Treachery
in Bordeaux
A
classic whodunit in French wine country
(no murder, no sex, no violence - cozy, epicurean)
Genre: whodunit/mystery
BISAC cat.: Mystery/Detective
Synopsis
In modern-day Bordeaux, there are few wine estates still within
the city limits. The prestigious grand cru Moniales Haut-Brion is one of them.
When some barrels end up contaminated, world-renowned
winemaker-turned-gentleman-detective Benjamin Cooker starts asking questions.
Is it negligence or sabotage? Who would want to bring down this esteemed
vintner? Cooker and his assistant Virgile Lanssien search the city and the
vineyards for answers, giving readers and inside view of this famous wine
region. Treachery in Bordeaux is the first of the 20-book Winemaker
Detective series that delves into the underworld of a global luxury industry,
where money, deceit, death, crime, inheritance, jealousy constitute all the
ingredients needed to distill a fine detective series!
Treachery in Bordeaux has been adapted for television in France.
Authors: Jean-Pierre Alaux, Noël Balen
Translator: Anne
Trager
Publisher: Le
French Book, Inc.
First published in French (Fayard, 2004)
Marketing
launch Date: October 9, 2012
Specs: direct to digital translation, ebook exclusive, 30,000 words
Genre:
whodunit/mystery
BISAC cat.:
Mystery/Detective
ISBN:
978-0-9853206-2-1 (Kindle)/
978-0-9853206-3-8 (epub)
List Price: $7.99
Retail orders: Amazon.com, BN.com, ibooks, other ebook
platforms
Buying links:
For your Amazon Kindle.
For your Barnes & Noble Nook.
For your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch.
For your Kobo.
Praise for Treachery
in Bordeaux
“I love good mysteries. I love good wine. So imagine my joy at
finding a great mystery about wine, and winemaking, and the whole culture of
that fascinating world. And then I find it's the first of a series. I can see
myself enjoying many a bottle of wine while enjoying the adventures of Benjamin
Cooker in this terrific new series.” —
William Martin, New York Times bestselling author of Back Bay and The
Lincoln Letter
“Treachery in Bordeaux is
a fine vintage forged by the pens of two very different varietals. It is best
consumed slightly chilled, and never alone. You will be intrigued by its
mystery, and surprised by its finish, and it will stay with you for a very long
time.” — Prize-winning, international bestselling author Peter May
About the Authors
The authors of Treachery
in Bordeaux are Epicures. Jean-Pierre Alaux is a magazine, radio and television
journalist when he is not writing novels in southwestern France. He is a
genuine wine and food lover and the grandson of a winemaker. For him, there is
no greater common denominator than wine. His coauthor Noël Balen lives in Paris, where he shares his
time between writing, making records, and lecturing on music. He plays bass, is
a music critic and has authored a number of books about musicians in addition
to his novel and short-story writing.
Contact:anne@lefrenchbook.com
Website: http://www.lefrenchbook.com
More at: http://www.treacheryinbordeaux.com
Facebook: LeFrenchBook
Twitter: @LeFrenchBook
My Review
Treachery in Bordeaux is a
gentle paced mystery where the authors take us on a tour into the vineyards in
Bordeaux, and give us a glimpse into the history of the area. It starts with
the protagonist, Benjamin Cooker, an authority on winemaking, contemplating on
his creative work. Benjamin Cooker spends sleepless nights, deleting pages,
ordering and reordering pages, organising them worrying about even the smallest
details and most of all worrying about being late for the publishers. Sounds
familiar? The travails of creative work!
While an authority on winemaking and a critic, he is a "man tormented by the meaning of his words, the accuracy of his judgements and an impartiality that he brandished like a religious credo?", a person who is assailed by self-doubt when it comes to his own work.
Benjamin receives an emergency call from his winemaker friend who finds barrels of wine from his vineyard contaminated. Benjamin's work is mainly to save the contaminated wine and also to see that the contamination does not spread. Even though Benjamin is not a detective, he decides to find out who contaminated the wine with some help from his former detective friend. Is the contamination accidental or done on purpose? If it is done on purpose who did it and why?
Benjamin also is an art collector and he finds an interesting overmantel featuring a Bordeaux vineyard during harvest. He also finds that this overmantel is part of a greater picture. Will Benjamin trace the original?
We get interesting details like why even though a vineyard may not be in a region, why the wine could be attributed to the region. There are other interesting observations like
"You know well enough that it is never simple to make anything simple."
It is not a traditional whodunit in the sense you don't have a set of characters where the suspicion moves from one to another and finally the perpetrator is revealed. Benjamin does not start looking for the perpetrator for two-thirds of the book. It is a straightforward mystery, where we can't guess the perpetrator because she/he is not known to us, and Benjamin solves the case just by a coincidence, but the 'why' though hinted comes as a surprise. It is a short cozy mystery with interesting insight into vineyards and human beings.
While an authority on winemaking and a critic, he is a "man tormented by the meaning of his words, the accuracy of his judgements and an impartiality that he brandished like a religious credo?", a person who is assailed by self-doubt when it comes to his own work.
Benjamin receives an emergency call from his winemaker friend who finds barrels of wine from his vineyard contaminated. Benjamin's work is mainly to save the contaminated wine and also to see that the contamination does not spread. Even though Benjamin is not a detective, he decides to find out who contaminated the wine with some help from his former detective friend. Is the contamination accidental or done on purpose? If it is done on purpose who did it and why?
Benjamin also is an art collector and he finds an interesting overmantel featuring a Bordeaux vineyard during harvest. He also finds that this overmantel is part of a greater picture. Will Benjamin trace the original?
We get interesting details like why even though a vineyard may not be in a region, why the wine could be attributed to the region. There are other interesting observations like
"You know well enough that it is never simple to make anything simple."
It is not a traditional whodunit in the sense you don't have a set of characters where the suspicion moves from one to another and finally the perpetrator is revealed. Benjamin does not start looking for the perpetrator for two-thirds of the book. It is a straightforward mystery, where we can't guess the perpetrator because she/he is not known to us, and Benjamin solves the case just by a coincidence, but the 'why' though hinted comes as a surprise. It is a short cozy mystery with interesting insight into vineyards and human beings.
****
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7 comments:
great review, thanks!
Thanks for this review of Treachery in Bordeaux. We really appreciate it. The second translation in the series is being edited now. Woohoo.
You are welcome Anne, I enjoyed the book. Congrats on the second book. Look forward to reading it!
I love foodie and drinkie type mysteries. Some of them, written by 'outsiders' (i.e. foreigners) can sometimes feel a bit too tourist brochure-like, but this one brings the inside expert view.
Hi Findingtimetowrite, thanks for stopping by! I do agree that books written by 'outsiders' can be tourist brochure like, but I find sometimes there are things we take for granted or we don't notice, which an outsider notices and also brings in his own perspective. Also if you like foodie mystery and enjoyed this book, don't mind if it is noir, I recommend Xiaolong's Inspector Chen Mysteries based in Beijing, which has lots of cultural refernces and food descriptions and is also poetic.
This sounds like a fun way to "visit" Bordeaux!
Joy's Book Blog
thanks Joy for stopping by! this is a great way to visit Bordeaux with it vineyards.
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