Blood is Thicker Than Wine


Fiction - Mystery - Murder
261 Pages
Reviewed on 01/19/2019
Buy on Amazon

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    Book Review

Reviewed by Trudi LoPreto for Readers' Favorite

In Blood is Thicker Than Wine by Liz Eagle, Lil is given a box of old homicide notes that her grandfather had written and had been left in the attic untouched for all of those years. Lil begins reading these papers and cannot resist investigating and learning more about her grandparents' and parents' involvement. Lil looks for clues and remaining people who may have knowledge of what happened in that quiet country town. As she continues to read her grandfather’s notes, she has more and more doubts as to what really happened. Was it her aunt and uncle’s wine, was it the man charged for the crime, what else was going on that didn’t seem right? Lil is determined to find the answers. She finds herself in danger the closer she gets to discovering the truth but refuses to stop until she gets those answers.

Blood is Thicker Than Wine is a really interesting murder mystery that bounces back and forth from the present day to a 75-year-old murder case that left many questions unanswered. Author Liz Eagle did a wonderful job of jumping back and forth and keeping it very clear whether you were in the past or present. The characters all grabbed my attention and were either very likable or really not. Blood is Thicker than Wine is the kind of book that would make a great TV movie. There is a hint of the old time mystery mingled into a fresh new approach, making it a very enjoyable read. It is a very good story for any murder mystery fans.

Susan L.

Great read!! A true page turner. Ms. Eagle has a grasp on keeping the suspense up until the very end. Believable characters and very intriguing plot twists!

Ann Greyson

A murder mystery that is compelling and oftentimes suspenseful, Blood Is Thicker Than Wine feels intensely personal from the very start. When Lil Starling inherits some cardboard boxes containing FBI reports and handwritten notes by her grandfather Gus Gaylord, she discovers an investigation into a double homicide from July 1943. With the murder of two girls in a park bearing a connection to her family, Lil quickly finds out that behind the sleepy, small-town façade of Warsaw, New York is a place thriving on lies, scandal and murder.

This praiseworthy story with finely clear-cut dialogue, pulls us in smoothly into the seventy-three-year-old murder case that Lil Starling so desperately wants to solve. With plenty of wine to go around, sexual escapades among the main characters, and a tawdry hobby on the brink of exposure, the decades old secrets interwoven with murder may be the most fascinating case Lil has come across in all her years as a federal probation officer.

Taking in consideration of the social norms during the 1940s, Liz Eagle gives readers a rare glimpse into that time period during World War II, all through the eyes of Lil’s mother Jacqueline. Pursuing an acting and modeling career while living in Manhattan, Jacqueline on occasion finds herself hobnobbing with some of the biggest film stars such as a casual encounter with Vincent Price, sitting next to him at an Off-Broadway show.

Darting between the past and present, Liz Eagle keeps the story moving on multiple levels, exactly what a crime fiction novel ought to do. One must admire the character of Lil, with her determination to get to the bottom of whether this well-to-do family is responsible for a murder, carefully covering it up, thereby sending an innocent man to Attica for the crime. This is storytelling that is highly entertaining and will recommend without hesitation.