Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Bottle-Shock
SERIES: Deadman Gulch Mystery
AUTHOR: Kim Fielding
PUBLISHER: Tin Box Press
LENGTH: 400 pages
RELEASE DATE: March 21, 2026
BLURB:
Just don’t call it a midlife crisis.
Everett Vaughn divorced his husband, quit his job as a Chicago attorney, and spent a year wandering the country as he tried to decide what to do with the rest of his life. Now he’s landed temporarily in the former gold rush town of Deadman Gulch, California, where he’s helping his sister open a new bookshop just in time for the annual celebration of local wineries.
When property developer Blake Cannon is in need of a handyman, it seems like an easy way for Everett to pad his dwindling bank account—until Cannon balks at paying him. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Everett soon discovers him dead in Cannon’s wine cellar.
Eager to remove his name from the list of suspects, Everett starts to do a little nosing around, much to the displeasure of his sister and the insufferably smug and handsome investigating sheriff, Sergeant Cole McBeth. In a town where most people are happy to see the last of Cannon but otherwise seem like very nice folk, Everett faces a challenge bigger than any of his courtroom battles.
REVIEW:
Everett Vaughn is a former lawyer who got a divorce, left his corporate law job in Chicago has moved to the small town his decade older sister calls home in California. It’s a small old gold rush town where Charlotte has retired from teaching and is opening a new book store. He’s helping her with the building with his handyman skills.
When Blake Cannon, an guy who is determined to build a golf course/resort outside the town hires him to do handyman work at his house, Everett doesn’t see a reason not to do it. Clearly his sister doesn’t like this guy, but if he can get closer to him, maybe he can figure out what his deal is. He’s an annoying snob who makes a lot of cracks about the town and the people and he tries to shaft Everett on his payment (which Everett had been warned about). He shows up for a 1/2 day of work but he’s got things to do for other friends of Charlotte that she’s sort of volunteered him for. He agrees to go back to the house to finish other chores and when he’s getting ready to leave he unfortunately discovers his employee dead in the basement wine cellar. Uh-oh.
Sherriff’s deputy Cole McBeth shows up and of course Everett has to answer questions. Sadly nobody seems to be too sad that Cannon is dead. In fact, his wife seems like her planned divorce is now unnecessary but she wants to hire Everett to finish the work on the house so she can sell it and wash her hands of the whole thing. Eventually Everett agrees for payment upfront and payment due for services already rendered as long as it’s ok with the constabulary.
In the meantime, Everett wants to try to figure out whodunit! So he starts his own sort of investigation. Was it the wife? The potential investors in his resort? The townspeople he treated poorly? Someone else? There don’t seem to be a lot of leads or clues. But Everett isn’t giving up, despite request to do otherwise from Cole. Everett has made friends with lots of the locals and they are free with the information, but this could also lead to trouble.
Oh how I enjoyed this kick-off to a new series from Kim Fielding. I hope this is going to be a fun cozy series which starts off with a murder mystery, a new man in town and the local Sherriff’s deputy who seems to be intrigued by said new man. It’s a fun town filled with quirky locals. Everett is still trying to figure out what he wants to be when he grows up 😉 and he’s willing to stay in Deadman Gulch to try to figure out what that is. He liked working with his hands, cooking good meals and helping out his neighbors. What is this frisson though with the good deputy? Cole is divorced as well and has a teenage daughter who seems to take a LOT of interest in Everett and his life story 🙂 Cole and Everett aren’t exactly friends yet, but something is brewing here. I can’t wait for the next book. Delightful setting and characters and a mystery that was not far-fetched. Highly recommended.
RATING: 
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