This is my second try with this series and I think I'm going to admit that it just isn't for me. I love the wine/vineyard premise and have found the main character's physical disability interesting in that it forces her to deal with physical situations in a different way than I normally see in mysteries. That said, the mystery was a bit week and Lucie's involvement in the investigation caused me to roll my eyes a bit. Her entire reasoning for putting her life in danger and causing extra stress to people who are supposed to be dear friends is a garbled remark from a dying intoxicated man and the belief that this same dying intoxicated man is resisting getting out of the car and was therefore trying to commit suicide. It just seemed a bit of a stretch. Since all of this is referenced multiple times I had a hard time really connecting with the plot of the mystery or getting investing in the conclusion of the story.

Crosby's newest addition to her Wine Country mysteries takes on the mysterious death of a former presidential candidate - and reveals a web of mystery that surrounds a decades old murder. I enjoyed the mystery, especially as Lucie found her ties to local friends tested as she tries to solve an apparent suicide that ends up being much more than it seems.

In this book early on Lucie Montgomery witness an accident of a unsuccessful United States President Jamie Vaughn who crashes into the same wall Lucie crashed into with her ex-boyfriend Greg Knight. Jamie pleads to Lucie to tell someone he's sorry and Lucie feels compelled to follow this through no matter where it leads. Did Jamie commit suicide or did someone hush him up for good?

This book leads Lucie back 30+ years to investigate an old college crime that involved everyone around Jamie. Who killed someone 30 years ago and is the proper person in jail or was it frame job? With so much on the line obviously someone is determined to keep the past buried but at what cost?

I enjoyed this journey it's always nice to see what everyone is up to and who winds up dead this time! We also get the pleasure of reading as Lucie digs deep to find out what happened to whose responsible and to come to terms with her own demons. Definitely a pleasure to read!

Ellen Crosby carries on with the Wine Country mysteries with the Vineyard Victims. Billionaire mogul Jamison Vaughn dies as his car slams into a stone pillar of the gate to Montgomery Estate Vineyard. Lucie Montgomery is certain it was suicide while everyone else calls it a tragic accident. But Lucie has promised Jamie that she will find Rick and ask him for his foregiveness. Lucie begins to uncover a web of deceit about a murder committed 30 years ago. Who in her circle of friends is guilty? Will she be safe?

Lucie Montgomery was heading home one night when an SUV blew past her and plowed into one of the stone pillars outside of her vineyard, crashing at a high speed. Lucie tried to get to the driver, former presidential candidate Jamison Vaughn, but the engine was already on fire. She grabbed onto his door handle and pulled, trying to get him out anyway, but her neighbor (who was also passing by and saw the accident) yanked her away to safety before the car exploded in flames. 

Lucie was in shock. Vaughn's crash was at the same spot as her own crash--when she was young and in a relationship with the wrong guy, they fought and he ended up driving into that pillar, causing irreparable damage to her leg. But despite Lucie's shock at the memory, she knew what she saw and heard. While she was trying to get Vaughn out of the car, he was determined to stay where he was. But he gave her a message to pass on, a mysterious apology that made no sense to Lucie. But she knew what she witnessed--a man who was not trying to save his own life. 

As Lucie tries to figure out what Vaughn's last words meant and who he was talking about, she is also struggling with her own history. Politics, personal pain, relationships, lies, betrayal, and wine all collide in The Vineyard Victims, a mystery where the past and present bleed together into a story where Lucie has to figure out the ending in order to bring Vaughn some peace and to make sure her own story gets to have another chapter. 

Ellen Crosby has written yet another fantastic mystery in her Wine County Mystery series (this is the eighth in the series). I have heard Crosby's mysteries described as cozies, and I guess you could make a case for that (amateur detective, "busybody" female protagonist, small community, amateur killer). But I have always felt like Crosby's mysteries were a step higher. I mean no disrespect here because I love a good cozy, but I think of the Wine County Mysteries as having a depth of feeling and of character that elevates them. The Vineyard Victims is no different. It is beautifully written, with complex characters and the texture of a well-drawn setting that creates a deep and moving story of human emotion, betrayal, love, desperation, and revenge. 

I highly recommend The Vineyard Victims, as I recommend all the books in this beautiful series. Read it with a good bottle of wine, or (like me) a warm blanket and cup of cocoa. 



Galleys for The Vineyard VIctims were provided by Minotaur Books through NetGalley.com, with many thanks.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC of this book.
Wow. An exceptional book for a cozy. I don't mean to diminish the importance of cozy mysteries. They are great for rainy afternoons. This cozy is so well written and the action flows so smoothly that one is driven to read on. It is book 8 in the Wine Country mysteries series. I have not read any of the others and I was able to totally understand the characters and the action. The book alluded to the back story but did not try to fill in details that weren't necessary to the current. story. Makes me want to read the others. 4 stars!!!

Ellen Crosby's The Vineyard Victims is part of the Wine Country Mystery series. Lucie witnesses former presidential candidate Jamison Vaughn drive his SUV into a pillar at the entrance of her winery. It seems like much more than a tragic accident. Lucie dives into the mystery that becomes more and more complicated. While this book fits into the cozy mystery genre, it is more serious than a typical cozy mystery. The characters are well developed, and the mystery was filled with twists and turns. If you prefer your cozy mysteries with a bit more depth, this is the book for you!

This is an excellent addition to Crosby's Wine Country Mysteries!!!! It's always fun to see the latest developments in the lives of the characters a long-time reader gets to know through books in the series. I especially enjoyed the changes in Lucie Montgomery's relationships. The solution to the mystery was not an easy one, and I was actually shocked by one part of that solution. I don't believe in spoilers so I urge anyone who has read any of the books on the series - as well as new readers - to read this ASAP to see the skill with which Crosby presents the solution to a true cold case!

I continue to enjoy Ellen's series, which has a wonderfully drawn heroine and Virginia settings. This one was an interesting twist with all the political maneuverings and it got a bit over the top with the decades-old crime, but overall this was a fun read. I hope they keep coming!

I can't wait to read more from this author. Fun, well written cozy mystery. Wonderful descriptions of wine country.

When Lucie witnesses the death by car crash of a former presidential candidate-in the same spot where her ex-boyfriend once brutally crashed their car-she is sure it wasn't an accident. But everyone else wants her to leave well enough alone.

Lucie, however, refuses to drop her inquiries. As she discovers a connection to a past crime, she finds herself in danger from someone who thought their crimes were buried long ago.

I love mysteries about crimes from the past, and Crosby does a really good job of weaving in the past into the present. Clues come out as Lucie learns them, upping the tension and the mystery.

Lucie is a great main character and narrator. She is strong and stubborn, refusing to give in when others would have given up. Her relationship with her fiance Quinn is a pleasant happiness in the midst of murder.

The setting also becomes its own character, which is always something I enjoy. The town really comes alive.

The solution is a good one that fits with everything that came before, but the very last few pages of the book come across as a bit cliched and don't entirely seem to fit with what we have learned of Lucie's character in the previous pages.

I really enjoyed this cozy mystery. I definitely would like to read the rest of the series at some point.

I first became aware of Ellen Crosby through her two Sophie Medina mysteries. I enjoyed them both so much that it didn't take me long to search out her Wine Country mysteries set in Virginia. Crosby writes such smart books; her stories have area history and culture woven lightly throughout the pages, and even though I'm a teetotaler, I appreciate learning about wine making. Who knew?

Lucie is a strong main character whose life was forever changed by a tragic car accident. She has a weak leg and must walk with the aid of a cane, and this means that she relies on her intelligence to solve these mysteries, not in her belief that she's invincible. She also has strong opinions about things, and she may not always be right. The Vineyard Victims forces Lucie to confront circumstances surrounding the accident that crippled her-- an element that strengthens the already solid mystery surrounding Jamison Vaughn and what happened thirty years ago.

If you like intelligent writing and strong characters, you won't go wrong with Ellen Crosby's Wine Country series. And you don't even need a corkscrew.

3.75 stars

Lucie Montgomery is scarred, physically and emotionally, from a horrific car crash years ago. So when she witnesses a crash in the exact same spot, involving a car driven by a friend, it brings up a lot of old ghosts.

And when Lucie tries to carry out the dying driver's urgent last request, she unearths old scandals and mysteries that threaten to claim more lives.

This is part of the Wine Country mystery series, and while you could read it as a standalone, the earlier books help fill in background and character development. Lucie is a vineyard owner, living with and engaged to her winemaker, Quinn. Her brother Eli and his young daughter also live at the winery.

We learn more about Lucie in this book, as she struggles to do the right thing as her conscience dictates, to nearly universal disapproval. The mystery has an interesting plot although the ending of the book feels a little rushed and abrupt.

Thanks to the publisher and Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in return for my honest review.

In Vineyard Victims by Ellen Crosby, Lucie Montgomery encounters a car speeding towards her. She swerves off the road and the other car crashes into a pillar outside her vineyard. Former presidential candidate Jamie Vaughan is the driver. The crash takes Lucie on a journey that covers a 30-year old death that might include Jamie.

The Vineyard Victims is the eighth book in the Wine Country Mysteries series by Ellen Crosby. I have read all the previous books in this series. I am definitely a fan! Great series.

The book opens with a car crash. Former Presidential Candidate and neighbour Jamie Vaughn crashes into a wall at Lucie Montgomery's winery. It is the same wall that caused Lucie's disabling accident. Vaughn is dead but did he need to die. Did he crash purposely?

Lucie cannot help herself from trying to solve the mystery around Vaughn's death. Is one of her longtime neighbours involved in his death? And what about the death of Vaughn's friend 30 years ago?
This tale is filled with riddles! Great mystery!

Love this series and highly recommend The Vineyard Victims.

Mystery authors readily acknowledge one of the credibility problems with series featuring an amateur sleuth who is not a cop or a PI, is how do you keep justifying an ordinary citizen stumbling across a succession of dead bodies - in Lucie Montgomery's case, now at least eight of them.

And I think it's one challenge Ellen Crosby has always convincingly managed to surmount. All of the Virginia Mystery books seem to me to present quite convincing scenarios for the appearance of the deceased, and The Vineyard Victims, (Wine Country Series #8) is no exception.

It opens with a literal roar of engines, as Lucie is nearly run off the road just outside her winery gate by a recently unsuccessful American Presidential candidate who then dies in a blazing crash after hitting the stone entrance way to her property.

Lucie is too busy getting out of his way to turn round and actually see the impact, but she is certain she heard him accelerate rather than brake before hitting the wall. And so we are launched on an intriguing story of family secrets and long hidden misdeeds going right back to college days.

There's the sensitive issue of whether Lucie tells his family - who are personally known to her - her brother Eli is dating the dead man's daughter - what she thinks she heard, or whether she just goes along with the pressure to go along with a genteel cover up. The dead man appears to be in serious financial trouble, with campaign debts still unpaid, and any scandal could ruin the family
he has left behind.

It's a scenario that you can only too readily imagine really happening, and I've always felt that Ellen's years as a journalist working close to circles of power imbue all the Wine Countries Mysteries with an enjoyable plausibility that keeps the pages turning.

Another of the strengths of the series, and one of the things I enjoy about it most, is the scene setting - the nuances of season and scene as the story unfolds in the pretty vineyard at its heart.

I'm starting to feel I can really picture this idyllic piece of rural Virginia, backing onto the Blue Mountains, and savor the 400 years of family history on the land, as well as relishing details of the region's history and it's key role in the American Civil War. The historic Goose Creek Inn $10,000 a place Jefferson Dinner with the menu which could eaten by Thomas himself, with wine he could have drunken I love all that detail.

Of course alongside the nostalgia, runs alongside plenty of hard nosed "reality check" information about the hard work and skill it takes to run a successful winery in the 21st century. Point and counter point. Romanced nostalgia and hard graft battling the weather and chemistry. Frosts right before bud burst and all that. The consistent "back story" that's there in each new mystery really adds to my reading pleasure, and The Vineyard Victims fully lives up to expectations on this count. I'm almost ready to believe Ellen actually owns a vineyard like Lucie's.

The plotline for the politician's death is convoluted but credible, and a story line from Lucie's past that began in the first book - being left with permanent injuries in an accident that bore rather similar features to this most recent one - is cleverly interwoven and updated.

Without giving away any spoilers, this instalment advances Lucie's development as a character, as well as her relationship with Quinn, in ways which feel satisfying and leave me feeling I don't want this series to finish yet.

There's life in these characters and this setting, and I want to know what happens next! A really enjoyable romp through Virginia Wine Country. Next thing some entrepreneurial tourism operator will be putting together Wine Country Mystery tours - if they're not already.

After the sixth book in this series, The Sauvignon Secret, Ellen Crosby took a break from her Wine Country series and I missed them. When she returned five years later with The Champagne Conspiracy, I was delighted but apprehensive since I was not sure if she would be able to return to her characters the way that she had left them. I was not disappointed and now with book eight, I am once again glad to return to Montgomery Estate Vineyards.

Failed presidential candidate Jamison Vaughn sails his car past Lucie on a rain slicked road outside of Montgomery Vineyards and plunges headlong into the stone pillars. Many believe that it was an accident but Lucie was there and knows that it was a deliberate act. No one wants to say the word suicide, but what would cause a man, with so much to live for, to end his life in such a brutal way.

These stone pillars have a history with Lucie, it is in this same location, ten years prior, where she was in a horrendous accident that has left her disabled and people are sure that she is confusing her accident with what she saw. No, she is sure of what she knows and being the last person to see Vaughn alive and hearing his last words, she is determined to find out whom “Rick” is and why he needs to forgive Vaughn.

Suddenly walls have gone up and the Vaughn family is shutting Lucie out. They will handle the press and since her ex-lover Mick Dunne, who has held long ties to the Vaughn’s, dismisses her at every turn, Lucie with no option other than to strikes out on her own to find answers. The Vaughn family is happy with their “accident” explanation and would like for this whole messy affair to go away, but it appears that Jamie was meeting with a reporter and was about to go public with a long held secret.

Trying to buy Lucie off only seems to get her in deeper and when college cover-ups are revealed, and the truth of whom “Rick” is, leaves a wake of devastation that will send a members of their small community to prison and set an innocent man free.

Ellen Crosby weaves a twisty tale that spans decades, but in the end, loyalties are tested and those that have been hiding a ghastly act have their truth revealed. I cannot say that it was obvious from the start, but by the end, there could have been only one mastermind that could hold it all together and keep Lucie from the truth.

Lucie Montgomery is horrified when she watches a fellow vineyard owner crash into a stone pillar at the entrance to Montgomery Estate Vineyard, Trying to help the driver out of the car when it starts to catch on fire, reminds her of the accident that she was in at that same location which resulted into a crippling injury to her foot.

When asked by the driver before he dies to make apologies to someone she doesn't know, Lucie is caught in a web of secrecy that goes back 30 years.

The mystery was entertaining and watching Lucie try to come to grips with her own memories while being supported by Quinn her fiancé, was heartwarming.

Great addition to this series.

Another well-done entry in the Virginia wine series, in fact, it might be my favorite. Lucie witnesses an accident at the very spot of her crippling accident years before. And not just a random accident, but a family friend who just lost a presidential election. His dying request leads Lucie to wonder if the accident might have been suicide. As she tries to fulfill his request, the ramifications of her investigation show ties to her family and friends. The mystery kept me guessing and the writing was engaging. Recommended. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.