Malbec Mayhem

Holly Price Mystery

by Cathy Perkins

Successful restaurateur Alex Montoya’s charmed life has hit a snag. His trusted business partner turned out to be not exactly trustworthy, and Alex could be facing jail time over some of his partner’s shady financial deals. As if that weren’t bad enough, creditors are calling in loans he didn’t know he had and he’s desperate to prove his innocence before all his businesses are repossessed.

After a career-building stint in Napa Valley, Sofia Pincelli has returned home to eastern Washington to take over the family winery from her ailing father. Running the family business, however, means dealing with her father’s continued micro-management—and his disapproval of Alex. Her father’s condemnation of Alex’s rumored involvement in his business partner’s schemes runs so deep, it threatens Alex and Sofia’s blossoming romance…along with the Pincelli family’s signature red wine. Sofia needs Alex’s crop of Malbec grapes to show her father she has what it takes to make award-winning wine—and save the reputation and finances of the Pincelli winery.

When the Malbec grapes go missing, Alex and Sofia must join forces to find the fruit before it spoils—or risk destroying both of their businesses and their hearts.

101 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 15, 2016

About the author

An award-winning author, Cathy Perkins works in the financial industry, where she's observed the hide-in-plain-sight skills employed by her villains. She writes financial-based mysteries but enjoys exploring the relationships in her characters' lives.

A member of Sisters in Crime and International Thriller Writers, she is a contributing editor for The Big Thrill, handled the blog and social media for the ITW Debut Authors, and coordinated the prestigious Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense.

When not writing, she can be found doing battle with the beavers over the pond height or setting off on another travel adventure. Born and raised in South Carolina, the setting for CYPHER, HONOR CODE and THE PROFESSOR, she now lives in Washington with her husband, children, several dogs and the resident deer herd.

Reviews

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-written and fast paced story. I enjoyed this book and will be looking for more books by this author.

[Merry Chapman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alex runs his family's restaurant while his partner was investing in other business ventures which Alex never paid attention to. Consequently, his shady partner gets caught up in his criminal activity with the businesses he is in charge of. This gives Alex a major problem. Since his former partner got arrested, the fallout hits Alex as well and the business he does pay attention to is his family's restaurant. With a possible arrest over his head since the prosecutor is investigating how much Alex may have been involved, the restaurant is floundering. The next problem is his girlfriend, Sofia, who Alex seems to want a more permanent relationship with is in big trouble. Seems after her father had a heart attack, she has to return to the family vineyard to run it. Even though her father can't run it, he still is ornery and can't see how his daughter, a girl, could possibly run a major winery. But the trouble for Sofia comes in when she can't find her grapes delivery. Seems the manager of that vineyard absconded and the grapes are left in the field as well as someone comes along and claims the grapes and the property as his own. But how? Alex actually puts his problems aside to help Sofia. Will he be able to get out from under his own arrest cloud? Will they be able to solve their individual problems and keep their relationship on a good level? This book can be read as a stand-alone since there is enough of a backstory to fill in some previous details. I liked it, but felt it plodded along with no real AHA moment. I received and ARC of this book but the opinions expressed here are strictly my own.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alex Montoya was duped by his business
partner who as into criminal activity. Now
Alex’s restaurant which had been a popular
venture is suffering. His sister comes up
with a idea to pick business up. Will Alex
go with it?
Sofia Pincelli returned home to eastern
Washington after a career in successful in
Napa Valley. She is taking over her family
winery from father suffered a stroke. Her
father had a contract with Alex and his
business partner for the growing and,
I picking of the Malbec Grape. The grapes
are missing, never delivered to the
winery.
Will Alex be able to prove his innocence
in his partner’ s scheme? Will Alex and
Sofia be able to locate the missing grapes?
This was a quick, sensual, entertaining
read. I was able to read in one sitting. I
felt their was enough backstory to be able
to jump right into the story.
I volunteered to read Malbec Mayhem.
My opinion is voluntary and my own.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read. The book is part of a series, and while I dove in to the series late, it was fairly easy to put together some of the back stories.

The premise is to find a missing grape harvest. The mystery was solved but there was no real motivating issue. The characters felt more like caricatures. No personality, other than the male male being incredibly horny.

No real plot, no real character development, classic storyline.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Zeinab Dh · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chose to read and review this book. I must say I was surprised a little bit by this one. However, the plot is great as well as the characters. It is filled with a lot of action twists turns. Nice work.

[CAS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not what I expected - more romance/ coming of age than mystery.
But I enjoyed it. Alex finally grows up and owns his problems. Yay for Sofia also growing up and standing up to her dad.

[Charlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this novella. A fast paced fun read. Interesting characters and a story filled with twists and turns.

[Bookgyrl]

I actually disliked Alex in the first Holly Price book and after reading just 2 chapters I still dislike him. It seems Holly is not really a part of this book, so I will just skip this one and wait for the next in the series. Love Holly and JC!