As Daisy McGovern knows all too well, it isn't easy being a young, small-town waitress at a local diner in Virginia. It becomes even harder as she's trying to stitch her life back together and salvage her job by converting the diner into a bakery. She's preoccupied with snickerdoodles and cinnamon buns, trying to feed a group of geocachers in town, when a mysterious robbery occurs in the back room and one of the thieves ends up dead with a chef's knife in his chest. With the sheriff out of town, Daisy, distrustful of the cop left in charge, takes it upon herself to follow up on clues and find out who the robber was and why he was there. While she's investigating, she meets a handsome geocacher and is commissioned to bake a cake for the unlikely wedding of one of the Balsam boys, at the same time trying to avoid the charms of his moonshine-brewing brother.
When a second murder occurs, Daisy finds herself in a twisted game of cat and mouse that takes her from secretive nip joints overflowing with moonshine to weathered Appalachian mountaintops overflowing with history and guns. She must figure out who is the murderer and how her bakery is involved before she becomes the next victim.
A Nip of Murder is the second entry in this charming series filled with eccentric characters, red herrings, and, of course, moonshine! Carol Miller hits all the right notes, creating a unique mystery that will delight as well as surprise.
"In her second outing after the acclaimed debut Murder and Moonshine, Daisy McGovern is the very definition of a spunky steel magnolia, having survived her husband's abandonment and done what she can to rebuild her life. Fans of mysteries set in rural Southern communities will identify with Miller's characters. Recommend to anyone who misses Anne George's "Southern Sisters" mysteries."
Library Journal
"Trouble has a way of finding small-town bakery owner Daisy McGovern....Stolen maps, bats, and red-velvet cake round out this fun southern mystery."
Booklist
"Daisy, the Balsam boys and the other likker-sipping characters from Murder and Moonshine are back for another round… in this lively blend of local color, homicide and whiskey-fueled high jinks. Miller puts Daisy squarely center stage in her second outing--not that she doesn't belong there, but even her sexy nemesis remains in her shadow in this entertaining sequel."
