Corked by Cabernet (Wine Lover's Mystery Series #5)

A cabernet cork

The mystery revolves around the use of wine and in this novel it is cabernet. I enjoyed the entire series and found it helpful to read from the first book written in this series to be enlightned as to how the characters and their relationships progress. A nice easy read with recipes and interesting wine information.

whine, wine whine!

i usually love this authors books. romance, humor and neat wine pairings along with recipes.to say i was let down-why go to all the trouble for a contest derek vs. andre when derek was hardly in the story? also nikki is really too annoyinly nosy.with no good romantic scenes to soften that it was just annoying. we got short-changed. sort of like the end of "buffy"you invest all this time in charecters and a plot is just thrown together for closure. that is just wrong.

A lighthearted fun Napa Valley whoduni

In Napa Valley, Malveaux Estates manager Nikki Sands and owner Derek Malveaux are in love and plan to live together on the property. However, she is bit upset at a time she is overly busy to learn Derek¿s gay brother Simon and his partner Mario have arranged for Guru Alan Sansi and his Source of Enlightened Elite (SEE) to conduct a seminar on the estate. Derek explains he needs the money while he also informs his beloved he is going to New York on business.

The SEE attendees arrive and Nikki realizes they have family conflict starting with the guru¿s daughter Sierra and Japanese publisher Iwao Yamimoto who wants to become the SEE publisher and demands Alan look at a video he brought with him; Alan refuses. On the Napa Valley Wine Train, a drunken Sierra heads to the storage car to find more wine only to see the body of Iwao. Nikki contains the crime scene until Detective Jonah Robinson arrives. He warns her to not sleuth, but asks her to listen to the SEE members when they talk. She enlists Simon and Mario, but though Nikki tries to do no more than listen, she begins to sleuth.

Although the motive comes late and seems a bit weak, the latest Vintage Murder amateur sleuth (see MURDER UNCORKED and MURDER BY THE GLASS) is a lighthearted fun Napa Valley whodunit that goes well with red wine. The recurring cast is solid though Derek is conveniently across the country during the ¿not¿ investigation as he would have taken his beloved to task for her involvement. The SEE members especially the guru and his family are a fascinating crew as each has issues, especially the three adult children. Fans of the series will enjoy Nikki¿s inquiry as she swears she is not investigating just assisting Robinson.

Harriet Klausner

No text was provided for this review.

No text was provided for this review.