Saturday, January 24, 2009

Chardonnay Charade


Chardonnay Charade

Ellen Crosby

4 out of 5


In my opinion, this second in the Wine Country Mystery series by Ellen Crosby is much better than the first. There doesn't seem to be as much of a rush to the end and the characters are better drawn with a more relaxed feel to the whole book.
Lucie Montgomery is the heiress of the Montgomery Estate Vineyard in Middleburg, Virginia, but being an heiress isn't all that it's cracked up to be, especially when she has to keep her family in order, that includes a younger sister who is battling he own demons, keeping a vineyard profitable, employees that seem to have their own agenda, and oh yeah, a dead body to deal with.

Virginia Greenwood, the wife of the local doctor, and quite a personality herself, is found murdered and though there aren’t many suspects the murder is too easily pinned on the one person who can't defend himself, the man that she has been having secret rendezvous with. When he disappears that only leaves one person; the one person that Lucie entrusted her life too.

Like a good vintage, this series gets better with age. Sorry, I couldn’t avoid throwing in a cliché.

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