Cognac Conspiracies

author: Jean-Pierre Alaux
name: Wayne
average rating: 3.72
book published: 2004
rating: 2
read at: 2015/08/26
date added: 2015/08/26
shelves:
review:
'Cognac Conspiracies' is the fifth book in the Winemaker Detective Mysteries, and probably the first one I didn't thoroughly enjoy. I felt like characters I'd come to know were not acting like they had in previous books.

This time around Benjamin Cooker is sent to audit the books of a famous distiller of cognac for sale to a foreign investor. Near the estate Benjamin runs into an old flame who is widowed with a son. Virgile is especially flirtatious and irresistible to the local population. A drowning changes things and Virgile and Benjamin find themselves in the midst of trying to find out if it was a murder, a suicide, or an accident. Of course, this is a mystery series, so it's the former, but who could it be?

This one was just strange to me. The mystery gets resolved seemingly by accident. Benjamin and Virgile seem less interested in those events that personal life things. Some of those storylines felt long. Let's not get me started on the weird family that owns the Cognac estate. Perhaps these events are based on fact, or this is just one that didn't translate as well culturally, but it just all felt a bit off to me. I'm certainly looking forward to the next one in the series, and I hope this one was just an oddity in an otherwise decent mystery series.

I received a review copy of this ebook from Le French Book and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this ebook.


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