A Good Day for Chardonnay by Darynda Jones

Darynda Jones does everything right in the new book in the Sunshine Vicram series, A Good Day For Chardonnay. Sunshine Vicram was kidnapped 15 years ago and rescued five days later with a memory full of holes and a baby on the way. Now she is the sheriff in Del Sol, New Mexico, where things are usually quiet, including her love life. A stabbing at the Roadhouse Bar and Grill leaves one man clinging to life and Sunshine’s lifelong crush, Levi Ravender, struck by the car that fled after he intervened to save his friend. Now Sunshine has a whole bunch of interesting going on in her life.

Sunshine has to find the criminals from the bar, figure out why everyone keeps confessing to the 15-year-old murder of the man who abducted her, and figure out why a young boy whose unsolved disappearance she worked on as a member of the Sante Fe police department suddenly shows up on a convenience store surveillance video. All this while dealing with her precocious teenage daughter, Auri, who is convinced the nice old lady who confesses to every crime might actually be a serial killer.

Jones keeps all these balls in the air in a hilarious and entertaining story that never slows down. Sunshine and Auri are lovable characters on their own, but the cast is rounded out with a quirky mix of deputies, well-meaning parents, a handful of villains and some quirky townsfolk. Add in some steamy sex scenes and you have a wildly entertaining mashup!

Lorelei King narrates the audiobook and is the perfect match for the humor and pace of the book. She captures the characters in every mood, adding levity, seriousness, and passion as it is called for. She brings out the sly humor at every turn and really makes the book a delight to listen to.

If you are not already a fan of this series, you will become one. This series is must-read. What a fun book!

I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher.