When you read a series, over time it becomes less about the interest in the mystery and more about catching up with the characters and where their lives are taking them. This is one of my favorite mystery series because I lived in Northern Virginia for a while, so the locations are familiar. The murder mystery was not difficult to solve, but the historical mystery relating to Washington, Madison, and Jefferson was much more interesting as was the tie-in to Shakespeare. I'll be visiting VA next month, and am adding the Folger Museum to my list of things to do while I'm there.

"When Lucie Montgomery attends a Thanksgiving weekend party for friends and neighbors at Hawthorne Castle, an honest-to-goodness castle owned by the Avery family, the last great newspaper dynasty in America and owner of the Washington Tribune, she doesn’t expect the festive occasion to end in death. During the party, Prescott Avery, the 95-year old family patriarch, invites Lucie to his fabulous wine cellar where he offers to pay any price for a cache of 200-year-old Madeira that her great-great-uncle, a Prohibition bootlegger, discovered hidden in the US Capitol in the 1920s. Lucie knows nothing about the valuable wine, believing her late father, a notorious gambler and spendthrift, probably sold or drank it. By the end of the party Lucie and her fiancé, winemaker Quinn Santori, discover Prescott’s body lying in his wine cellar. Is one of the guests a murderer?vvAs Lucie searches for the lost Madeira, which she believes links Prescott’s death to a cryptic letter her father owned, she learns about Prescott’s affiliation with the Freemasons. More investigating hints at a mysterious vault supposedly containing documents hidden by the Founding Fathers and a possible tie to William Shakespeare. If Lucie finds the long-lost documents, the explosive revelations could change history. But will she uncover a three hundred-year-old secret before a determined killer finds her?"

4 1/2 stars rounding up

Set in the wine country of Virginia,, this series combines a current mystery with historical ones. This one delves into missing documents, a Jeffersonian hand written Declaration of Independence and the authorship of Shakespearean plays. Fascinating and enthralling, I had to ding it a 1/2 star as the current mystery is not as well developed as in previous volumes. This is the 10th in the series and it functions fine as a standalone, but for true enjoyment, I would recommend adding the rest to your TBR. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Ok this was really interesting stuff about Shakespeare some very old wine and the masons.

I continue to enjoy this very solid series, which features two of my favorite things: wine and Virginia. This entry is notable for its historic tidbits about Madeira, colonial Freemasons, the origins of Shakespeare's plays (particularly The Tempest), and Prohibition, as well as the descriptions of Christmas at the vineyard and in Middleburg. (It actually gave me some inspiration for my mom's pending early December visit to Virginia!) I loved all this stuff. I loved that she popped Slater Run Vineyards into the dialog, as it's a Virginia winery I particularly enjoyed. I just didn't love the actual mystery part of the mystery, which is why I didn't rate it higher. I guess it's to be expected for a story that takes place around the holidays, but there was just too much family drama for me! Still, I always enjoy reading these and I hope this series continues for a good long time.

The fine print: received ARC from NetGalley.

I absolutely love this series. It gets better and better and this is the best book so far! It has a great blend of a mystery within a mystery and a historical aspect - a total win for me! And, it is set in VA :)

It was an engrossing and entertaining read, well written and well plotted.
It's the first instalment in read in this series but I had no issues with the characters or the plot.
I appreciated the well thought and likeable cast of characters, the solid mystery that kept me guessing and the setting.
I look forward to reading the next instalment in this series.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

It was an engrossing and entertaining read, well written and well plotted.
It's the first instalment in read in this series but I had no issues with the characters or the plot.
I appreciated the well thought and likeable cast of characters, the solid mystery that kept me guessing and the setting.
I look forward to reading the next instalment in this series.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Edelweiss for this ARC, all opinions are mine.