Tag Archives: Blood of the Vine

Spotlight and giveaway: The Winemaker Detective – I love France #173

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Jean-Pierre ALAUX and Noël BALEN

on Tour

November 23-December 23

with

 

white-leopard

The Winemaker Detective:
An Omnibus

(mystery)

Release date: December 5, 2015
at Le French Book

309 pages

ISBN: 9781939474568

Website | Goodreads

SYNOPSIS

The ideal gift for mystery and wine lovers — An immersion in French countryside, gourmet attitude, and light-hearted mystery.

Two amateur sleuths gumshoe around French wine country, where money, deceit, jealousy, inheritance and greed are all the ingredients needed for crime. Master winemaker Benjamin Cooker and his sidekick Virgile Lanssien solve mysteries in vineyards with a dose of Epicurean enjoyment of fine food and beverage. Each story is a homage to wine and winemakers, as well as a mystery.

In Treachery in Bordeaux, barrels at the prestigious grand cru Moniales Haut-Brion wine estate in Bordeaux have been contaminated. Is it negligence or sabotage?

In Grand Cru Heist, Benjamin Cooker’s world gets turned upside down one night in Paris. He retreats to the region around Tours to recover. He and his assistant Virgile turn PI to solve two murders and a very particular heist.

In Nightmare in Burgundy, a dream wine tasting trip to Burgundy turns into a troubling nightmare when Cooker and his assistant stumble upon a mystery revolving around messages from another era.

This made-for-TV series is “difficult to forget and oddly addictive” (ForeWord Reviews).

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Alaux-Balen

 

Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noël Balen,
wine lover and music lover respectively,
came up with the idea for the Winemaker Detective series
while sharing a meal,
with a bottle of Château Gaudou 1996,
a red wine from Cahors
with smooth tannins and a balanced nose.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATORS

Anne Trager loves France so much she has lived there for 27 years and just can’t seem to leave. What keeps her there is a uniquely French mix of pleasure seeking and creativity. Well, that and the wine. In 2011, she woke up one morning and said, “I just can’t stand it anymore. There are way too many good books being written in France not reaching a broader audience.” That’s when she founded Le French Book to translate some of those books into English. The company’s motto is “If we love it, we translate it,” and Anne loves crime fiction, mysteries and detective novels.
***
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 where she wrote Camus and the Americas: A Thematic Analysis of Three Works Based on His Journaux de Voyage. Her career includes more than twenty years of translating and teaching French and Italian at Berlitz and at University of Colorado Boulder. She has worked in scientific, legal and literary translation; her literary translations include Operatic Arias; Singers Edition, and Reality and the Untheorizable by Clément Rosset, along with a number of titles in the Winemaker Detective series. 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.

 

***

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***

Global giveaway open internationally:
5 participants will each win a copy of this book.

Be sure to follow each participant on Twitter/Facebook,
for more chances to win

Enter here

Visit each blogger on the tour:
tweeting about the giveaway everyday
of the Tour will give you 5 extra entries each time!
[just follow the directions on the entry-form]

***

CLICK ON THE BANNER
TO READ OTHER REVIEWS AND EXCERPT

winemaker omnibus1 banner

 

 

 

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Spotlight and giveaway: Flambé in Armagnac – I love France #160

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I LOVE FRANCE
And maybe you do too!
If you have recently read a good book in connection with France,
or watched a movie, read an article on France, etc,
please mention it in the comment section
and add a link to your blog post if you have one.
I will regularly post a recap of all the links mentioned.
If it’s a book review, why not enter it in the 2015 French Bingo?

 Eiffel Tower OrangeEiffel Tower OrangeEiffel Tower Orange 

 

Jean-Pierre ALAUX and Noël BALEN

on Tour

August 4-23

with

flambe in armagnac cover

Flambé in Armagnac

(cozy mystery)

Release date: August 6, 2015
at Le French Book

140 pages

ISBN: 978-1939474414

Website | Goodreads

***

SYNOPSIS

A small town holds fiercely onto its secrets.
In the heart of Gascony, a fire ravages the warehouse of one of Armagnac’s top estates, killing the master distiller. Wine expert Benjamin Cooker is called in to estimate the value of the losses. But Cooker and his assistant Virgile want to know more. How did the old alembic explode? Was it really an accident? Why is the estate owner Baron de Castayrac penniless? How legal are his dealings? The deeper the Winemaker Detective digs, the more suspicious characters he uncovers. There is more than one disgruntled inhabitant in this small town. As we witness the time-honored process of Armagnac distillation and the day-to-day activities of the hunt, the market place, and the struggle for power and duck confit, we get a glimpse of the traditions of southwestern France where this mystery of possible arson and murder lies below the surface.

***

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Alaux-Balen

©David Nakache

Jean-Pierre Alaux is a magazine, radio and TV journalist
when he is not writing novels in southwestern France.
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.
He gets a sparkle in his eye when he talks about the Winemaker Detective,
which he coauthors with Noël Balen.
Noël 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.

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

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. She has translated several titles in this series.
Follow Le French Book on Twitter | on Facebook
Sign up to receive their latest news and deals.

***

You can enter the global giveaway here
or on any other book blogs participating in this tour.
Be sure to follow each participant on Twitter/Facebook,
they are listed in the entry form below.

Enter here

Visit each blogger on the tour:
tweeting about the giveaway everyday
of the Tour will give you 5 extra entries each time!
[just follow the directions on the entry-form]

Global giveaway open internationally:
5 participants will each win a copy of this book.
Print/digital format for US residents
Digital for all other residents

***

CLICK ON THE BANNER
TO READ OTHER REVIEWS, EXCERPTS, AND A GUEST-POST

Flambé in Armagnac banner

What would you most expect
from a cozy mystery set in France?
SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS  IN A COMMENT PLEASE

***

Spotlight and giveaway: Deadly Tasting

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Authors Jean-Pierre ALAUX and Noël BALEN

are featured for the 4th time on France Book Tours!
After Treachery in Bordeaux,
Grand Cru Heist,
and Nightmare in Burgundy,
meet again the famous wine maker detective with this 4th volume!

Deadly Tasting

Jean-Pierre ALAUX and Noël BALEN

on Tour

October 10-29, 2014

with

Deadly Tasting

[cozy mystery]

Release date: October 17, 2014
at Le French Book

144 pages

ISBN: 978-1939474216

Website | Goodreads

***

SYNOPSIS

A serial killer is on the loose in Bordeaux. A local chief detective calls wine expert Benjamin Cooker to the crime scene of a brutal murder. The killer has left a strange calling card: twelve wine glasses lined up in a semi-circle with the first one filled with wine. Cooker is charged with the task of identifying the fabulous grand cru and is astonished by what he learns. A second victim is found, with two glasses filled. Is the killer intentionally leaving clues about his victims and his motives? Memories are jogged about the complicated history of Bordeaux during Nazi occupation. It was a dark time: weinfuhrers ruled the wine trade, while collaborationists and paramilitary organizations spread terror throughout the region. In present-day wine country, time is running out. Will Cooker and his young assistant Virgile solve the mystery before all twelve glasses are full? [provided by the publisher]

 

WATCH THE TRAILER

***

An episode in a long successful French mysteries series
that is a hit television series now in its fourth season
and attracting an audience of over 4 million.
The series is a huge success in France, Belgium and Switzerland.

***

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Alaux-Balen

©David Nakache

 

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 recently won the Antonin Carême prize.
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.
He gets a sparkle in his eye when he talks about the Winemaker Detective series,
which he writes with Noël Balen.
It is a 22-strong series that is a hit on French television
and is now being translated into English by Le French Book.

 

ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

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 where she wrote Camus and the Americas: A Thematic Analysis of Three Works Based on His Journaux de Voyage. 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; her literary translations include Operatic Arias; Singers Edition, and Reality and the Untheorizable by Clément Rosset. 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.
***
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Sign up to receive their latest news and deals.

VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR SCHEDULE

Friday, October 10
Spotlight+ Giveaway at Words And Peace

Saturday, October 11
Review + Giveaway at Valli’s Book Den

Wednesday, October 15
Review + Excerpt + Giveaway at I’d Rather Be At The Beach

Thursday, October 16
Review + Giveaway at Cabin Goddess

Saturday, October 18
Spotlight + Giveaway at Deal Sharing Aunt

Monday, October 20
Review + Giveaway at I Wished I Lived In a Library

Tuesday, October 21
Review + Excerpt + Giveaway at Book Nerd

Wednesday, October 22
Spotlight + Giveaway at Readerly Musings

Tuesday, October 28
Review + Giveaway at The Discerning Reader

*

You can enter the giveaway here
or on the other book blogs participating in this tour.
Be sure to follow each participant on Twitter,
they are listed in the entry form below.

Visit each blogger on the tour:
tweeting about the giveaway everyday of the Tour
will give you 5 extra entries each time!
[just follow the directions on the entry-form]

Entry-Form

It’s open internationally
We will have 9 winners:
4 print copies for US residents
and 5 digital copies for residents of any country