More French rouge than Scandi noir
A full-bodied read with complex notes of mystery
A Bloody Vintage, first in a new crime series by E S Lyne, is set among the vineyards of the Gironde in southwest France. Its acute sense of place, taut plot and intelligent writing make it the perfect holiday read.
Reluctant amateur detective, Franklin Starr, is happily enjoying the good life in his house with its estate-agent views in a village outside Saint-Emilion in south west France. The occasional cryptic crosswords he still compiles for his old employer The New York Times, fertilise his mind, while long, lazy lunches in his many favourite restaurants nourish his body. The numerous fine local vintages of the region feature widely.
What could possibly disturb this vie en rose?
An unexpected call from a long-forgotten goddaughter and a shocking death will turn the mellow red of his life into sharp, potentially toxic, vinegar within the first chapter.
He is thrown into a complex and deadly mesh of greed, betrayal and murder that ranges from Saint-Emilion to Paris to Hong Kong. Who can he trust? Will he uncover the truth before he becomes the next victim?
What Michael Dibdin and Donna Leon did for Italy, now E S Lyne does for southwest France.
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E S Lyne is an English financial journalist, analyst and small-time wine collector. Investigations into international wine fraud have taken the writer from Bordeaux to Hong Kong, London, Paris and Manhattan. Rarely happier than completing a cryptic crossword of fiendish difficulty under the blue skies of the Gironde in south-west France, E S Lyne writes in a house not dissimilar to La Borie, accompanied by a glass of authentic red wine.
A Bloody Vintage has matured in oak barrels for two years before bottling, and with careful storage, will last for 30 years or more. Santé!
