Merlot Murders

"Finely ladled suspense," says the Sun-Sentinel about the complex flavor of Ellen Crosby´s debut mystery set in the wealthy Blue Ridge wine country of northern Virginia, where vineyard heiress Lucie Montgomery must find a killer or lose her cherished family heritage. 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 in the proverb in vino veritas -- in wine there is truth -- as she attempts to survive a very bad year for Merlot?