Vengeance in the Vineyard

"Burgundy: Twisted Roots is an intriguing and multi-layered novel about love, wine and intrigue, steeped in a deep knowledge of the seductive French lifestyle, from wild boar hunts to wine harves feasts, with side servings of skullduggery and inheritance laws." -MARTIN WALKER, bestselling author of the Bruno, Chief of Police series Max Maguire of the NYPD, daughter of a legendary NY cop and a French mother disowned by her aristocratic family when she married, met examining magistrate Olivier Chaumont over murder at the wedding of an old friend in the Champagne wine region. They remained on-again-off-again partners and lovers over more murder again, this time in Bordeaux. And now, six months later, Max is on her way to Burgundy where it's time to give up her promising career and commit-or split. Murder occurs. There's a mystery girl, American. Fractured families. Motives aplenty. But the story's real fascination lies in two things French: the wine culture and French inheritance laws which are convoluted and guaranteed to spark family wars, even unto death. And the French justice system functions differently which frustrates Max, an action-oriented, straightforward investigator, and causes some friction with Olivier. Janet Hubbard wraps up her Vengeance in the Vineyard trilogy with a surprise and solutions that will please readers.

NYPD detective Max Maguire flies to France to attend her friend Chloé Marceau's wedding in the Valley of the Marne in Champagne, an hour and a half east of Paris. She meets the older and urbane Olivier Chaumont, an examining magistrate, and experiences a fairy tale evening. But when Chloé's beautiful and successful aunt Léa de Saint-Pern, is found murdered after the wedding dinner, Max and Olivier are shocked back into their professional roles. But to Max's chagrin, Olivier is put in charge of the investigation. Olivier learns that several people were attempting to gain control of Léa's business at the time of her death. Quietly using the skills inherited from her detective dad, Max insinuates herself into the victim's family until their long-held secrets begin to spill out like marbles from an overturned dish....