, with so many suspects that you couldn't really guess who it was. Again, I think the book was better than I rated it, but for me, at this time, it was solid, middle-of-the-road cozy mystery.

This was another smart entry in an interesting cozy series. Abi Logan is a photojournalist, but also owner of her late uncle's whiskey business. Returning to Balfour should be more relaxing than it is. I liked the mystery involving the death of fellow townsperson Rory's bandmates.

Abi Logan returns with her wheaten terrier, Liam, to Abbey Glen, the whisky distillery she inherited. Rory Hendricks, a childhood crush, has moved to the village and enlists Abi to photograph his return to the rock stage and possibly figure out who has been killing off his former bandmates.

Love the story and the characters that are developing. Hope that some of Abi's photo-journalistic adventures are incorporated in the future.

This mystery first grabbed my attention because of its setting. I visited Stirling Castle recently, and I really could picture the concert held there. Mullet's delightful mystery made me want to add Balfour to my itinerary on my next trip. Abi and her fellow villagers already seem like friends. Abi's new role as sheep owner made me laugh. I especially enjoyed the contrast between bucolic Balfour and the almot stereotypical - even murderous- world of rock and roll. There were definitely plenty of suspects, and it took me until near the end to solve the mystery. I want to go back and read the first book in the series, and I look forward to the next installment!

Abi Logan is back in Balfour to check in at Abbey Glen and this time she is hobnobbing with a former rock star who may or may not be a murderer of his own band members. The town of Balfour is beside itself with the rock n roll hoopla and her head distiller doesn't trust the Rebel for one second. Is it distrust or jealousy? This was a great follow up to the Single Malt Murder as Abi becomes more of a local and less an outsider as she stumbles upon some old history that made history while her terrier Liam is tending a lost flock of sheep and solving a murder with ever trustworthy companion Patrick.

The second book in the Whisky Business Mystery series, Death Distilled is a solid tale of old secrets, revenge and murder, both in the current day and hundreds of years ago. And that’s what I liked best about this book, the blending of mysteries from two separate time periods and then tied together at the end. Add in secret passages and you’ve got an intoxicating cozy mystery.

My only gripe is there was too much packed into the book and I felt like it rambled a bit too long. At around 2/3 of the way through the book, I started to get a little bored. If a few scenes in the middle were trimmed or removed, it would’ve heightened the tension and suspense.

The colorful cast of characters and the side plot historical mystery really made the book engaging. I was far more interested in the historical mystery (and the hope of more secret rooms and passages) than I was in the minutae of the rock star soap opera. The conclusion was both thrilling and tragic and a great ending to the story.

Overall, an entertaining and enjoyable read and I am eagerly watching for the next book in the series.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC of this book. This is Whisky Business Mystery #2 and I was able to easily follow the book even though I had not read #1. The characters are interesting and the plot kept me engaged until about half way through the book when the characters became too numerous to keep track of and the plot went in way too many directions. I can't imagine what will happen as the series goes on. Unlike the first book, this one did not deal with the distilling process and I wish it had. A bit too much romance and not enough cozy mystery for my taste. I liked it enough that I will read book #1 and hope for a really interesting #3.

Several months ago, I read and reviewed Melinda Mullet's debut, Single Malt Murder. I enjoyed it, not least of all because it was set in the Scottish Highlands, and knew I'd be reading the second one as soon as I could get my hands on it. Death Distilled came out in September, and though I've had a review copy for a while, only managed to get to it a couple of weeks ago. Don't let my delay sway you though - the series just keeps getting better.

In Death Distilled, we get to learn more about Abi's day job as a photographer, and that was pretty neat. I think this is the only cozy series I've read where the main character isn't heavily involved in the business that's the heart of the story. It's an interesting perspective - to me, it gives the Whisky Business series a little more seriousness than other cozies. This isn't a bad thing at all; in fact, it's refreshing.

I'll be up front and say that I didn't care one whit about the mystery in Death Distilled; or, at least, not the murder. There's a fair amount of mystery surrounding the town's history, and that part was really neat to read. Those of you who spent your childhoods searching for hidden passages and longing for revolving bookshelves definitely want to pick this one up. The main story, though...eh. I didn't like Rory's character, so I didn't really care.

My favorite part though, was BY FAR, the flock of sheep Abi rescues. I'm fairly certain I would continue this series just for the sheep alone.

The third book in the series hasn't been announced yet, so you've got some time to catch up if you like whisky, adorable animals, and anything Scottish!

This is the second in series of the Whiskey Business and as fun a read as the first in series. In this next in series our protagonist Abi Logan returns to Abbey Glen, the distillery recently left to her by her uncle. She discovers human remains near the pub and a friend wanting to turn the distillery into a special event destination. Then her biggest shock is a celebrity crush appeared on Abi's door for her help. Believing that his former band mates deaths have not been accidental, Rory Hendricks believes he's in a murderer's sights and wants Abi to use her skills to pick out a killer. As if finding a killer was not enough now she is dealing with feelings for Rory and trying to run a successful event and take care of furry loved ones.
I loved this 2nd in series. The humor throughout makes this series a fun read. The addition of new and continuing characters. add to the story with depth and interest. Its a fun series and I look forward to the next in series. Thank you for the ARC which did not influence my review.

First I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House for the opportunity to read and review this wonderful story.

I am not much of a drinker but I wish I was every time I read this series. Abi Logan comes home to rest and check in on Abbey Glen. Within hours of her coming home a body is found and an old Rocker asks her to help him.

I love the way Ms. Mullet writes, I feel like I'm there, I feel like I know the people that Abi interacts with. I really hope that there will soon be a third book in this series.

Death Distilled is the second offering by author Melinda Mullet in the Whisky Business Mystery series. Abi Logan, an internationally famous photojournalist who inherited partial ownership of a whisky distillery in Scotland, has returned to her new home of Abbey Glen looking forward to some rest after a stint of reporting. It is not meant to be. She quickly becomes involved in a historical mystery as well as a modern mystery. And, her friend Patrick talks her into opening up the distillery for an event/tour for a group of Japanese whisky enthusiasts. Her faithful terrier, Liam, is at her side throughout it all. Liam, along with a flock of sheep that she ends up adopting and turning into pets, offer some comic relief. The historical mystery will interest you if you are fascinated by Scottish history. The modern mystery evolves when Abi meets a new neighbor, an aging rock star who was once her teenage idol, and helps him uncover the mystery of who is killing off the members of his band. This novel did not hook me untiI I had read several chapters, but then it was an enjoyable read. It is subtle, cozy writing.—well-done in a predictable way. Thank you Alibi/Random House and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader’s Copy of this book and for allowing me to review it.

This is the 2nd book in the Whisky Business series. In the first book, Abi Logan, who is an internationally-known photojournalist has inherited a whisky distillery in Scotland. In Death Distilled, she has come back from a trip and is asked by an aging rock star to find out more about the possibly suspicious deaths of some of his former bandmates, and take pictures at his benefit concert.

Abi's investigations tie into a local historical mystery, which to me was almost just filler for the book. It all tied up in the end, but it could have been a complete book without the historical mystery as it wasn't necessarily relevant. It didn't make sense to me why Rory would hire Abi to be his bodyguard - it seems as though he should have hired a professional bodyguard instead of a photojournalist. Also, I think the author would have more future stories by using her career as a photojournalist to take her to remote locations - it would give her more storylines instead of having her living in a small Scottish town in a distillery. Instead, she is thinking of giving up her photojournalist career. There were some things that Abi did that just did not make sense like going alone to the hotel room of the killer and bribing the only maid to let her into the room or drinking too much and then getting into the car to drive.

I wasn't as enthralled with the book as many others. I did find many parts humorous though - there is one scene where a sheep that Abi has adopted has somehow escaped and is running down the road when Abi and her dog come upon him. Liam, the dog, forces Oscar, the sheep, into the backseat of Abi's Mini Cooper convertible and Oscar "settled himself on the backseat and rested his chin on the window ledge." It is a fun, not serious, read.

If you like cozy mysteries, I think you would like this book. I received this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Death Distilled by Melinda Mullet
Book #2: Whiskey Business Mystery Series
Source: Netgalley
My Rating: 5/5 stars

Returning to the Haven and Abbey Glen after a grueling assignment was meant to be all about rest and relaxation for Abi Logan. Within minutes of her arrival, she comes across a dead body and two new mysteries that need solving. She can rest and relax when she’s dead, right?

One mystery just isn’t enough and before Abi can even get a tiny bit rested, she’s pulled into another mess by one of her teenage crushes, Rory Hendricks, lead singer of the Rebels. The Rebels haven’t been on tour or even speaking to one another years, but someone seems to have it in for the group and is bumping them off one by one. Rory has come to town to hide out and knows Abi via her work and reputation. Rory’s “simple” request from Abi is to use her excellent skills of observation to suss out who has it in for the Rebels before he or she strikes again.

Though somewhat reluctant, Abi agrees to help the aging rocker and finds herself up her to her butt in secrets, plots, and threats. While the culprit has gone directly after the other band members, he or she has been toying with Rory in an effort to increase his level of worry and anxiety. What’s more, the culprit has also threatened Rory’s grown daughter and put a great deal of circumstantial evidence in place to convince the police of Rory’s guilt. Rory may be one hot guy, but he’s Abi into a mess that is far more involved than she counted on or is prepared for.

As is her way, once Abi gets on the scent of the culprit, she just can’t give up even when it’s in her best interests to do so. Secrets from the past are piling up, Rory is looking far guiltier by the minute, and his seemingly sweet as pie daughter is all over Abi’s current crush and business partner, Grant. Oh, and because she’s a softy, Abi also takes on a small herd of sheep, all of who she names 😊 As the days pass by, Abi works with (mostly!) the police to unravel the mystery and as she comes ever closer to the truth, she puts herself in grave danger. It’s one disaster after another right up to the moment the culprit is revealed.

The Bottom Line: The training wheels came off with this second installment of the Whiskey Business Mystery series! Except for the book specific players, all the cast and crew from the first book are in place, established, and involved in this read, and I was ever so glad to see them all back in action. Abi, Grant, Patrick, Hunter, and Cam are all up to their necks in the various issues in this read and I thoroughly enjoyed their involvement. The mystery surrounding rock-n-roll Rory is a sad and tragedy-laden plot line that manages to work itself perfectly into the quiet town of Balfour and Abbey Glen. In fact, the very end has a nice little twist that really ties both mysteries, Rory, and Balfour all together with a nice neat little bow on top. I greatly appreciated this twist and greatly appreciated how well woven together all the bits and bobs of this read are. Some of the rustiness of the first read has worn away leaving a solid read that is entertaining, enjoyable, well-written, and leaving me with a great anticipation for more.

What a strong second book in this series. Abi has another photo assignment. Then, her dog, Liam, finds something less than desirable to find. I really like Abi, I tend to connect to her strength and her photojournalism side. Grant is still as strong a character as ever. The interactions between charters aren't disappointed, and I enjoyed the solving of the mystery. It's a super good second book in the series! More please!

My copy came from Net Galley, Random House - Alibi . All opinions expressed are entirely my own, and this review is left of my own free choosing.

In a second book of Whisky Business Mystery series, Death Distilled, Abi comes back home, to relax and to go over the distillery business with Grant and to see Grant :). However, she will not have time for it. The first thing she finds, walking toward the distillery with Liam, is a skeleton. After she had dragged Liam out of the hole, met with Grant, and bought some sheep on her way home, she meets with local pastor, who offers her a possibility to investigate tunnels under church.

Just an usual morning for Abi, on her vacation and it’s not all, since on an evening she discovers that somebody named Rory Hendricks has been looking for her, and his humble wish is that Abi would discover, who is sending him death threats and who has killed of his bandmates. Nothing special, nothing that Abi would not do while she is on vacation since her idea of a vacation was just sitting back and relaxing.

And besides, her best friend and whisky expert Patrick had invited a group of Japanese investors to Abbey Glen, so the tour, the Rory’s concert, the mysterious skeleton and secret plague in tunnels under church and surprise priest hole in her house, is just a piece of cake with some new corpses on top covered with new death threats.

Well even this time it was difficult to figure out who the culprit is, since everybody has secrets and all of them had reasons to be angry with Rory. And this little town has many secrets that old habitants know but will not tell to new settlers, so the skeletons and plagues could remain mysteries until they are discovered and stories told. The look back into the history of reed coats and illegal whisky makers, and son’s retribution for their fathers … it is all very interesting. Maybe the discovery of distant relatives was a bit much, but still interesting.

So what about Abi and Grant? We will have to wait and see, don’t we.

Next book please! :)

Death Distilled opens with a nice quick summary of why talented photographer, Abi Logan, owns a distillery in the Scottish Highlands. (I won’t summarize the book here, because the publisher’s blurb and many other reviews do that very well.)

This cozy mystery is as much Romance Fiction as it is a Mystery Fiction. I confess. I am not a fan of Romantic Fiction. Smart, professional Abi is very attracted to “Bad-boy,” Rory. I roll my eyes when I read: Rory moved closer and looked over my shoulder. I felt an inconvenient warmth spread up my body. Could he tell? Was he toying with me or was he oblivious to his continued appeal?” Abi continues musing, “And yet I couldn’t help comparing the two men in my mind. Grant was a quietly smoldering fire. A chasm of emotional complexity that would take a lifetime to plumb. Rory, on the other hand, oozed an immediate kinetic sexual energy with an undercurrent of danger.”

Like the first book in the series, Death Distilled has many characters; too many for readers to easily keep track of. Most of them pass through the story without a lot of depth or notice. The writing can be confusing. (upcoming parentheses mine.) Narrating, Abi writes, “Early on Friday morning I loaded Liam (her dog) into Hope (her car) and followed Patrick (her friend) over to the Larches” (her kind-of-boyfriend/ business partner’s home.)

Abi judges people she meets with 3 words that pop into her mind. My words for Abi would be: shallow, self-doubting, rash. She initially presents as a confident professional woman, but all the questions (like in two paragraphs above) make her seem vain and insecure. “Not that I was trying to impress him. The fact that I’d changed six times before settling on a royal blue silk sheath that always turned heads came down to the changeable weather, not my vanity. At least that was my story and I was sticking to it.” She describes herself as “stubborn and opinionated, sharp tongued, prickly, independent.” She just rubs me the wrong way. If you are independent, grow up, Abi.

Mullet’s writing was best in the story within a story from the historic journal that Abi found. She tells the story of the Battle of Culloden and the hard times after in ways that make the reader empathize with the Scots. (From the journal) “The noise of the guns, and the stench of death as the mud mixed with the blood of his friends and neighbors. And through it all the icy rain that numbed the very soul…. (from Abi): So little had changed in all the intervening years. I could have penned the same words about any number of battlefields I had witnessed in my career. The panic, the assault on the senses, and the wasted lives. So much pain and so little gain.” My comment: Surely you could think of a less cliched phrase. Give the author some help, editor.

I tried it again. Somehow, I always think the amber liquid is going to go down smoother than it does. It burns and leaves a distinctive taste. It turns out I don’t like whisky after all.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for granting access to an arc of this book for an honest review.

The second installment in this series doesn't make you feel as if you're coming in too late to the party if you didn't read the first one. It does a nice job of catching you up on the backstory of how Abi, a photojournalist, came to own a distillery in Scotland.

In this cozy, Abi comes back to Scotland to relax after her latest assignment and set up a foundation in honor of her uncle (from the first book). Instead, there's a skeleton unearthed by a renovation project and a rock star who asks for her help in figuring out who might be trying to kill him. The author nicely handles mixing present and historical mysteries, populates the story with a good dog, interesting people, plausible suspects, sheep (I love sheep!), tantalizing descriptions of whisky, and a simmering romantic attraction.

A solid, pleasant read.