Customer Reviews

The Bordeaux Betrayal: A Wine Country Mystery (Wine Country Mysteries)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This story is simply terrific!! It is well-written and thoroughly engrossing. The author demonstrates superb character development and paints beautiful scenery with words.

The mystery is a lot of fun and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

This book represents the third in the line of the Wine Country Mystery series. It tells the ongoing saga of Lucie Montgomery, the heir of the family vineyard in Virginia. The Bordeaux Betrayal begins at the time of the harvest of the grapes. It is autumn and the author describes the seasonal changes in Virginia beautifully. A critical event is a charity auction of a very rare bottle of wine that Thomas Jefferson bought for George Washington.

The mystery surrounds an unexpected, unexplained murder and the fun then really begins!

This is the third book in the "Wine Country Mystery" series by Ellen Crosby. To be very candid, if this were the first book in the series, I would probably have given it a 4-star rating based upon potential. Since it's the third one, I have to give it a 3-star since some of the issues with the book should have been ironed out through author experience/editing.

I was really looking forward to reading this. I truly enjoy a good "cozy" mystery and it is a genre I read regularly (Coffeehouse Mysteries by Cleo Coyle, Teashop Mysteries by Laura Childs and the Gray Whale Inn Mysteries by Karen MacInerney). It is one of my favorite types of reading when in the mood for something light after reading "heavier" books. I also know a little bit about wine and find it very interesting, so I thought I really had a winner here! To be candid, I'm not really sure how I would classify this book and I can't say that I enjoyed it but I did't dislike it either (how's that for taking a stand?).

As you can read from the product description, this book is set in the wine country of Virginia. It is an area steeped in history with Thomas Jefferson and George Washington being major figures in its history. The book was more a wine making/history lesson than true mystery. While there was a murder early in the book which is resolved at the end, it was a minor part of the whole thing. At times I enjoyed all the history and wine making lessons and thought it was very good; at other points in the book I thought "enough already", let's get on with it. Some parts of the books were engrossing and others very boring -- too much of a good thing.

There are some interesting characters in the book, but I think there may have been too many -- it became difficult to tell them apart and I would have to go back and re-read sections to make sure I knew who was being talked about or what the character had done previously. I would have preferred to have fewer characters and more in-depth understanding of each of them. This may be a result of jumping into the series with the third book, but I don't think so. It felt like the first in a series where the author is trying to get everyone introduced and then build on them as the series progresses.

While I had moments of true enjoyment, I am not sure how quickly I will go back and read the first and second books ..... don't really feel compelled to read more but if there is nothing else in my reading stack, I would probably pick it up at the beginning.

My favorite kind of mystery is one where you don't know "Whodunit" until the very end. This one definitely qualifies. With lots of little surprises and twists and turns the reader is constantly turning pages to see what's next. And if the reader is also a wine lover, all the better. There are lots of little intimate facts about wine-making that makes one appreciate the process all the more. There is also a facinating mini trip through history involving wine that Thomas jefferson was to give to George Washington. All in all a great read and a really good mystery with tantalizing characters. I'm definitely going to check out the Ms. Crosby's other wine mysteries.

There are six titles in this terrific series:

(1)The Merlot Murders Wine Country Mysteries, Book 1).
(2)The Chardonnay Charade (Wine Country Mystery).
(3)The Bordeaux Betrayal: A Wine Country Mystery (Wine Country Mysteries).
(4)The Riesling Retribution: A Wine Country Mystery (Wine Country Mysteries).
(5)The Viognier Vendetta: A Wine Country Mystery (Wine Country Mysteries).
(6)The Sauvignon Secret: A Wine Country Mystery (Wine Country Mysteries).

The publisher's blurb sets the scene:

"When Valerie Beauvais, author of a book on Thomas Jefferson's travels through the Wine Regions of France and Italy turns up dead near Lucie Montgomery's Virginia vineyard, Lucie is sure the murder has something to do with a 200-year-old bottle of Bordeaux which Jefferson may have purchased for his good friend George Washington. Though Lucie plans to auction off the valuable bottle at a charity auction, others have different plans for what's becoming a wine to die for."

And it is noted the " 'Jefferson Bottles' were actually discovered in Paris in the l980s.

It seems to me there are too many people in the story, one reason for Four Stars and not five. But I fell in love with Lucie's grandfather, and I feel that one of Crosby's strengths is her ability to present flesh and blood characters, usually with a touch of humor. The following are sketches of two return characters:

1)Dominique Gosselin: Pages 69-70, large print edition "Usually Dominique radiated the pulsing energy of a supernova, running the inn and Goose Creek Catering with a skimpy velvet glove over her small iron fist, but tonight she looked like she'd been dragged through a knothole We both had inherited our ambition from our mothers, who had been sisters. But unlike me, Dominique didn't have an off-switch. She also had a way of acting like she'd just been invited to expand the Blessed Trinity to a quartet."

2)Thelma Johnson: Page 203 "The General Store was a chokepoint for all the local gossip and Thelma, who'd been around since God was a boy, did the gentle choking. Maybe it was her vampy, flirtatious ways, or her dress-to-kill wardrobe, but she had an almost mystical ability to wangle information out of everyone who dropped by. Very little got past Thelma's trifocals and bat-antennae hearing."

History is always part of the story in which the American Civil War is called "The War of Northern Aggression" and in which the author proudly points out that in Virginia Lee-Jackson Day is a holiday. The date is January 15, but Crosby doesn't tell us that. She should have.

Of course, this time the historical focus is on Jefferson and Washington and their wines. At the end of the book, facts are presented and sources are provided. I applaude Crosby for that. Did you know, for example, that in 1774 the Continental Congress banned imported spirits?

Wine making is at the core of all Crosby stories of course, and the reader learns more in every book. For example, the term "Punching down the Cap" is explained: Page 138) "a chore that lasted as long as the wine continued to ferment, and not anybody's favorite task. The 'cap' was a ten-to-twelve-inch thick layer of wineskins and pulp that floated to the top of the fermenting vats and congealed into wet purple concrete. It was a product of the chemical process that occurred as the yeast that was added to the grape juice converted the fruit sugar to alcohol - so everything bubbled like the witches' brew in MACBETH."

Poetic thoughts are a nice touch. Page 43):
"' When I drink wine my pain is driven away and my dark thoughts fly to the ocean winds,' wrote Anacreon. one of the ancient Greek lyrical poets."

And, finally, I am thankful that the author translated the many French phrases thorugh out the book.
Some authors, such as Louise Penny, also one of my favorites, simply let the reader struggle.

I have already begun to read Crosby's next in the series. This time I hope she includes fewer characters and more mystery. Thank you.

In the first few pages (when I read Lucie's acerbic comment to her escort who had been checking his watch too often)I knew I was probably going to like this book for the writing even if the mystery wasn't much. Lucie, the viewpoint character, is no doormat, nor is she a helpless damsel in distress. Luckily, the mystery was good and the writing (with some uneven bits) remained equally appealing.

While this is the third book in this series (after The Merlot Murders ((Wine Country Mysteries, Book 1) and The Chardonnay Charade (Wine Country Mystery)-- it is the first one I have read, and it stands completely on its own. The author does a very good a job of working information about wine and particularly Virginia wine into the story without sandbagging the reader with huge info dumps.

The main thing that prevents this book from being a five star read is the two-dimensional characterization of the first murder victim. I ended up wondering why someone hadn't done her in years before. She's a walking stereotype who spends a mercifully brief time in the book before she becomes a far more interesting dead body.

Recommended for people who enjoy classic mysteries, wine mysteries or mysteries set in interesting American backgrounds.

This is the third in a "cozy" series set in the Virginia wine country south of Leesburg and east of Middleburg, featuring vineyard owner Lucie Montgomery, and written by a former freelancer for the Washington Post. It's not bad. If you are crazy about this genre and not too picky about character depiction, it should do well enough. If you are really interested in facts about vineyards and wine, you will enjoy it. If you are a bit of a Francophile, you will like it since Lucie is French and her charming French grandfather Pépé comes to visit and plays a major role in the resolution of the mystery. I chose it because I am interested in wine (though not obsessed with it) and France (ditto) and I am a native of Virginia and know this area rather well since I visit relatives in the area. Crosby does a good job of bringing this Virginia countryside and the social relationships of its denizens to life - the upper crust ones who fox hunt, the outlanders who move in from the city and take offense at the fox hunting, the lower-middle class ones who run the breakfast places and radiate steel magnolia color while trying to make a living. I do love her Thelma who dresses up in a red dress to attract Lucie's grandfather. Thelma reminds me a lot of the people in a Joan Hess Maggody mystery.

The plot centers around a bottle of wine from Bordeaux (Chateau Margaux) which Jefferson ordered in 1790 for George Washington. A Middleburg oenophile has donated it for a charity auction at Lucie's vineyard, but questions are raised about its provenance, and the person raising the questions is killed. The resolution of the mystery is satisfactory, with a cool scene in a wine cellar which may be improbable but is fun. All this is nice light entertainment. I guess what makes me want to give this 3.5 stars is that I really don't care that much about any of the characters. I keep thinking of Diane Mott Davidson's cooking mysteries - I really got hooked on Goldy Bear at one point and wanted to read more of her adventures. But somehow Lucie does not grab me the same way. I see on Amazon that there are several writers who do these cozies featuring vineyards - Michele Scott, Elaine Flinn - and I should really be comparing apples to apples and read some of these others before being negative. So, OK, 4 stars - maybe it's just me and I will love Lucie if I ever read any more of these. But today, my stars are for the interesting historical wine info (did you know that until the late 1600s there was no such thing as wine from a single chateau in France?) and the good social commentary from Virginia.

Ellen Crosby's Virginia wine country mystery series continues with yet another mystery to solve. This one begins with a question concerning the authenticity of a bottle of French wine allegedly given to President George Washington by Thomas Jefferson. Utilizing eighteenth century historical fact, plus some interesting bits about Germany's unorthodox use of purloined French wines during WWII and the clever manipulation of those facts with the fictionalized use of a not to distant event(the auctioning by Christies of a bottle of 1787 Chateau Lafite inscribed with the initials Th.J that supposedly belonging to Thomas Jefferson)Crosby has given us a most informative look at the role wine has played in the history of various countries.

Winemaking in Virginia is the foundation upon which this novel is built. The remainder of the structure, the bricks and mortar so to speak, concerns the who and why of a couple of murders, a clash between neighbors regarding the practice of fox hunting, a look at the quirky inhabitants of the Blue Ridge Mountain town of Atoka, and a long awaited meeting of the minds between our "heroine" Lucie Montgomery and her unconventional and hunky winemaker, Quinn Santorini.

Like the steps involved in the blending of a great Cabernet, friendship, scandal, deceit, betrayal and murder have been judiciously blended to create this seductive little cozy called THE BORDEAUX BETRAYAL. 3 1/2 stars

Third book in Ellen Crosby's Wine Country Murders. This very enjoyable story is set in the Virginia wine country. Vineyard owner Lucie Montgomery wants to learn more about the origins of a very old bottle of wine which was donated to her charity auction. The very special bottle of Bordeaux supposedly was purchased by Thomas Jefferson as a gift for George Washington. Early in the story, Valerie Beauvais, a wine expert is killed in a suspicious car accident. Lucie's main concern is determining if the bottle of Bordeaux is genuine or not, but she feels that the suspicious death is somehow related. As Lucie tries to learn more about the "Washington Wine"'s provenance, she enters a dangerous web of lies and deception.

Great characters and setting! I also enjoyed the information about wine making. This was the first book I've read by Ms. Crosby. She did a great job of bringing a new reader like me up to speed on the characters and their backgrounds. I'm looking forward to reading the first two books in this series.

Lucie Montgomery lives in Virginia's wine territory, which is set against the majestic Blue Ridge Mountains. The harvest brings many to visit the area and murder happens. The book is well written and captures the attention from the very first pages as we read about a book author who is hated by almost everyone she meets.

The opening takes place in beautiful Mount Vernon, and we learn how Thomas Jefferson had bought a bottle of Bordeaux for George Washington, but it never reached him and the present owner donates the over 200 hundred year old bottle to Lucie Montgomery for an auction she is scheduling at her winery. The historical value of the bottle should get a grand price and it becomes the reason for many articles that inspire many to book the surrounding bed and breakfast locations, all with the hope of seeing first hand, the bottle of Bordeaux.

There seems to be a secret about the bottle that the book writer wants to share with Lucie... but she is never given the chance as she is the first murder we encounter in this spellbinding story. The story develops interesting characters, one of my favorites being Lucie's grandfather who arrives from France and during a visit to Lucie's mother's grave, they encounter the second victim.

Lucie is the detective who sets out to discover how all players are involved with each other and where is the bottle from, its provenance is the key to discover the underlying plot. A great read, don't miss it!

This book was very enjoyable. The setting is in the eastern foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. The main character, Lucie was very believable probably because of her vulnerability. She owns and runs a winery. She and a friend decide to have a wine auction for charity. That's when the mysteries start. Two murders later, Lucie figures everything out and begins a new romance.

Ellen Crosby is an excellent author. I found myself thinking about the book and the places she described between reads. I plan to read the other two in the series soon. If you like mountains, wine, and mysteries with a hint of romance you can't go wrong with this book.