Overcast Sunset by Joyce T. Strand {Book Review}

Disclosure: Leels Loves Books, on behalf of Life as Leels, received a free ebook copy of this book in exchange for my review.

[show-book title=”Overcast Sunset”]

I have followed along on all the Brynn Bancroft Mysteries from the very start. I love reading these. They aren’t my “who done it” mysteries, but they are enough mystery to keep me engaged and wanting to read more (hence the reason I do!)

For the most part, the characters all stay the same so we have grown to know them and love them. The winery has been a place that I can envision as my happy place when I need to and I love everyone involved. But dang, Brynn sure can find herself in trouble.

Overcast Sunset is set at the winery, as the last two books have taken place as well. (Brynn was originally introduced to me in Fair Disclosure which is a Jillian Hillcrest Mystery book. That particular location was not the winery!) The author has done a really great job painting the scenery. As I read, I can travel to the winery in my mind and see it all laid out for me.

Brynn runs the winery with her ex Liam (who I have to say, I am Team Liam) and she “raises” (for lack of better wording) her ex-boyfriend’s teenage son. Fortunately for Brynn, he’s a great kid.

While I like the winery and the stories surrounding the winery; it definitely tends to bring bad luck (more than Brynn already had) and creates some great mysteries.

Like I mentioned above, they aren’t ‘who done it’ mysteries that leave you guessing – you can figure them out – but they are excellent reads.

About Brynn Bancroft

Brynn Bancroft evolved from the Jillian Hillcrest mysteries where she served as Jillian’s manager while Chief Financial Officer of Harmonia Therapeutics in Silicon Valley. A shapely blonde with a MENSA IQ, she had an affair with the CEO of the company.

Unfortunately for Brynn, the CEO’s wife figured out that the two were involved and asked Brynn to leave the company, which she agreed to do.

In the meantime, her husband, Liam—not unfamiliar with extramarital affairs himself but also understanding that Brynn grew up in an abusive household- grew tired of waiting for Brynn to commit to their relationship and asked for a divorce. At the same time, he solicited her assistance in developing his new winery in Sonoma County, Calif.

As the protagonist in HILLTOP SUNSET, Brynn begins to shed her past and her behavior of protecting herself by blocking emotions. We watch her transition from a shallow uncaring person to someone who starts to understand the emotions of friendship and love.

At the same time, much like Jillian—who occasionally shows up in the Brynn Bancroft mysteries—Brynn, too, attracts mystery and murders as she grows to enjoy life at her ex-husband’s Hilltop Sunset Winery.

Also Available
Hilltop Sunset: A Brynn Bancroft Mystery

A mystery set in wine country pitting financial exec Brynn Bancroft against a
determined stalker, a troubled love interest, and career clashes.

Brynn Bancroft learns that a former employee who beat her nearly to death
has returned to stalk her and her friend, Jillian Hillcrest, also a former victim.

Recently divorced, Brynn turns to a new love interest only to encounter additional unwelcome issues. Meanwhile, short-timer Brynn, who has resigned from her Silicon Valley company, becomes bored fulfilling her remaining responsibilities there. She begins to prefer supporting the launch of her ex-husband’s new hilltop winery while waiting to move to her next position. Between her stalker and her new love interest, Brynn faces a series of life-changing events.

Read an excerpt here

Book available from….
Amazon.co.uk   Amazon.com   Barnes & Noble   Paperback

Landscape For Murder: A Brynn Bancroft Mystery

A friend’s murder. An unconnected cast of suspects, including the victim’s missing adult daughter. As if that wasn’t enough, Brynn Bancroft’s winery has been broken into. Can she deal with her co-owner ex and help the police find her friend’s murder so she can finally overcome her own troubled past and enjoy family life with her teenage ward?
 

Book available from….
Amazon.co.uk   Amazon.com   Barnes & Noble   Paperback   

About the Author
Joyce T. Strand is the author of who-done-it contemporary and historical mysteries set in San Francisco, Napa-Sonoma wine regions of California, or Ventura, California.

Her most recent novels, Hilltop Sunset and Landscape for Murder, feature protagonist Brynn Bancroft, a financial guru in transition to winemaker from corporate executive. Brynn Bancroft is a minor character in Strand’s first three novels On Message, Open Meetings, and Fair Disclosure—three mysteries solved by Jillian Hillcrest, a publicist in Silicon Valley whose boss was Chief Financial Officer Brynn Bancroft.

Her first historical mystery, The Judge’s Story, tells the story of a Superior Court Judge with a passion for social justice as well as the law who strives to discover the truth behind the mystery of a robbery-murder in a small California town in 1939.

All of her novels are inspired by actual events and/or real people, although they are definitely fictionalized.

Much like her protagonist Jillian Hillcrest, Strand headed corporate communications at several biotech and high-tech companies in California’s Silicon Valley for more than 25 years. Unlike Jillian, however, she did not encounter murder in her career. She focused on writing by-lined articles, press releases, white papers, and brochures to publicize her companies and their products

She lives with her two cats and collection of cow statuary in Southern California, and enjoys exploring and writing about the growing wine region in the Ramona Valley near San Diego.

She received her Ph.D. from the George Washington University, Washington, D.C. and her B.A. from Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA.

Find the author on the following sites….
Website   Blog   Facebook   Twitter   Pinterest   Google+   Goodreads
   Amazon Author Page

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