Deadly Tasting: A Winemaker Detective Mystery

First published in France in 2005, this slight tale is the fourth Winemaker Detective mystery to appear Stateside (after Nightmare in Burgundy). Bordeaux resident and oenologist Benjamin Cooker is busy creating his latest wine guide when police inspector Barbaroux calls him to assist at a murder scene. Elderly Jules-Ernest Grémillion was savagely attacked, yet 11 empty wineglasses have been neatly arranged nearby and a 12th filled with what Cooker identifies as 1942 Chateau Pétrus. Soon a second elderly victim is discovered, this time near two glasses filled with the same rare vintage and 10 empty. The ritual promises more crimes to come, while the costly wine’s year and victims’ ages suggest that Bordeaux’s WWII history may be the key. Though its celebration of fine wine, food, and cigars charms, the book’s brevity, simplistic resolution, and lack of female characters won’t satisfy all palates. (Oct.)