Welcome to Cozy Wednesday!
I am happy to share my thoughts today about
A Cyclist’s Guide to Villains & Vines!
A Cyclist’s Guide to Villains & Vines (A Cyclist’s Guide Mystery)
International Cozy Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – France
Publisher : Kensington Cozies
Publication date : May 27, 2025
Print length : 368 pages
ISBN-10 : 149674571X
ISBN-13 : 978-1496745712
Kindle ASIN : B0DFS1H9Y4
Audiobook ASIN B0DZKMWQSH
When American expat and bicycle tour company proprietress Sadie Greene guides a hard-to-impress group of sophisticated seniors on a stunning trip in northeastern France, she expects some twists, turns, and sudden stops to sip the Riesling. She doesn’t anticipate a detour leading straight to murder . . .
Sadie Greene and her Oui Cycle crew vow to wow her most discerning private group yet with a trip they will never forget. It won’t be easy. The Silver Spinners, six globetrotting seniors, arrive with thrilling tales of two-wheeling adventures. Sadie worries she’ll fail to impress such worldly travelers, even with the backdrop of Alsace, a dreamy region of rolling vineyards, delicious cuisine, and fairytale architecture. Sadie is dead wrong. Her group is stunned, but not for the right reasons . . .
Trouble starts when a guest crashes into a corpse on a solo midnight ride. Or so she says. But when body isn’t found, Sadie hopes it was all a bad dream. She aims to reset the mood with a fun, sunny day pedaling through the vineyards. However, an impromptu detour ends in a crash, and a shattered wine barrel isn’t the only victim. A dead man spills out. Sadie still thinks they can ride away unscathed. After all, who would they know so far from home? Murder once again throws a wrench into Sadie’s gears. The corpse has shocking links to her tour.
The Silver Spinners are key witnesses, prime suspects, and dangerously eager to play amateur detectives. Sadie finds herself tangled in the chaos. With her guests’ lives and Oui Cycle’s reputation on the line, Sadie is determined to trail the culprit. But can she stay on course long enough to reach the truth, or is she heading for a fatal collision with a cunning killer?
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Six globetrotting seniors, The Silver Spinners, are ready for a tour with Sadie Greene and her Oui Cycle crew. The question is, are Sadie, Nadiya, and Jordi ready for them? Sadie is worried the vineyards, architecture, and food of Alsace won’t be as exciting as their other adventures. But never fear, one of the Spinners, out by themselves for a midnight ride, finds a dead body . . . or did she?
In an effort to get the tour back on track, Sadie and her guests set off on an entertaining ride through the vineyards. They don’t get far before one of the bikers crashes into a wine barrel, and the mysterious missing body pours out. Well, that was unfortunate, but it shouldn’t affect her tour. However, it was quickly disclosed that the victim had ties to the well-traveled seniors, one very closely.
So the witnesses become suspects and even draw Sadie into the plot. The Spinners have skin in the game and are keen to do some investigating on their own. Sadie has to think about Oui Cycle, and now there is another murder. Is this going to destroy her new business? They are out of her “friend”, Detective Jacques Laurent’s, jurisdiction, and the local chief of police was pretty clear about staying out of her case. Sadie feels the need to find the killer. It could be one of the seniors she’s traveling with or someone in the wonderful little town where they are staying. Can she ferret out the killer? Or is she on a crash course to her own demise?
As in the first book in this series, A Cyclist’s Guide to Crime & Croissants, Ms. Claire’s detailed descriptions of the village of Riquewihr and every place her characters travel put the reader right there with them. It was easy to close my eyes and imagine each setting in full living color. Each person came full into view as well. Don’t get me started on the food and wine. I felt like I was biking right along with them. Because of the murder, there were days lost from the itinerary, but Sadie truly did her best to get to as many places as possible.
Each of the seniors was unique; one is very outspoken, the clear leader of the group. Two men are partners in love with a shared passion for art and antiques. Two are “young bloods” and are on their first tour with the group. The final has some issues, goes off on her own a lot, and they are the one who found the dead body. For me, they all were a little trying at times. They were entitled, spiteful, demanding, and disagreeable when Sadie was working so hard to please them. I am sure they were true to life of some people taking these kinds of trips, though. The local residents we meet are cleverly written, too. I loved Chou Chou, a supersmart dog who looks like a bear and is a “mammoth who eats everything.” There is also a cat in the village that plays an intriguing part in the story.
Ms. Claire has spun a well-plotted mystery that includes the six silver spinners alongside others who had issues with the victim. He was a villain in his own right. Sadie had her hands full trying to keep her group out of trouble, but it was much like herding cats. The author filled the story with twists and turns, but when the real killer villain was revealed, I was totally taken aback. I think everyone was on my suspect list except this person. I may have missed a clear clue because I was enjoying my personal literary vacation a little too much, but I love being surprised. The ending was so exciting; the pages couldn’t turn fast enough.
I enjoyed the humor throughout the book. The glamping scenes and Chou Chou’s antics had me smiling ear to ear. I was happy to see Laurent’s arrival. His relationship with Sadie is growing. Nadiya and Jordi’s relationship is heating up, too. I am looking forward to seeing both couples’ relationships continue to evolve further in the next book.
A Cyclist’s Guide to Villains & Vines is an entertaining, well-written cozy mystery with a protagonist who is passionate about her job, a crew that has her back, all set in a delightful locale. It was a wonderful virtual trip, and my bags are already packed for my next adventure with Oui Cycle.
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you to Kensington and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC.
Your Escape Into A Good Book Travel Agent
About the Author
Ann Claire is the USA Today bestselling author of the Cyclist’s Guide Mysteries and the Christie Bookshop Mysteries, as well as the Bookmobile Mystery Series and the Santa Fe Café Mystery Series written under the pseudonyms Nora Page and Ann Myers. She lives with her French husband in Colorado, but regularly travels to visit family in Southern France. A member of Sisters in Crime and the Pikes Peak Writers, she can be found on Instagram @AnnClaireAuthor or @AnnClaireMysteries on Facebook.
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