A Sip of Death: A Review of "Merlot Murders" by Ellen Crosby

From the back of the book:

Leland Montgomery's death was deemed accidental, but when his daughter Lucie returns home from France, she finds the once-thriving family vineyard run down, collapsing under huge debt. Lucie's godfather warns her that Leland's demise may have been the result of an attempt to force the sale of the vineyard. Her extravagant brother and rebellious sister are determined to sell the estate, and there's something suspicious about the vintner her father hired right before he died.

When another oenophile turns up dead, asphyxiated in a tank of Merlot, Lucie - the lone holdout preventing the vineyard's sale - realizes she's next in line for an "accident." Can she trust the proverb in vino veritas - in wine there is truth - as she attempts to survive a very bad year for Merlot?

My thoughts about the book...

Honestly, I learned more about wine than I really wanted to. Don't get me wrong, I love a good Chardonnay while reading, I'm just not interested in the wine making process. Quite frankly, the thought of someone dying in a vat of wine kind of freaks me out. We all know how businesses are, profits before people, etc. 

At least in the book they were kind enough to get rid of the wine. Unfortunately, I really couldn't relate to any of the characters in the book. I live in Virginia so the location descriptions were familiar - and you can do wine tours! The narrative was well written and the pacing kept me turning the page, but it took a couple of weeks for me to finish it.

There are 12 books in the series, the most recent published in 2022, so don't sell this series short just because I put it on the Not My Cup of Tea Reading List.

Your thoughts...

Have you read this book, what did you think about it? If it was your cup of tea, leave your comments below to encourage others to read it!