This mystery was created at the Mystery Hour, Build a Story Live Author Panel with engaged audience participation. Thanks to the authors on the panel Tamara Berry, Kyra Davis, Lee Hollis and Gigi Pandian. Thanks to the audience who helped bring it to life. This mystery was read by the authors at the 1920's Agatha Christie Dinner held during the 2nd Ashland Mystery Fest, 2024.

The Zins of Our Father, A Paisley Plum Mystery

Our heroine is Paisley Plum, a kindergarten teacher from Jacksonville, Oregon. She has a beloved pet turtle named Zinfandel, who lives in the school classroom and is adored by all the students. Because these are children we’re dealing with, the turtle goes by the name Zin for short.

One day, Paisley takes the kids on a field trip to a llama petting zoo on a school bus driven by her ex-boyfriend (we’ll call him Just Phil). Several chaperones accompany her, including one student’s grandmother, Autumn Barns, and a hot dad/police officer on his day off named Bart
Crowley.

Two of the kids recently discovered the Dukes of Hazzard and decide to emulate the show by putting sugar in the tank of the school bus to see what happens. Naturally, it breaks down...at a winery next door to the petting zoo that just so happens to be owned by Paisley Plum’s estranged father, Professor Plum.

As they wait for help to arrive, Vin the turtle wanders off in search of a yummy snack of grapes. One of the students, worried about his safety, goes in search of him. All is going well until the student enters the wine-making room to discover a huge vat of half-crushed grapes…along with
a dead body sticking halfway out, its legs over the side!

(Author’s note: We are aware that in the peak of wine-making season, there would be countless workers around and that a vat of half-processed grapes would not be left unattended. However, due to time constraints and the fact that we really like this wine plotline, just go with it.)

As everyone (except for the impressionable children) gathers to pull the body out of the vat, it’s soon discovered that the body belongs to none other than Paisley’s father, Professor Plum. Off duty cop Bart Crowley can see at a glance that the cause of death is a blow to the back of the head with a bottle of vintage Zinfandel lying a few feet away from the body.

Paisley didn’t get along with her father, but she’s still sad to see him murdered in his own winery…especially since she’s the sole heiress and she doesn’t want the blame to fall on her head.

She looks first at Just Phil, who wastes no time in confessing his continued love for her and his desire to run the winery as her partner until death do they part.

Also suspiciously hovering around is Joanie Collins, the land developer and llama petting zoo owner next door. She’s had her eye on acquiring the winery and expanding her llama empire for years.

But what about Autumn Barns, the grandparent chaperone who just so happens to be in a tumultuous relationship with Professor Plum?

Or sexy winery worker Enrique Alvares, who was unjustly fired from his job just that morning?

Paisley is doing her best to put together the clues with the help of Bart Crowley, who has the brooding eyes and exasperated air of a man who is definitely going to return in book two as a love interest, but it isn’t until she spots Vin the turtle devouring grapes underneath a table that she makes a breakthrough in the case.

The grapes Vin is eating have turtle tooth marks…and also human tooth marks, which can only mean that the murderer had to stop after all that hard work of killing to enjoy a sweet treat (which this author doesn’t recommend, as winery grapes taste kind of gross). Paisley chats with
each suspect in turn, careful to check their teeth as she goes.

There’s only one suspect with grape skins in their teeth, so Paisley runs to the murder weapon and examines it. It’s a vintage she recognizes, one from her father’s private collection. A miser to his core (hence why he and Paisley don’t get along), Professor Plum always keeps that particular collection under strict lock and key. No one has access…except for his lover, the one and only Autumn Barns, with whom he recently had a lover’s spat.

Paisley runs to tell Bart Crowley about her discovery when she slips on a puddle of Zinfandel mixed with blood. She’s flying through the air, in terrible danger, when Enrique catches her and saves her life, his rakish grin setting her heart racing. (Because the next book obviously needs a
love triangle.)

Together, she and Enrique tell Bart Crowley the truth, and Autumn Barns is brought to justice. All the children are safely taken back to school, each with a souvenir bottle of wine to take home to their parents. Come back next time to learn about how Paisley explains to the school principal why she took an entire kindergarten class to a winery-turned-crime-scene…and how she and Vin the turtle are going to decide which gorgeous love interest will get more page time.

And in case this story wasn’t amazing enough, let’s give a shout out to the reader who came up with the best title known to mankind: The Zins of the Father.