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Start giftingHarvest of Secrets
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Learn moreThe search for the killer of an aristocratic French winemaker who was Lucie Montgomery’s first crush and the discovery of dark family secrets put Lucie on a collision course with a murderer.
It’s harvest season at Montgomery Estate Vineyard―the busiest time of year for winemakers in Atoka, Virginia. A skull is unearthed near Lucie Montgomery’s family cemetery, and the discovery of the bones coincides with the arrival of handsome, wealthy aristocrat Jean-Claude de Merignac. He’s come to be the head winemaker at neighboring La Vigne Cellars, but he’s no stranger to Lucie―he was her first crush twenty years ago when she spent a summer in France.
Not long after his arrival, Jean-Claude is found dead, and while there is no shortage of suspects who are angry or jealous of his ego and overbearing ways, suspicion falls on Miguel Otero, an immigrant worker at La Vigne, who recently quarreled with Jean-Claude. When Miguel disappears, Lucie receives an ultimatum from her own employees: prove Miguel’s innocence or none of the immigrant community will work for her during the harvest. As Lucie hunts for Jean-Claude’s killer and continues to search for the identity of the skeleton abandoned in the cemetery, she is blindsided by a decades-old secret that shatters everything she thought she knew about her family. Now facing a wrenching emotional choice, Lucie must decide whether it’s finally time to tell the truth and hurt those she loves the most, or keep silent and let past secrets remain dead and buried.
Ellen Crosby, former Washington Post freelance reporter, is the author of Moscow Nights, the Virginia Wine Country mysteries, and the Sophie Medina mystery series.
Christine Marshall is an actress, director, and designer who makes her home in Maine. She has performed in theaters as far flung as San Francisco, Santa Fe, and Detroit, in roles ranging from Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire to Nancy Spungeon in A Sid and Nancy X-Mas. She is a member of the Mad Horse Theatre Company and the Maine State Ballet, works on many independent Maine theater projects and films, and appears regularly on local commercial television. As a narrator, she recently won her first Earphones Award from AudioFile magazine for her work on Dancer. As a child, she watched her mother record audiobooks and is proud to follow her in this work. She lives with her husband Michael.
Reviews
“Full-bodied and crisp, The Vineyard Victims goes down with ease.”
“The action is complemented by thoughtful, nuanced considerations of Virginia’s history of rocky race relations, modern agriculture’s dependence on immigrant farm labor, and fascinating digressions into the history of slavery-era textile design. Crosby is a steady hand in unraveling the tangled subplots, and she populates Lucie’s world with sympathetic secondary characters who come fully alive.”
“The ninth book in Crosby’s character-driven series features an introspective sleuth who struggles with her own insecurities as well as physical limitations. For admirers of the author’s earlier mysteries, and readers of Ellie Alexander’s Death on Tap or Joyce Tremel’s Brewing Trouble series.”
“The winery frame story supports the multifaceted plot, as do details layered into the tale about genealogical research, forensic anthropology, and DNA testing.”
“A corker of an entry in a series that often pairs fascinating historical mysteries with clever modern ones.”
“A fine mystery, solid characterization, and a shocking finale.”
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