Advanced
Error loading page.
Try refreshing the page. If that doesn't work, there may be a network issue, and you can use our self test page to see what's preventing the page from loading.
Learn more about possible network issues or contact support for more help.
Title details for Dead in the Dregs by Peter Lewis - Available

Dead in the Dregs

A Babe Stern Mystery

by Peter Lewis
ebook
1 of 1 copy available
Borrow Read a sample Read a sample
1 of 1 copy available
It’s murder in Napa Valley in this “thrillingly knowledgeable, insider’s odyssey into the world of fine wines [and] . . . particularly lurid homicides” (Anthony Bourdain).
With a stroke of a pen, prominent wine critic Richard Wilson lives to elevate and, more often, destroy winemakers’ reputations. How fitting, his death: found murdered, floating in a vat of a particularly bold Cabernet Sauvignon at a Napa Valley tasting. Who did it? Any vintner whose career was ruined by Wilson’s sour grapes. But when those trail turns cold, Wilson’s sister Janie enlists the help of her ex–husband, Babe Stern. The ex–sommelier turned Sonoma County bar owner is following his own lead—to Burgundy, France.
In cellars and tasting rooms from Beaune to Nuits–Saint–Georges, Stern tracks down a family of vignerons, whose troubled son was interning at the winery the night Wilson died. But it doesn’t end there. And as the investigation uncovers secrets bottled up for years, Wilson won’t be the last to die. In fact, the further Stern digs for the truth, he may be the next.
“An evocative insiders’ tour of French wine country that a tourist will never see” (Seattle Times), restaurateur and former wine columnist Peter Lewis’s juicy mystery is “a rare and engrossing wonder dealing with the murderous grotesqueries of the wine world . . . in an atmosphere of homicide, sex and food” (Jim Harrison, author of Legends of the Fall).

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    July 10, 2010

  • Formats

    • Kindle Book

    • OverDrive Read

      • ISBN: 9781582436913

    • EPUB ebook

      • ISBN: 9781582436913
      • File size: 425 KB

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Kirkus

      May 15, 2010
      A case of sour grapes.

      When wine critic Richard Wilson goes missing, his sister asks her ex-husband, Babe Stern, to ask around and see if he can locate him. Leaving the operation of his bar, Pancho's, to his partner, Babe begins scouring the Napa Valley looking for his ex–brother-in-law. Wilson turns up in a vat of Cabernet Sauvignon at the Norton Winery with his head smashed and his hand amputated. Who wanted him dead? Quite a few vintners whose offerings he trashed in his newsletter, it turns out. But the lead Babe chooses to follow sends him to Burgundy, France, to chase down a young man named Jean who had been interning at Norton when Wilson was murdered. The investigation uncovers secrets that have festered for years, eating away at families, prosperity and vineyard productivity. Babe will narrowly escape death himself; two other wine writers will be less fortunate.

      Restaurateur and former wine columnist Lewis's mystery debut is short on character development and plot intrigue, but he's knowledgeable about winemaking, wine tasting and wine pretensions.

      (COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

    • Library Journal

      July 1, 2010
      Richard Wilson, a wine critic and former brother-in-law of onetime star sommelier Babe Stern, is found dead in a wine vat, and Babe is asked by his ex-wife to investigate. VERDICTNapa Valley details and the cutthroat business of producing wine in California add to this debut tale of one man seeking a murderer while trying to regain his self-esteem. Lewis is a restaurateur and restaurant industry consultant.

      Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 28, 2010
      Restaurateur and wine connoisseur Lewis brings his insider's expertise to this well-crafted debut, which introduces Babe Stern, one-time sommelier and current bar owner in California's Napa Valley. When Babe's former brother-in-law, vituperative wine critic Richard Wilson, goes missing, Babe's ex-wife, Janie, asks him to find Richard. Still carrying a torch, Babe hopes to earn back Janie's respect by locating Richard quickly. The task doesn't prove too difficult, since Wilson turns up dead the next morning at a nearby winery. Armed with a keen sense of taste and smell as well as a handful of contacts within the wine industry, Babe sets out on a transcontinental trek to solve what soon turns into a series of gruesome murders. Vignerons and casual imbibers alike will enjoy the ride as Babe sifts through the wreckage of several family trees, including his own.

Formats

  • Kindle Book
  • OverDrive Read
  • EPUB ebook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Loading