Parker Valentine wants a wedding for herself. She isn’t ready to get married herself, but she wants to get her wines into weddings. As a young winemaker in Boulder, Colorado, she knows that adding weddings to her business plan will help her build her business. And now, she’s added a port, a special blend of sweet dessert wine, that will go well with the rest of her choices, and she’s ready to show them off to someone who could help her break into the wedding business, her cousin’s wedding planer.
Emma was always a sweet kid, and now she’s grown up and getting married to the love of her life, Nash. Parker is happy for them and thrilled to be bringing her wines to the wedding. But it does mean that the family drama will be on full display for everyone there to see. And that doesn’t include the bridesmaid crying in the hotel lobby or the construction going on at the hotel or the ringbearer, Clyde, who keeps trying to get away. But then, he is a cat, so maybe he just doesn’t understand what a momentous occasion a wedding is.
When Parker is finally able to track down the wedding planner, Prynne Pearsall, she’s hoping to have a chance to talk to her about Prynne using her wines in upcoming weddings. Instead, Parker finds her yelling at the caterer and insulting her food. But between setting up her table of wines and helping wrangle the ringbearer, Parker doesn’t get a chance to talk to Prynne before the wedding starts. So she takes her place with the family and waits to see Emma and Nash get married.
The bridesmaids and groomsmen make it down the aisle, and Clyde makes it part of the way before he gets distracted. But before it’s Emma’s turn, there is a scream. Parker is one of many who go to find out what happened, and she finds herself standing over the wedding planner. But it’s obvious that her planning days are over. Prynne’s been murdered.
Even though Parker gets warned off from investigating on her own by her old friend, climbing buddy, and now detective Eli, Parker can’t just sit by and let Emma’s mother get targeted by the investigation. Grace is an excellent mother and was a good wife, until her husband’s affair was posted on social media, his girlfriend “accidentally” tagging him in a post and letting the world in on her existence. That broke up the marriage, and Michael ended up marrying Chastity, who had broken up his marriage. But Grace had always handled things with, well grace, and Parker knows that she wouldn’t kill anyone, despite how unlikable the wedding planner had been.
As Parker makes her way through the wedding party, finding out why the bridesmaid had been crying, and why groomsman Jack had been unfriendly. She thinks that there may be something going on between Emma’s sister Carolyn and Nash’s best friend Xavier. Then there was the caterer, getting fired right before the ceremony, after having prepared all the food and the cake. And Parker has to do all of this—investigating the murder, building her business, and helping her assistant prepare for her sommelier exam—without her boyfriend Reid, who is out in California looking into opening a second restaurant in the Bay Area
Having met the planner briefly, Parker can understand the urge to hit her over the head with a rock, but who actually did it? And will the answer to that bring her family together, or will the answer tear her family apart?
Till Death Do Us Port is the fourth book in Kate Lansing’s Colorado Wine Mystery series. It’s a tasty blend of investigation, family drama, wine information, and travelogue about Colorado, with a dash or romance and notes of corny humor. In other words, it’s a lot of fun.
This is the first of Lansing’s cozies that I read but it will not be the last. I loved the setting of Boulder, and all the insider information about wine was really interesting. I though that making the wedding the backdrop for the murder was a great use of family issues, and I really liked Parker and her family and friends. But mostly, I just thought that the writing was smooth and enjoyable. It was easy to read and left me wanting more. I will be going back and getting caught up on those books in the series I missed. I mean, when Parker stood over Prynne’s body and felt sad because the cake had also fallen on the ground? These are my people! I felt sad about that cake too!
Egalleys for Till Death Do Us Port were provided by Berkley through NetGalley, with many thanks.
