An Unholy Alliance - First Chapter/First Paragraph and Teaser Tuesday

  

      When I discovered that An Unholy Alliance takes place in Oregon's wine country - an area I've visited more than once - I wanted to read it. And when I learned that the main character is in her fifties, I was sold! So many of the book's settings were familiar to me, described beautifully by author Judy Nedry. The mystery kept me turning pages (well... clicking on my Kindle), and the well-developed characters (who have problems of their own) kept me interested in the plot's outcome. It was fun to learn more about vineyards and the wine-making industry too.
      An Unholy Alliance is the first book in the Emma Golden Mysteries series. The second book The Difficult Sister takes two fifty-something women on a road trip down the Oregon coast. I can't wait to read that one too!

First Paragraph:
Prologue
Friday Night
He waited in the half light a little drunk, a little floaty, but with that constant edge of irritation that had grown so much worse in the past couple years that he couldn't remember when he'd last been rid of it. Surely only during sleep, which was troubled now on the best of nights.

Teaser (from 59% on my Kindle):
For alcohol, we are told, is a subtle foe - all good times and laughter until the day it quits working and fun is no longer part of the equation. It is replaced by terror and self-loathing so great that only a drink or a drug will quiet the screaming in your brain. On that day you learn that one drink is too many and a thousand are not enough.

Genre: Mystery
Length: 336 Pages
Amazon Link: An Unholy Alliance
Author Website: Judy Nedry

Synopsis from Goodreads:
     Like many women in their fifties, Emma Golden feels invisible. She lives quietly in her Portland, Oregon bungalow and minds her own business. But her tranquil life is about to change. She is asked to return to the rolling hills of her former wine country home south of the city to supervise a friend's bed and breakfast inn near Dundee. Emma arrives at the Westerly Inn during grape harvest. She is under contract to write a book about Oregon wineries, and it's business as usual until she discovers one of her subjects dead in a wine vat-murdered at his own dinner party.
     Cougar Crossing Winery owner Ted Maxell was a ruthless and dishonest newcomer to the northern Willamette Valley wine scene. Many people wanted him gone-including his son, many local winegrowers, and even Emma's ex-husband, Dwight. Then Maxell's daughter, Tiffany, calls Emma and begs for assistance. "I know who killed my father," she wails. When Emma answers Tiffany's cry for help, she finds herself drawn into the search for a murderer or murderers with secrets worth killing for.

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please!
Link at ADailyRhythm.com

First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.

Link at BibliophileByTheSea