Book 56, 2022

[chez_jae]

Still Knife Painting by Cheryl Hollon

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



On Thursday's lunch break, I finished reading Still Knife Painting by Cheryl Hollon. It's the first in her "Paint & Shine" cozy mystery series. Narrative is in third person pov, and the main character is Miranda Trent.

When Miranda inherits a farm in KY from her uncle Gene, she leaves her life as a struggling artist in NYC to move there. The will stipulates that Miranda must get a distillery up and running if she's to keep the farm. In the meantime, she has the more immediate necessity of paying taxes just to keep a roof over her head. Miranda improvises by coming up with a "cultural" event. She will take small groups out on a nature hike, help them paint a scene from Lover's Leap, then take them to her farmhouse for a home cooked meal, followed by a moonshine tasting. Miranda can't do this without some assistance. She has Doris Ann, from the local hotel, to put the word out to guests, a local park ranger to come speak to her guests while they're painting, two church ladies to do the cooking, and a neighbor to bring some of his moonshine. Things are off to a good start, until one of the cooks is murdered in Miranda's kitchen. Now Miranda is on a short list of suspects, because she and Mrs Childers had some angry words about serving moonshine. With her business dwindling, Miranda knows she needs to do some investigating of her own to clear her name and save her business.

Ho hum. I didn't care for this story; it wasn't engaging and didn't grab my attention. There was a time-skip early that annoyed me, as well as having a few chapters follow a different character for no discernible reason. Since this wasn't written in the 1920's, I was taken aback that more than one character seemed to clutch her pearls at the idea of Miranda incorporating moonshine in her cultural events. Homophobia reared its ugly head, too. Miranda's puppy, Sandy, seemed like more of a hindrance than anything, although he did play a minor role towards the end. I was gobsmacked when one of the county cops drove up to Miranda's and when she didn't respond to his knock, he began searching for a hidden key. Did he plan to let himself into her home? Egad. Frankly, I never took a shine, pardon the pun, to Miranda. I can't say as that I really liked her. At all. Plus, did we ever find out who broke in and tried to dognap Sandy? The best part of this book was when I finished it.

Favorite lines:
♦ "Welcome to the confusion."
♦ "We all have secrets. Most of us don't have the kind that could lead to violence."
♦ "This is not a Hallmark cozy mystery television series where everything is cupcakes and kittens."

In short, did not like, won't look for any more in the series. Two stars

Since it's the first in a series, I'm putting it to my trope test even though it won't affect the score:


1. Does the mc work at/as one of the following: baker/bakery/sweet shop/tea shop/coffee shop, library/librarian, antique/vintage shop, book store, fashion/boutique, bed & breakfast? No, her "job" is fairly unique
2. Does the mc live at her (or his) place of occupation? Yes, she does.
3. Is the love interest involved in law enforcement? (Police officer, sheriff, detective, PI, FBI) Yes, he's a park ranger
4. Does the mc have a dog/cat as a pet? Yes, she has a puppy
5. Is the mc's BFF either a gay guy or a ditzy/zany woman? N/A, as Miranda doesn't seem to have a BFF
6. Did the mc find the body? Yes, she did
7. Did the mc wind up in mortal danger at the end of the book? Yes, she did.
8. Is the mc's mother either: dead, absent, far removed, ditzy and dithering, or overbearing/disapproving/meddling? Yes, her mother is absent.
9. If mother is dead/absent, does the mc have another mother-figure (grandmother, aunt, mom's friend, or an older friend)? No
10. Is the mc child-free? (Either no children or else grown children--i.e. no small children to look after) Yes, she is child-free