Format: E-Galley, 416 pages
Release Date: July 27, 2021
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Source: Publisher
Genre: Contemporary / Mystery & Detective
Running a small-town police force in the mountains of New Mexico should
be a smooth, carefree kind of job. Sadly, full-time Sheriff—and even
fuller-time coffee guzzler—Sunshine Vicram, didn’t get that memo.
All
Sunshine really wants is one easygoing day. You know, the kind that
starts with coffee and a donut (or three) and ends with take-out pizza
and a glass of chardonnay (or seven). Turns out, that’s about as easy as
switching to decaf. (What kind of people do that? And who hurt them?)
Before she can say iced mocha latte,
Sunny’s got a bar fight gone bad, a teenage daughter hunting a serial
killer and, oh yes, the still unresolved mystery of her own abduction
years prior. All evidence points to a local distiller, a dangerous bad
boy named Levi Ravinder, but Sun knows he’s not the villain of her
story. Still, perhaps beneath it all, he possesses the keys to her
disappearance. At the very least, beneath it all, he possesses a serious
set of abs. She’s seen it. Once. Accidentally.
Between policing a town her hunky chief deputy calls four cents short of a nickel,
that pesky crush she has on Levi which seems to grow exponentially
every day, and an irascible raccoon that just doesn’t know when to quit,
Sunny’s life is about to rocket to a whole new level of crazy.
Yep, definitely a good day for chardonnay.
A Good Day for Chardonnay, by author Darynda Jones, is the second installment in the authors Sunshine Vicram series. If you haven't already read the first installment, please take time to do so before jumping into this book.* You've been warned.
Set in the small mountainous town of Del Sol, New Mexico, Sheriff Sunshine Vicram has her hands full in this second installment. The story begins with Sunny on a blind date with a man named Carver that was set up by her parents. Sunshine believes that having her teeth pulled would be a whole lot more fun but Carver wants more. She
then heads to her best friend Chief Deputy Quinn Cooper's along with her entire staff and the women from her mother's book club, where a raccoon has invaded his home. Hilarity ensues as the raccoon refuses to go down without a fight.
Sunshine then races towards Roadhouse Bar & Grill where an incident has
left ex-military Keith Seabright seriously injured and likely drugged after being attacked by 3 unknown men who fled the scene. The fact that the love of her life, even though she won't admit it out loud to anyone, Levi Ravinder was also injured and refuses treatment after he went to Keith's aid, makes things more twisted. Keith's investigation brings Sunshine back to Santa Fe where there's an open investigation into a kidnapping. This case was the only case that she's failed to close.
Sunshine also has the Mayor of the town, Donna Lomas, blackmailing her into investigating a group called the Dangerous Daughters. They are allegedly a group of women that secretly run the town and who the Mayor believes helped Sunshine win her election as Sheriff after spending 10 years working for the Santa Fee P.D. as a Detective with a high clearance rate. Sunshine has gone over the towns records with a fine tooth comb, but she's gotten nowhere fast. Even though she knows who is who's pocket, she doesn't how close she could be to solving the mystery.
One of the ongoing issues that Sunshine is trying to solve is her own kidnapping. Which brings Sunshine to visiting Levi's uncle Wynn in prison in Arizona and some revelations. Wynn claimed he was responsible for killing Sunny's kidnapper but Sunny knows that he's protecting someone. Because Sunny
doesn't have full memories of what happened to her thanks to a head
injury, Levi
may be the only person in town who knows the truth about what happened to her when she was kidnapped and held for ransom for 5 days.
To make matters more interesting is that Sunshine's daughter Aurora aka Auri is enamored with Levi who once saved her life when she was only 7 years old. Auri decides that she is going to be like her mom and investigate a series of disappearances in the town and the appearance of what may be a serial killer who is still alive. Her BFF Sybil and love interest Cruz joins her investigation and they get into lots of trouble. As a reminder, Auri's mom saved Sybil and Cruz saved Auri which has tied them together.
If you're like me and had lots of unanswered questions after A Bad Day For Sunshine, be prepared for what you'll discover after reading this story. The banter between Sunshine and Levi ratchets up to hot, and Ari might have found her future as the towns investigator after nearly finding a grave. The interactions and banter between Sunny's team, which includes Deputy Tricia Salazar, the ace shooter Zee, and 'newbie' Poetry Rojas, whom she blackmailed into becoming a cop, and who is turning out to have stellar instincts and spot on judgements.
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