This is the 2nd Wine Lover's MysteryStarted: 1/21/2008
Ended: 1/30/2008
Synopsis:
Life is sweet for Nikki Sands. She's toasting her new job at the Malveaux Estate in Napa Valley and balancing a love triangle with a neighboring winemaker and her boss, vineyard owner Derek Malveaux — the catch of the country. And tonight, Nikki will be on the arm of Napa's golden boy at a Sonoma mansion for the wedding of the decade...
Nikki's friend Isabel agreed to cater the wedding — before she learned that the groom was her cheating lover. After the ceremony, Isabel asks Nikki to bring the obnoxious bride another glass of wine. But Nikki finds the new wife sprawled on the floor — murdered. Since the dearly departed made enemies easily, there's a bushel of suspects — many of them close to Nikki. Now, it's up to her to get to the bottom of what may have been a killer bottle of wine. This story takes place 6 months after Murder Uncorked.
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Characters:
Nikki Sands: Manager of the Malveaux Estate; 35 y/o with shoulder length hair with blonde highlights; raised by her Aunt Cara who retired recently from the LAPD and is now touring Europe; suspects her Aunt is seeing a man over there since her trip has become an indefinite stay; drives a silver Camry; referred to as "Goldilocks" by Simon & Marco; when Nikki was 7 y/o she was in a car accident that killed the man she'd always thought was her father, only later discovering that they were not related; after being in a coma for 2 weeks, her white-trash mother shipped her off to CA to her Aunt Cara; determined to catch Susan's murderer and free her best friend from jail
Derek Malveaux:Owns and runs the Malveaux Estate Vineyards; multi-millionaire; dirty blonde with sky blue-colored eyes; does not live at the Malveaux Mansion, but prefers to reside on the property in a barn he restored/custom-built himself; lives with his dog, Oliver (aka Ollie), a Rhodesian Ridgeback; flirts and is attracted to Nikki, but does not act on his feelings; believes he is not ready for a relationship (after his nasty divorce) and does not want to hurt Nikki; lately has buried himself in his work, especially since his estate winemaker, Gabriel had been killed (last book) and has now taken over his duties for the time being; wants to expand the Malveaux business by building a boutique hotel and spa at the vineyard
Isabel Fernandez: Nikki's Spanish friend; owns & runs the restaurant "Grapes" in Yountville; 5'2" petite frame with dark brown eyes; 7 years younger than Nikki; very expressive and talks while gesturing with her hands; has a very close relationship with her brother, Andres; agrees to cater wedding for Susan Jennings, unbeknownst that her boyfriend, Kristof, is the groom; arrested for murder when a sample of the poison used to kill Susan is found in her sweater that was left in the back of a catering truck Isabel had rented for the wedding; use to have a reputation as a "party girl", but quickly changed after her brother threatened to export her
Andres Fernandez: Local winemaker @ Spaniards' Crest Estate; edgy good looks with dark eyes; knows how to make Nikki laugh; has a very close relationship with his sister, Isabel; from Spain but educated in Argentina; does not know that his sister was in a relationship with Kristof; attracted to Nikki and wants to start a relationship with her
Susan Jennings: DEAD: Realtor to the San Francisco elite; orphan-parents died when she was a teenager; engaged to marry Kristof Waltman; mean, abusive & nasty bitch that is condescending and rude to people she believes she is superior to; very thin and long-legged; has pale blonde hair with ivory skin and ice-green eyes; after Susan's death, Nikki came across an envelope from the San Francisco Premier Investigative Services that held several photos of Susan getting fucked by Blake Sorgensen; autopsy revealed that she had a high level of Sodium Fluoroacetate ( a highly toxic poison) in her system; had a strained relationship with her sister, Jennifer; revealed that her parents had not died but father was a drunk that abandoned family and their now single mother became a maid that was sent to prison after being caught for stealing; Susan and Jennifer were shuttled from foster home to foster home; quite intelligent in that she always got wanted she wanted; an opportunist; greedy, manipulative and power hungry Kristof Waltman: Engaged to Susan but had been "seeing" Isabel on the side, who was unaware of his upcoming nuptials; good looking with light blue eyes; medium wavy brown hair that he wears slightly long; has a baby face that Nikki thinks is too pretty-looking for a man; lives in Sonoma (which is about 30 miles away from Napa); after wife's death, seen suspiciously hanging out closely with ex-girlfriend, Deirdre; womanizer
Patrice Malveaux: Derek's stepmother; lives in the Malveaux mansion; currently gallivanting across the country visiting every known spa
Simon Malveaux: Derek's gay half-brother; golden hair with sea-green eyes; Nikki refers to him and his boyfriend, Marco, as "The Boys of Summer"; was off in NYC doing the spring fashion shows, with Marco presenting his new line; spoiled rich kid; quick-tempered; despised Derek and Nikki out of pure jealousy; after a recent trip to a guru at a spa in Sedona (after the NYC fashion shows), both Marco and himself are trying to be less materialistic and more spiritual; have even befriended Nikki and have offered to help her find the true murderer and clear Isabel's name; along with Marco, accompanies Nikki on a weekend trip to San Francisco to gather information for the investigation
Marco: Simon's boyfriend; thick Italian accent; sarcastic sense of humor; was first in NYC showing his new line in the spring fashion shows and then accompanied Simon to a spa which changed his outlook on life; apologized to Nikki for treating her so bad when she first came to the winery; now wants to help her find Susan's murderer and free Isabel; designed an ad campaign for the winery; along with Simon-comes up with the idea to expand the winery to include a hotel and spa
Pamela Leiland: Susan's best friend; one-time Victoria's Secret model; ivory skin with wavy dark brunette hair and brown eyes; involved with Marty Waltman who is about 30 years her senior; revealed to have been married before-also to an elderly and wealthy man (Antoine), who died from a heart attack; revealed that Susan & Pamela were gold diggers, yet when Pamela actually fell in love with her husband and did not want to leave him, Susan went ahead and killed Antoine by slipping amphetamines into his heart medication; Susan first denied what she did, but eventually Pamela got the truth out of her and decided to seek revenge; at the wedding, Pamela laced some cocaine and gave to Susan who partied from time to time; Pamela then framed Isabel because she knew it would be easy due to her past rep and that she was also fucking Kristof on the side; after she discovers that Nikki may be on to her, she tries to poison Nikki with some laced wine; however-Nikki suspected what Pamela was up to and faked drinking the poisoned wine; unawares-Pamela confesses to the murder, thinking Nikki is on her death bed-but NO; bitch fight ensues and Marco & Simon rush into the Waltman Castle and apprehend Pamela
Marty Waltman: Kristof's father; hosted his son's wedding at the Waltman Castle in Sonoma; calm, clean-cut and easy going; wears glasses that give him a look of intelligence; involved with Pamela who is about 30 years younger than him; wants the best for his son; tells Nikki to watch her back if she is going to continue to snoop around (threat?)
Jennifer Jennings: Susan's sister; was receiving checks from Susan (possibly blackmail?); had a tumultuous relationship with her sister; revealed that when they were younger and placed into the foster home of a wealthy couple, Susan had fucked the husband and when the wife found out-she kicked both girls out; Jennifer grew to resent her sister, especially when Susan starting making something of her life by the generosity of others; Susan feeling some guilt toward her sister-paid her a weekly allowance; revealed that Susan had left in her will her condo in San Francisco to Jennifer; has a boyfriend named Paulo
Sara Waltman: Kristof's great aunt; elderly (~90 y/o); walks with a cane; despised Susan and thought she was a gold digger; very outspoken; loves mysteries-in fact used to write mystery novels when she was younger; gave Nikki a copy of one of her earlier works; as Nikki reads paperback-she can't help notice that Sara's story almost mirrors current crime with only a few differences
Blake Sorgensen: Elderly and wealthy; friends with the Waltmans; has silvered hair; smokes cigars; heavy drinker due to his reddened cheeks and bleary eyes; Nikki finds pictures of him fucking Susan; leaves during the wedding to go yachting in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; loved Susan and would give her money, however she broke up with him (telling him it was because he could not give her kids) when in actuality she had hooked a bigger fish (Kristof)
Louis Faulker: Cater-waiter hired by Isabel to work the Waltman wedding; early 20's; slight build with bad skin; wears thick glasses; already balding at a young age; Susan publicly belittles and embarrasses him at the wedding; Isabel lets him leave early; when Nikki tracks him down to question him, his roommate explains that Louis skipped town; roommate described him as sketchy, moody & freaky and that he left several bills unpaid when he split
Detective McCall: Called onto the scene after Susan's body is found by Nikki; razor-thin and extremely tall; green eyes with thick brown hair that falls slightly over his eyes; has the most perfect, whitest teeth Nikki has ever seen
David Kistler (pronounced Daveed): older, unattractive business man from San Francisco; sleazy
Angel: Gold-digger; young, blonde, Playboy-looking whore that is dating/fucking Daveed
Roman Pangilini: Daveed's business partner; considering a deal to carry the Malveaux wines in their restaurants;
Antoine Ferrino: DEAD: Pamela's husband who past away due to a heart attack; sold his chain of gourmet Italian restaurants to Roman since he wanted to focus his time and energies on having and raising a baby with Pamela; died before she got pregnant; revealed that Susan
Paulo Barrelli: Jennifer's boyfriend; tall, muscular & good looking in a slimy kind of way; states that Jennifer & him are in a open relationship; confesses to Nikki that he was fucking Susan as well; gives Nikki background info on Susan & Jennifer growing up and why their relationship was strained
Luigi: Owns the Capri Ristorante in downtown Santa Rosa; charismatic, old-school Italian with all the airs of a romantic
Deirdre Dupree: Kristof's ex-girlfriend; corporate sales manager at Waltman Castle; fashionable 33/o; bright blue eyes with a dash of freckles across her nose; despises Susan; Nikki takes her out to dinner and loosens her lips with wine in order to get information on Susan and the happenings at Waltman Castle; confesses she is still in love with Kristof; Nikki spots her several times with Kristof appearing very friendly with one another Carmen Ferrino-Spencer: Antoine's daughter; still good friends with Pamela; revealed that Pamela had visited her last month at one of her pest control offices
Mr. Lareby: Malveaux accountant
Manuel: Malveaux vineyard manager
Carman: Grapes restaurant manager
My Review:Overall, I enjoyed this second installment, although not as good as the first installment ( very disappointing). I had hoped this series would get better, but I am willing to read the next book. I find Michele Scott's ability to spin a tale good, but not great... I wish she would employ more logical thinking in her main character's ability to investigate a true murder and make the novel more believable. Her protagonist appears much too dumb and cutesy to be investigating a murder which makes the story line go flat in some places. Just a pinch of realism could go a long way in her writing... On the other hand, I think she does provide the reader with an absorbing romantic saga and paints a delectable portrait of the Sonoma/Napa Valley wine country.
Sex: No fucking, past actions implied
Language:Swearing is very limited (2 bitches and 1 fucker)
Violence: Past actions implied; real tame stuff here
Book Score: 8/10
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