A NIP OF MURDER

Daisy, the Balsam boys and the other likker-sipping characters from Murder and Moonshine (2013) are back for another round.

When Bobby Balsam asks for a red velvet cake from Daisy McGovern, the co-proprietor of a back-country Virginia bake shop, Daisy doesn’t mind taking his order. He’s the sweeter-natured of the Balsam brothers, even though he’s so dim he can’t find his way around in the dark. If it were a favor for Rick, his older brother, Daisy wouldn’t bother; he’s crafty, unpredictable and maddening. He’s also probably the wealthiest man in Pittsylvania County, thanks to his bootlegging business. But Daisy has a bigger problem than Rick. Three men break into the bake-shop kitchen, Daisy’s business partner stabs one of them to death in self-defense, and the two surviving intruders make off with 90 pounds of cream cheese in crates. Daisy tries to turn her mind back to the red velvet cake, which Bobby wants for his wedding to a woman he’s known two weeks. His fiancee is staying at the nearby Fuzzy Lake Campground for some serious geocaching, a kind of hide-and-seek for grown-ups. When her brother asks Daisy out, she takes him to a nip joint that Rick owns to see what happens when she trades in a red chip she found on the floor after the break-in for a jelly jar of whiskey. The joint also turns out to be the hiding place of the cream-cheese crates—minus the cheese. A second break-in, a rumor of hidden treasure and an apparent case of bat white-nose fungus lead Daisy on an extended hunt-and-rescue mission 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.