Start The Day with a Raccoon on the Loose...

 

A  GOOD DAY FOR CHARDONNAY

Sunshine Vicram #2

Darynda Jones

MacMillan Audio 

Narr: Lorelei King

July 27, 2021

It's a normal day in the mountainous tourist town of Del Sol, NM. Sadly, four months into the tenure of Sheriff Sunshine Vicram, she knows that "normal" means anything can happen and usually does. How on earth her parents managed to put her name in for the election without her knowledge and win is beyond her understanding. But it brought her and her teenage daughter, Aurora, back to her hometown. For good, at least until the next election, unless the Mayor decides to fire her. Sunshine's day starts with a raccoon on the loose in town, wreaking havoc. No sooner than he is captured, the day escalates into a bar fight with one seriously injured fighter and two others on the lam with another soon-to-be-dead fighter, based on the volume of blood left behind. Successful moonshine distiller and ex-bad-boy Levi Ravinder was also in the fight and seriously injured but refused to go to the hospital. Sunshine knows he isn't guilty of anything, but as usual, he isn't talking. Add to that the ongoing mystery of Sunshine's abduction fifteen years earlier, Aurora's pursuit of a serial killer responsible for several missing persons over the years, and the fact that someone in the Ravinder family is trying to kill Levi makes for an action-packed story. Not to mention the raccoon who managed to escape his cage.

I enjoyed Darynda Jones' first series, One Foot in the Grave, but I like this one even better. All the supporting characters are quirky and entirely believable: Sunshine's parents, her hunky deputy, and life-long best friend, and the other staffers at the station. Even the old lady who confesses to every crime in town is not beyond belief. Best of all is the loving relationship between mother and daughter. There are plenty of laughs in A Good Day for Chardonnay and a puzzling mystery to boot.

Thanks to NetGalley and MacMillan Audio for an advance digital copy. Lorelei King is one of my favorite narrators, so it was great to hear her telling the story. I am looking forward to the next one.

RATING-4.5  rounded up to 5 Stars.