A review by theavidreaderandbibliophile
Murder Uncorked by Maddie Day

2.0

Murder Uncorked by Maddie Day was a struggle for me to read. The biggest problem is the unlikeable Cece Barton. Cece lacks confidence in herself, which we get to hear about often. She tends to blather on about her food choices (I could care less) and other mundane subjects. We also get to hear how Cece is estranged from her college aged daughter, her twin sister’s busy life, and Cece’s new job. This information allows us to get to know the character, but I do not feel the details need to be repeated (repetition is a big problem in this book). The characters lack development. When Cece reaches out to her daughter during the case (a bid for sympathy), the situation feels contrived. The scene had me rolling my eyes. The mystery is simple. It is silly that Cece sees herself as a suspect and feels the need to clear her name. There is a small suspect pool. The killer can easily be identified (did everything but hire a skywriter). Cece goes over the clues and suspect list repeatedly. She withholds information from the police. I know that is common for amateur sleuths in cozy mysteries, but I feel that when your life is endangered, it is time to talk to the cops. I found it annoying the number of times that Cece would put off looking up or doing something to aid the case (once or twice maybe, but multiple times). Quilt stalling and solve the case already (of course, I already knew who did it but I wanted confirmation). The pacing is slow (which made the book feel long). The character’s dialogue tended to meander (I would reread a conversation trying to figure it out). I did not appreciate the author using the book as a platform for her politics. I read books to escape reality, not to be preached to. While Murder Uncorked is technically the first book A Cece Barton Mysteries, we are introduced to Cece in Murderous Mittens which is one of the books in Christmas Mittens Murder. The mystery from Murderous Mittens is mentioned more than once in Murder Uncorked. This book felt like something a newbie writer would produce instead of an established author like Edith Maxwell. I will not be continuing with this series. As you can tell, A Cece Barton Mysteries is not for me (I do suggest you download a sample to judge it for yourself).