After her marriage failed Annie “Halsey” Hall decided to get as far from New York as she could by heading out to sunny California. Halsey found herself a lovely new home on Rose Avenue with a swimming pool in back to keep her young lab occupied while she worked. Moving into her new home she wonders about the neighbors seeing her first impression is of the lady next door keeping an eye out on her.

Before long Halsey finds herself making new friends in her new town when she meets a group of ladies that invite her to come to their wine club meeting. As Halsey heads over to the home for the meeting she arrives to find an open door with no one around. Thinking the club may be out back Halsey heads in only to find a dead body. As police arrive Halsey realizes she mistakenly went to the wrong home and now finds herself a suspect in murder. Halsey then enlists the help of the ladies in the wine club to clear her name and solve the crime.

Full Bodied Murder by Christine E. Blum is the first book in the cozy Rose Avenue Wine Club Mystery series. As with most cozy mysteries this series comes with it’s own unique hook to center the story around and that is the group’s love of wine and there are plenty of mentions throughout the book of different varieties. The main character is a new comer to the neighborhood and finding her way into the group and out of a murder charge with the local police.

While in the end I did enjoy this for the most part I also think it did have a few flaws. One that I noticed was there could have been a lot more depth given to the supporting characters to make them stand out a bit more, I would often forget who was who. It seemed the main character’s dog, Bardot,was featured more than anyone else but who doesn’t love a great animal?? The neighborhood also had a lot of shady dealings for being supposedly a great place to live and the budding relationship had a rough start I didn’t quite enjoy. Overall though the story was an OK one that I would probably test out the second book of the series, would hate to miss out on Bardot’s latest antics as he stole the show with this one.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

I received an ARC ebook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Halsey moves to Southern California from New York City. Her new neighborhood takes some getting used to, but some friendly neighbors invite her to join their Rose Avenue Wine Club. Halsey enjoys wine and wants to meet her new neighbors, so she happily accepts the invitation. Unfortunately, Halsey goes to the wrong house for her first wine club meeting... and stumbles upon a dead body. The police see Halsey as a suspect, so she and the other wine club members take on a little sleuthing to prove her innocence. It turns out, there are quite a few suspects on Rose Avenue.

I always enjoy a cozy mystery, and I like to read with while enjoying a glass of wine, so this book seemed right up my alley. This was a solid mystery, though there did seem to be a lot of other things going on with the neighbors. Mostly likable characters, but not enough character development to truly care about anyone. The dog, Bardot, was pretty great though. I saw that this is set to be a series, and it was a good introduction to the characters.

I thought the list of wines in the back of the book was a nice touch. Also, the glossary for wine-related lingo could be helpful for non-wine drinkers.

Full Bodied Murder was a light read and good for fans of cozy mysteries.

This is the first book in the Rose Avenue Wine Club mystery series. Thanks to NetGalley and Kensington Books, I was able to read an ARC.

Halsey (given name Annie Hall by her hippie parents - don't ask), is a New Yorker fleeing a fresh divorce for a big change. She is immediately invited to join the block wine club. However, heading to her first meeting in the neighborhood, she walks in the house with an open door and stumbles upon a corpse. Nothing like starting off a new life on the right foot. Even though she had never even met the victim, that doesn't stop the police from suspecting her. Follow Halsey as she acquaints herself with her quirky new neighbors and investigates suspicious goings-on.

I really wanted to like this book. I love Kensington Books, and I love starting new cozy series. This book, however, left me looking forward to the end by chapter 9. I loved the dog, Bardot, but the human characters seemed thrown out quickly without much fleshing out. It felt like there were too many mysteries being thrown out - who's the murderer? What's going on at the yogurt shop? What's up with Mussolini (the neighbor, not the dictator). I did like the wine club ladies, but didn't feel the camaraderie with them I had hoped. Give this one a pass.

This is a fun new mystery filled with quirky characters and delicious food and wine. Annie (Halsey) Hall has chucked her wanna be writer husband and her New York City walk up apartment for a new life on Rose Avenue in Sanata Monica, California. She and her field lab Bardot have just moved in and Halsey is going to join the Rose Avenue Wine Club women for the first time but she accidentally goes into the wrong house and finds the body of the home owner, Rosa, with a knife stuck in her back. Halsey and the wine club women, along with her new boyfriend Jack the dog trainer decide to investigate the murder and with many bottles of wine and some great snacks start to follow some of their less than law abiding neighbors to figure out who did it. This is a fun mystery with wonderful characters and it will also give you some great tips on what wines to drink and what food to pair with the wines. I was hooked from the first page through to the end.