MoMoBookDiary

📖 Book Description

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🌟 Book Tour

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✍️ About the Author

Liz Fielding

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👩🏻‍💻 My Review

My First Visit to Maybridge

Murder in the Vineyard is the fourth book in the Maybridge Murder Mystery series and my first introduction to Abby Finch. Although I was able to follow the story without having read the previous books, I did feel that I was missing the connection with characters whose lives and relationships were already well established.

The story begins when Abby swerves to avoid a little dog that runs into the road, an encounter that unexpectedly leads her to the May Valley Vineyard and the discovery of Clementine Courtenay.

As questions begin to emerge around Clementine’s death, Abby starts looking for answers of her own. She follows the threads, asks questions and puts in the work to uncover what really happened. There is plenty happening along the way, with different possibilities to consider, but for me, this was one of those books where I simply didn’t become as invested as I had hoped.

I think some of that came from joining an established series at book four. While I never felt lost and was given enough information to understand the characters and their relationships, understanding those connections and feeling emotionally attached to them were two different things. I suspect I may have had a different reading experience if I’d already spent time in Maybridge and got to know Abby through the earlier books.

There was, however, one character I became attached to almost immediately. Scout, the little dog whose appearance sets everything in motion, completely stole my heart. From the moment he bounded into Abby’s path, I was far more invested than I should probably admit in discovering what the future held for him.

Ultimately, I think my experience with Murder in the Vineyard was more about joining an established series at book four than the story itself. I enjoyed the mystery and Abby’s determination to find answers, but I never quite developed the connection with the characters that I think would have made the story work better for me. With only three earlier books in the series, I’ve decided that I want to go back to the beginning and discover how it all started for Abby. I’ll be adding all four books to my Kindle and, when I’ve read them in order, I’ll be interested to see whether knowing these characters better changes how I feel about this one.

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DISCLOSURE: I received a review copy of this book via Zooloo’s Book Tours and NetGalley.

#MurderInTheVineyard #LizFielding #MaybridgeMurderMystery
#JoffeBooks #NetGalley #ZooloosBookTours