A Paint and Shine Mystery Books in Order

Still Knife Painting introduces Miranda Trent, an artist who inherits her uncle's homestead in eastern Kentucky and turns it into a business called Paint & Shine. The idea is part tour company, part art class, part dinner party, and part moonshine tasting. That mix gives the series its personality right away. It also gives Cheryl Hollon a believable reason to bring guests, neighbors, and strangers into Miranda's orbit, which is exactly what a cozy mystery series needs.

The mountains matter.

Most of the action unfolds around Red River Gorge and the Daniel Boone National Forest. Trails, cliffs, back roads, caves, and spotty cell service are not just pretty background details. They shape the tension. People can get lost, secrets can stay buried, and a simple outing can turn dangerous fast. The books make good use of the region's beauty, but they also remember that rural places can feel isolated when help is far away.

Miranda is the center of everything, and she is more than a hobby sleuth. She is trying to make inherited property pay its way, build a reputation, and, as the series goes on, expand her plans for a distillery. That working life keeps the books grounded. There are menus to plan, tours to lead, repairs to manage, and customers to keep happy. When murder drops into the middle of all that, the disruption feels real.

She also has help, especially from Ranger Austin Morgan, who knows the woods and often ends up close to the investigations. Their partnership adds warmth and a little romantic tension without taking over the story. Friends, relatives, guests, and locals all feed into the cases too, so the series feels connected to an actual community rather than a parade of one-book suspects.

This is cozy mystery territory, but with muddy boots, sharp ridgelines, and a real sense of weather.

The cases stand on their own, from the dead cook in Still Knife Painting to the old family questions in Draw and Order and the pressure-cooker retreat in Death a Sketch. What links the books is Miranda's steady effort to put down roots in a place full of memory and hard work. If you like mysteries where the setting has texture, the meals sound good, and the business at the center feels believable, this series is easy to settle into.