THE RIESLING RETRIBUTION

The owner of a Virginia vineyard faces trouble at the winery and an accusation of murder.

Lucie Montgomery is visiting her parents’ graves and checking out the site she’s allowing Civil War reenactors to use when a tornado blows through. Not only does it destroy a field of vines, it turns up some old bones that cause a bunch of trouble. The bones are all that remains of Beauregard Kinkaid, who was on the outs with Lucie’s father Leland over a business deal and whose wife Annabel was having an affair with Leland. When they identify Leland’s gun as the murder weapon, the police pronounce the case closed. Lucie knows that her father was a bad businessman and a philanderer, but she’s sure he wasn’t a murderer. Proving his innocence, however, may be impossible, as Annabel is now married to the rich and powerful Summer Chastain, who’s doing everything he can to keep the lid on the case. Nor is murder Lucie’s only problem. Her winemaker Quinn Santori and her field manager Chance Miller are at drawn daggers, and her brother Eli has been left almost bankrupt by the big-spending wife who’s leaving him for richer pickings. Lucie’s attraction to both Chance and Quinn makes it difficult to place blame for everything going wrong at the winery. When everything comes to a head at the reenactment, she nearly pays with her life.

Crosby’s pleasing fourth (The Bordeaux Betrayal, 2008, etc.) will delight current fans and surely add new ones.