Book Review: Cognac Conspiracies: A Winemaker Detective Mystery by Jean-Pierre Alaux & Noël Balen, Translated by Sally Pane

Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this ebook, free of charge, from le French Book, via Edelweiss,for review purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it

             And now for the 4th book is the Benjamin Cooker, translated French mystery series!

Synopsis:

What secrets lie behind those fine blends?

Find out in this new Winemaker Detective mystery. The heirs to one of the oldest Cognac estates in France face a hostile takeover by foreign investors. Renowned wine expert Benjamin Cooker is called in to audit the books. In what he thought was a sleepy provincial town, he and his assistant Virgile have their loyalties tested.

Review:

Another great mystery from the French duo! Sally offers us another great translation, that will have you lost in Cognac and learning about the wine and almost forgetting there is a mystery to be solved! Virgile is Benjamin's assistant, but he is really the reader- though Benjamin teaching him, the reader learns all about wines (and excellent French food- you may get hungry reading the meal descriptions! I always walk away from a Winemaker Detective book feeling like I have had  a mini-course of winemaking, along with a mystery that was solved in an unique, very French way. Not your typical mystery book style, but oh so much more and I can't recommend this latest book in the series enough! 

A wonder Valentine's Day gift would be all the translated Winemaker Detective ebooks, with a great bottle of wine and some very nice chocolates! It would be a gift well appreciated!

About the Authors:

Jean-Pierre Alaux is a magazine, radio and television journalist when he is not writing novels in southwestern France. He is a genuine wine and food lover, and won the Antonin Carême prize for his cookbook La Truffe sur le Soufflé, which he wrote with the chef Alexis Pélissou. He is the grandson of a winemaker and exhibits a real passion for wine and winemaking. For him, there is no greater common denominator than wine.Website: http://www.jean-pierre-alaux.book.fr/

Coauthor of the Winemaker Detective series, Noël Balen lives in Paris, where he shares his time between writing, making records, and lecturing on music. He plays bass, is a music critic and has authored a number of books about musicians in addition to his novel and short-story writing. Website: http://www.noelbalen.com/

About the Translator:

Sally Pane studied French at State University of New York Oswego and the Sorbonne before receiving her Masters Degree in French Literature from the University of Colorado.Her career includes more than twenty years of translating and teaching French and Italian at Berlitz and at Colorado University Boulder.  She has worked in scientific, legal and literary translation.  She also served as the interpreter for the government cabinet of Rwanda and translated for Dian Fossey’s Digit Fund. In addition to her passion for French, she has studied Italian at Colorado University, in Rome and in Siena.  She lives in Boulder, Colorado with her husband. This is her first translation for Le French Book!