Champagne

June 4, 2012
Hubbard’s agreeable debut, the first in a series devoted to different French wine regions, takes Max Maguire, a feisty though occasionally insecure New York City detective, to Champagne, France, for the wedding of Chloé Marceau, an old friend. When Chloé’s aunt and vineyard owner Léa de Saint-Pern is murdered on the night of the wedding, Max finds herself involved professionally and personally with the older Olivier Chaumont, a juge d’instruction, and, coincidentally, a friend of the Marceaus. Along with Olivier’s appealing protégé, Det. Abdel Zeroual, the two set off to negotiate the complexities of French bureaucracy and a second murder, that of Chloé’s likable but good-for-nothing uncle. Hans Keller, a German who’s rather aggressively trying to purchase the vineyard, and Ted Clay, an American friend of Max’s who was engaged to the lovely Léa, are likely suspects. A creative solution makes up for a not entirely graceful ending. Agent: Kimberly Cameron, Kimberly Cameron & Associates.

July 15, 2012
An NYPD detective, in France to attend a wedding, finds herself investigating a murder as well. Max Maguire, the daughter of a legendary NYPD detective, has spent her life trying to replace the brother who was killed in an accident. The reluctant sleuth is half French, but her mother's aristocratic family disowned her when she married an Irish cop. Even during her school years in France, Max avoided them. Now she's visiting the gorgeous Marne Valley, an area known for producing champagne, for her school friend Chloe Marceau's wedding at the family's estate. Ever since the death of her much older spouse, Chloe's beautiful aunt, Lea de Saint-Pern, has run the family vineyards and champagne company. But that ends when she's found dead late on the night of the wedding. Marceau family friend Olivier Chaumont, a sophisticated examining magistrate, becomes Max's lover and even more unwilling partner in solving the murder. Max soon learns that several people had been interested in buying Lea out, among them a German whose French father was a collaborator during the war. Marc, Chloe's new husband, is an ambitious young man with plenty of ideas of his own who's worked for Lea. His mother is a woman of mystery; his father is unknown. Chloe's alcoholic uncle, the first police suspect, is the second victim. Max and Olivier combine their many talents to root among long-buried family secrets to catch a killer. First in a planned series inspired by the author's many trips to France. The mystery is less complex than the heroine, who's nearly as appealing as the descriptions of the wine district.

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July 1, 2012

New York police detective Maxine "Max" Maguire seizes the chance to visit France when she is invited to her college chum Chloe's wedding on her family's estate in the Champagne region. Despite the fact that Max's French mother lost contact with most of her family when she married an American, Max is more French than other guests might suspect. Another guest, handsome magistrate Olivier, is quite taken by Max. Tragically, Chloe's aunt, owner of a successful champagne company, is bludgeoned to death. Max and Olivier forge an uneasy investigative alliance and uncover myriad motives: family, business, and inheritance all compete for attention. Numerous family secrets, particularly some painful ones dating back to World War II, complicate their search for the truth. VERDICT This promising series launch (each book will be set in a different French wine region) packs such an extensive cast of characters that the reader sometimes must reread portions to figure out the exact connections. But Hubbard's evocation of the region and sense of place trump any clunkiness. Check out Martin Walker's The Crowded Grave, listed in Series Lineup, for another engaging Gallic procedural title. [See Prepub Alert, 3/21/12.]

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