AZURE Death in the Texas Hill Country

Released this week as a paperback and for digital readers!

AZURE Death in the Texas Hill Country is a murder mystery that takes place just outside of Fredericksburg.

More importantly, there is wine drinking involved in solving this fast moving, unpredictable whodunit!

* I should probably mention that I am the author of this book and if you click on any of the links posted and buy a copy of the book or download the ebook, I will benefit from your purchase. I should also mention my backyard chicken, Pansy, appreciates your patronage.

Oh, the Texas Hill Country!

Limitless sky and spectacular Spring wildflowers make the Texas Hill Country ideal for a relaxing executive retreat ~ until someone on the team is murdered and Art Director Maeve Clarke is framed.

Road trip with Maeve as she sorts out this fast-paced whodunit, despite the clouds of an elaborate embezzlement scheme, an epic sibling rivalry and a blooming romance.

Come along and see for yourself,

Not all Artists are Suitable for Framing.

Hilmy Cellars

Hilmy Cellars is a boutique winery located between Fredericksburg and Stonewall, along the Texas Wine Corridor, Highway 290.

My husband Brian, and I visited Hilmy Cellars during a private wine tour arranged for his office. There were ten in our group. Hilmy was the third stop on our tour and our favorite.

The good people in the Hilmy Cellars tasting room were welcoming and knowledgeable. Our pourer, Josh, told us about helping with the grape harvest, gave us a brief history of the winery and dazzled us by demonstrating how their titanium infused wineglasses didn’t break when bounced off the concrete bar (several in our group unintentionally repeated the test, demonstrating the brilliance and foresight of Hilmy Cellars to purchase the glasses before our arrival). 

All their wines are made with 100% Texas-raised fruit. Which is great to know because a wine can be called a ‘Texas Wine’ with as little as 75% Texas-raised fruit. Their wines are listed on the tasting sheet dry to sweet. White before red.  

I like sweet wine, what can I say? My simple method of rating wines during tastings probably would have clued you in to that...

[ Our tasting was in December 2012. A link to Hilmy’s current tasting room menu can be found on their website. ]

I liked how vested everyone at Hilmy is in the wine-making process. Sounds like they all participate in the harvest, the bottling and serving the wine in the tasting room. Each person we spoke to, seemed genuinely interested in being there and sharing their creation with us.

Hilmy Cellars is a winery I have already recommended to friends and I wholehearted recommend it to you. They have struck a nice balance between friendly surroundings and nice wines. 

Hilmy Cellars

12346 E US Hwy 290

Fredericksburg TX 78624

830.644.2482

Finding Hilmy Cellars is easy. You can see their vineyard and their building from 290, north side of the road. Their sign is rock and weathered metal.  

Participating member of Wine Road 290 and Texas Hill Country Wine Trail

Construction on 290

For months, the Great State of Texas has been re-topping a portion of Highway 290 between Stonewall and Fredericksburg. Since this stretch of road is becoming known as the Texas wine corridor, I thought I’d give you a construction update.

Disclaimer:  I’m the first to admit I’m not really the best person for this job because I drive by landmarks instead of mile markers but here goes. 

It appeared to me today that construction between Hilmy Cellars and the Wildseed Farms is nearing completion. Yea! The surface of the road is nice and smooth, the lines are mostly in place and there was no construction equipment in sight. However. There are still about a zillion orange pylons in place and I can tell ya, when you drive through there at night, those pylons can be a little freaky. With the curves in the road. And the glowing. Now, I’m not saying it’ll remind you of a Stephen King novel like it did me but I will say the driving experience can only improve along those 3 miles of highway once the pylons have been moved.

Happy trails!