Wine and Whispers

She came to Sonoma to heal. The vineyard had other plans.

Food blogger Sophie Brooks arrives at Cartwright Vineyard with a new Substack, a bruised sense of trust, and no intention of getting involved in anyone else's problems. She is here for the wine, the harvest, and the quiet. She finds those things — and also a community being quietly dismantled from within.

Vineyard patriarch James Cartwright is under siege. Developer Angela Mason is buying up Sonoma with a smile and a legal team, using blackmail, pressure, and carefully placed allies to push James off land his family has farmed for generations. When a furtive figure in the vineyard catches Sophie's eye on her first evening, her instincts — the ones she didn't know she had — refuse to let it go.

Then James is found dead at the foot of his vineyard steps, and what Sophie suspected becomes something far darker.

With documentary filmmaker Nate and James's niece Claire beside her, Sophie must untangle a web of fraud, manipulation, and long-buried rivalry before Angela's next move erases what's left of the community worth saving.

Wine & Whispers is the first full novel in the Sophie Brooks Culinary Mystery series — clean cozy mystery with authentic wine country atmosphere, slow-burn romance, and an amateur sleuth who discovers her instincts are the most valuable thing she owns.

Perfect for fans of Agatha Raisin, Flavia de Luce, and cozy mysteries with a culinary heart.