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Synopsis
Prominent wine critic Richard Wilson makes a living elevating and destroying winemakers’ reputations with the stroke of his pen. When he disappears after a tasting at Napa Valley’s Norton Winery, his sister Janie looks to her ex-husband Babe Stern for help. But when Wilson’s body is found floating in a vat at Norton, Stern’s search turns into a hunt for the killer.
Working with the Napa Valley police, Stern quickly finds a string of suspects, all with one thing in common: their desire to get revenge for the reviews that shattered their wines and livelihoods. But as the police work to quickly clear the case, those same suspects have a string of alibis and the trail begins to fade.
Stern digs further into the circumstances of Wilson’s death and finds himself following his only lead, to Burgundy, France. In cellars and tasting rooms from Beaune to Nuits-Saint-Georges, Stern tracks the troubled son of a family of vignerons, one of the few people in the winery the night Wilson died. But the wine families of the Côte d’Or are secretive and entangled, and the further Stern goes to discover the truth, the more he becomes the ultimate target. In a stunning debut mystery packed with revenge and murder, Stern’s only choice is to find the truth.
Kirkus Reviews
A case of sour grapes. When wine critic Richard Wilson goes missing, his sister asks her ex-husband, Babe Stern, to ask around and see if he can locate him. Leaving the operation of his bar, Pancho's, to his partner, Babe begins scouring the Napa Valley looking for his ex-brother-in-law. Wilson turns up in a vat of Cabernet Sauvignon at the Norton Winery with his head smashed and his hand amputated. Who wanted him dead? Quite a few vintners whose offerings he trashed in his newsletter, it turns out. But the lead Babe chooses to follow sends him to Burgundy, France, to chase down a young man named Jean who had been interning at Norton when Wilson was murdered. The investigation uncovers secrets that have festered for years, eating away at families, prosperity and vineyard productivity. Babe will narrowly escape death himself; two other wine writers will be less fortunate. Restaurateur and former wine columnist Lewis's mystery debut is short on character development and plot intrigue, but he's knowledgeable about winemaking, wine tasting and wine pretensions.