Died in the Wool is Book 4 of The Whisky Business Mystery series by Melinda Mullet. This culinary cozy series features a strong protagonist, photojournalist Abi Logan, who has recently inherited a whisky distillery. This is currently one of my favourite culinary cozy series so I was really excited when I was approved for Book 4 on NetGalley.
Title: Died in the Wool
Author: Melinda Mullet
Series: A Whisky Business Mystery #4
First Published: June 18, 2019
Publisher: Random House – Alibi
Categories: Mystery
Acquired: from the publisher via NetGalley
*** Thank you to the publisher, Random House – Alibi, for providing me with a e-copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. ***
Abi has put her photojournalism career on hold and is fully embracing her role at the whisky distillery she inherited. Besides taking classes to further her knowledge in the whiskey distilling busines, Abi has joined the Board of a local women’s shelter for domestic abuse victims.
Perhaps keeping busy is the best way to deal with her personal life (or lack thereof). In the previous three books, we see Abi’s growing attraction to Grant MacEwan, her business partner. Abi has been reluctant to give in to her feelings because she wants to be taken seriously as a distillery owner (and not just as Grant’s girlfriend) and her past comes with some emotional baggage that has her wary of committing to anything serious.
At the end of Book 3, Deadly Dram, Grant gets seriously injured and Abi realizes that she loves him. But is it too little, too late? Grant’s ex-fiancee, Brenna, has shown up and has moved in to nurse Grant back to health (and rekindle their romance). Plus, Grant isn’t acting like himself – he’s wallowing in self-pity because his injury may be permanent, which could mean the end of his whisky-distilling career.
The ‘murder-mystery’ takes place away from the distillery and in the women’s shelter that Abi is involved in. After one woman is found dead and another goes missing, Abi races to find out who would want to harm these women. The police rule the death as a suicide and assume that the missing woman was involved and ran away, but Abi knows there’s something more going on.
To complicate things, many of Abi’s suspects are her fellow Board members – men and women who are supposed to be helping the shelter, not destroying it.
MORE WHISKY PLEASE
This was another solid addition to the series and I enjoyed it quite a lot, but it was probably my least favourite of the four books so far (keeping in mind that I LOVED the first three books). The writing was great and the mystery was so full of twists and turns that I was guessing until the thrilling conclusion. This is still one of my favourite cozy mystery series, but honestly, I think I really missed the distillery.
One of the reasons I fell in love with this series was because of the whisky distillery. It was so different from so many other cozy mysteries I’ve been reading and I loved learning so much about the whisky business. It was a unique and refreshing background that was almost a character in itself.
I understand that not every mystery in the series can be centred around the distillery, but this story was so removed from the distillery that I really felt it’s absence. However, I do appreciate that there was some great character development and I’m excited to see how they continue along their paths in the next story. I have my fingers crossed that the next book will return to being more whisky-centric! Cheers!
READ IT FOR YOURSELF
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