Firstly thank you to NetGalley for this ARC - took longer than expected to come around to finishing it. My first initial impressions weren't good and I wasn't really enjoying the fist 50% or so of the book.
We are introduced to Charlotte 'Charms' Lucky, a local town girl who moved to LA from a small town called Gett, her aspiring actress dreams are put on hold as she returns to Gett to help her grandfather out with their whiskey distillery Lucky Whiskey. The character of Charms for me became annoying and irritating with such quotes like "Channeling my inner brat" or "I stomped my feet like a child" - I am not sure how the author expects us to relate to 20-something woman acting like a child who wasn't getting her way.

Her grandfather Jack is suspect number 1 for the death of their employee Roger who is found on the distillery premises in a cask. She then embarks on her own investigation to find out the real killer. This is where I began to get annoyed with her behaviour. Thankfully after the 50% mark - her behaviour changed and became more appropriate, much better humour added to the story. And this is what saved the rating for me. As one other reviewer mentioned, if this was become a series Charlotte would need a character improvement in order for the reader to relate in some way.

I am reviewing this book for Mystery Scene magazine and you can see my full review in the June 15th issue

Hollywood actress Charlotte "Charms" Lucky comes comes home to Gett, Florida to care for her grandfather after his heart attack. Caring for him entails taking care of their whiskey distillery and opening a cask leads to the discovery of the body of an employee in the whiskey. When her grandfather is arrested for the murder, Charlotte knows she will have to look for the killer herself. Her high school nemesis, Brodie Gett of Gett whiskey, says he'll help, but is he trying to distract her and keep one of his own family from being caught?
This is a solid first novel in a series where the small town's two biggest employers are rival whiskey distillers. Family loyalty is more important than anything else. The ending is abrupt, maybe because the author plans on starting the next installment where this book left off?

A Shot of Murder is a cozy mystery which takes place in rural Collier County, Florida. The victim turns up in a barrel of whiskey at the protagonists' uncle's distillery. Interestingly enough, Gett. a town of ~900 has a second distillery and our narrator immediately focuses in on the family owning the other distillery as being responsible for the murder.
The story contains a number of jumps in logic from our protagonist, Charlotte "Charms" Lucky, none of which seem to hold up under the slightest scrutiny. Charlotte's investigation suffers from the unwillingness of others in the town to help as they are still apparently resentful of a stunt she pulled as a drunk teen involving the local water tower, many years previously. The twist at the end in regards to the water tower was unsurprising.
It's a quick read, reasonably enjoyable, but clearly in need of a proof-reader. It's hard to keep pace with a book when the author keeps substituting the word lured for lurid.

A typical romantic suspense book where Lucky Charlotte a whiskey maker and Brody Gett another whiskey maker get involved as they try and solve the murder of one of Luck'y whiskey companies employees. Everything takes place in a small town where everyone knows everyone else's business. I found the book to be a bit cliched and skipped from the beginning to the ending so I could just find out who done it.

This book took a wee while to get going, particularly as the first part of the book largely described what it was like for the Charlotte Lucky (main character) to return to her rural home town in Florida to run her grandfathers whiskey company after working as a small time actor in Hollywood for a few years. The characters in the local town are interesting and the author does a great job of describing what life would be like living in a small US town where everyone knows each other’s business.

Following her Grandfathers arrest for the murder of her former high school boyfriend, Charlotte takes matters into her own hands and tries to find the killer, despite the local advising her against this. . It’s at this point the book really picks up and we get to see many twists and turns. Looking forward to any follow up books with Charlotte Lucky

When Charlotte Lucky’s grandad has a heart attack, she leaves her life as an actress in Los Angeles and heads home to Gett, Florida to help him recover and run the family Whiskey business. Coming home again Char, or Charms as her friends call her, fiends that ten years hasn’t changed the town and its residents much.

After dinner, Char heads out to check on a batch of whiskey and finds their head distiller floating in the cask, shot dead. When Grandad Jack is arrested for the murder, Charms begins digging around and trying to find the real murderer. When her childhood friend and nemesis, Brodie, tries to alternately help her and warn or off from investigating she’s torn between trusting him and suspecting him.

What secrets are the folks of Getts keeping and who would kill one of their own and why? Charms intends to find out and save Jack, even if it may cost her everything.

This was a great first book in a new series. The characters are well developed and the writing is done well. I could hear the accents and Southern twang come through the written word. Looking forward to more in this series.

I haven’t read a lot of mystery books, but this one has me rethinking that. I sat down with the plan to just read a few chapters and before I knew it hours had passed and I had read the entire book! I loved the characters, especially Charlotte. Her interactions with the townsfolk were amusing, although I did really feel bad for her the way some were holding a grudge over something from years ago. I 100% believed Charlotte as a character and immediately like her. Brodie and Charlotte have a great back-and-forth relationship and Danny is a great nemesis.

There is just the right balance of drama and comedy throughout the book to keep it from getting too serious or too silly. The mystery was also engaging and had me guessing until the end – with so many suspects and motives hopefully it will be the same for all readers! The twist at the end definitely has me excited to find out what happens next with Charlotte. I’m also hoping we learn more about what happened with Charlotte’s parents, I’m sensing a book all about that mystery. This is definitely a great first offering for the series.

The only negatives had to do with the author’s tendency to repeat the same things over and over again…how good looking Brodie is, what kind of car she drives, the commercial she filmed when she was in LA, etc.