This entry features a highly valuable (worth about $3
million) cache of wine which is stolen from an L.A. entertainment lawyer. The
odious man, who craves attention and lives to gloat, raises unholy hell with the
cops, his insurance company, and eventually our hero, Sam Levitt. Sam has a
checkered past and an unfixed broken nose, which as his girlfriend reflects,
saves him from being handsome. He’s gone straight after some criminal – but never
violent! – activities, and hires out as an investigator.
The trail leads to the Bordeaux region of France, and Sam
teams up with the lovely Sophie and her cousin Phillippe to track down the
purloined goods. After the action takes us to France, the book begins to read
like a travelogue through the wine-producing regions there, with
acknowledgements to all the high-end wines from each region. The investigation
proceeds gently, as always in Mr. Mayle’s books, and Sam proves that he has a
real knack for this detecting business. The conclusion strikes me as an odd
combination of facile and abrupt, and could have used fleshing-out. Just me,
though.
It’s no wonder that the French people have made Mr. Mayle a Chevalier
de la Légion d'honneur. Every time he writes about France, I want to go back.
His books are delectable introductions to that beautiful country and its
beguiling people. You don’t need to be a Francophile to enjoy Mr. Mayle’s
books, but if you make a practice of reading them, you’ll place yourself in
danger becoming one. Take this up for a light, merry read.
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