mary sutton

The Laurel Highlands seem idlyllic, but for Trooper First Class Jim Duncan and Fayette Count assistan public defender Sally Case, they’re anything but.

It’s the first-ever home brew competition sponsored by The Copper Pot – a popular local bar, and anticipation is running high with a grand prize of cash and inclusion in the catalog for a local microbrewery waiting for the winner. But on the eve of the competition, murder threatens to disrupt the festitivies.

Damon Collingsworth, a student of marketing, was acknowledged to be a brilliant amateur brew master. He was also rude, ambitious, cocky, obnoxious, and general a pain to be around. When he’s found dead in the basement of The Copper Pot, right next to a new brew recipe for the competition, nobody is completely surprised. It was only a matter of time before Damon’s attitude got him in trouble. But murder? And how? Poison appears to be the most likely instrument of death, but who would Damon let get close enough to him to administer the deadly toxin? It doesn’t seem possible that Damon Collingsworth really so distasteful that someone would murder him. And beer aficianados want to know: just what was the “secret ingredient” in his prize-winning brew?

A rare Friday night ruined, Duncan has to assist his barracks rival, Corporal “Golden Gary” Sheffield, in uncovering Damon’s killer, hopefully before the publicity murder’s his favorite bar’s future. In the process, Duncan gets a chance to get a little closer to the attractive Sally. But will her mother’s prejudice kill any chances of romance between two members of the criminal justice system who would seem to be an unlikely couple?

“A Brew to Die For” is the fifth installment in THE LAUREL HIGHLANDS MYSTERIES.