Bloodline and Wine

Jones makes the most of her setting, Tuscan wine country, in her captivating sequel to 2015’s Lost and Found in Prague. Investigative journalist Dana Pierson is on vacation in Tuscany, hoping for a tranquil week of good food and wine in the company of her friend Fr. Giovanni Borelli. Then someone breaks into the Borelli family estate wine cellar, where the culprit drains barrels and smashes bottles. The liquid spilled all over the floor proves fatal to longtime servant Paolo Paluzzi, who slips, strikes his head, and then drowns in the wine that has collected in a clogged drain. Dana is stunned at the cost of the vandalism—the spilled wine was worth $8 million—which her clerical friend believes was the result of a vendetta against his family. As the police look into the crime, another life is almost lost: an apprentice working in the Borelli vineyard is shot with an arrow under circumstances that make an accident unlikely. Jones keeps readers guessing as to what lies behind the violence. Armchair travelers will be rewarded. (BookLife)