Killer Cuvee: Walla Walla Valley

The Winemaker Trilogy #1

by Steven M. Wells

Eric Savage loves his new life as a small artisanal winemaker in Walla Walla, Washington. A painful divorce and a corporate career are but distant memories as Eric settles into the rhythm of small town living. Abruptly, his agreeable life and passion for winemaking are upended by a mysterious murder and accusations that Eric is guilty of the crime. A killer is on the loose, and Eric is the perfect fall guy.

After eluding police, Eric flies to London and the scene of the crime in a calculated attempt to find the killer. There, he encounters a determined and attractive FBI Agent who has her own reasons for investigating the crime. An attraction between them flourishes as they team up to find the killer. But as the body-count increases, and the killer eludes them, Eric doubts his life will ever be the same.

Killer Cuvée is a blend of real world winemaking, murder, and romance. Authentic scenes in a winery will interest anyone who has enjoys a glass of fine wine.

The Winemaker Series
www.thewinemakerseries.com

Genres: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Cozy

332 pages, Paperback

First published August 17, 2012

About the author

Steven M. Wells has written three books, all self-published. His first book, Ginger’s Story, was written as a short first-person narrative about the challenges of raising a daughter through high school as a single dad. Narrated by Ginger, the daughter’s golden retriever, the short and poignant story tells of a family torn apart by divorce and healed through the love of a dog. As a single father, Steven followed the lives of his young daughter and her friends through college and into young adulthood. Now that they have graduated from college, this cohort has exposed Steven to many of the issues that young women face today. His next two books, Killer Cuvée and Harvest Homicide, are “wine mystery” novels about a fictional winemaker in Walla Walla, Washington, who becomes embroiled in murder mysteries. Both books are written with an abundance of factual winemaking knowledge and educate readers about life in a small winery through the telling of suspenseful stories.

A former executive at Microsoft, Steven also served as the board chair of the Microsoft Alumni Foundation. His efforts have helped steer the foundation’s grants of $750,000 to Microsoft alumni and their numerous philanthropic efforts. His experience with the foundation has involved Steven in some of the world’s greatest challenges, including disaster relief, health-care delivery, illiteracy prevention, juvenile-incarceration advocacy, and climate-change activism. Many of these issues share a common element: they affect women disproportionately.

Steven’s educational background includes a BS in engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder, which he chose for the location of Yes Means Yes. He received an MBA from Seattle University, a degree in wine production from South Seattle Community College, and a certificate in nonfiction writing from the University of Washington.

While not writing, drinking wine, or walking his dogs, Steve is involved with a number of nonprofit organizations in the Seattle area, serving as board chair, volunteer, or consultant. He also likes to hike, bike, and swim.

Reviews

[Dava Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a note from the author at the end of this book, where he talks about how he really wanted to write about wine-making, but in an interesting way. He came up with the story, in which the main character owns and operates a winery, so he could describe the process of making wine. It shows.

The characters are usually the part of a story that draws me in, but these characters weren't great. The dialog is stilted and flat, the characters make weird, inexplicable decsions, and (it makes me sad to say this) the stuff about how wine is made is still pretty boring - and,worse, it doesn't fit. The story is not moved forward by the descriptions of the fields, the equipment or the process. Those sections feel like they were written separately then inserted into the story.

The main character talks much more about his relationship with his dogs than with his daughter. The fact that he gets all the way from CA to London before he realizes that his daughter will be upset to learn about the death of her mother makes him pretty unlikeable. Then, when he does tell his daughter, her reaction is completely strange. The family relationships just don't ring true.

I won't be reading any more in the series, although I will say that with some work on dialog and characterization, these could be good books.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this book to be very methodical, organized, and technical. For me the dialogue was stilted, the writing didn't flow, the story, could have been quite intriguing for me but I found that the wine making descriptions and the setting of the story in Walla Walla dominated the story and I felt the characters were fit in around it. The whole plot seemed to contrived and weird. Not to much of a mystery . . . Could have been an interesting book; for me the plot had potential but it just was not there.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

First and foremost, legally, I have to say that I won this book in a first reads give away once upon a time and for one reason or another, I just now got around to reading it.

I hate giving negative feedback on anything I read. Some would argue that if I'm reading a book that is bad or I don't like, I just shouldn't finish it. Well, I can't do that. I always have a hope that a book I'm invested in will get better or will have some big twist that just makes the entire thing jaw droppingly good.

For me, this was not one of those books. I can see how some people would love this book and how some would be itching to read the entire series, but I can honestly say, I am not one of those people. It just didn't work for me. I felt like the story was rushed and the characters were somewhat flat. There was no real suspense in the story for me, as I had the killer figured out chapters ahead of when the characters in the book figured it out. The male characters had description, the female characters were described almost entirely by their looks. The dialogue was boring to me and I just have been tossing it around in my head how unrealistic Eric's conversation with his daughter was.

But please, don't base your opinion off my single review. Again, this was just a book that I did not enjoy and that did not work for me. You might very well love it. :)

[Jody Krumwiede · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost quit....glad I didn't.

I found the story slow beginning and when it began looking like a normal "got the wrong guy" story i almost quit. I strongly dislike those typically and while I never used to quit a story, I've decided life is too short for something you aren't enjoying. I'm very glad I stuck with this story....it had a new twist on the premise and became quite entertaining. Kept my attention and left room for another story to piggyback.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I honestly love this book so much! It was amazing! I personally really like Steve's writing style while others might not. Sad to say I see a lot of negative reviews on this book. This book is very well articulated. This book does not need much explaining, I suggest you just jump right into it.
(spoiler review on my blog website :)

[Adriana]

Description from Amazon:

Eric Savage loves his new life as a small artisanal winemaker in Walla Walla, Washington. A painful divorce and a corporate career are but distant memories as Eric settles into the rhythm of small town living. Abruptly, his agreeable life and passion for winemaking are upended by a mysterious murder and accusations that Eric is guilty of the crime. A killer is on the loose, and Eric is the perfect fall guy.

After eluding police, Eric flies to London and the scene of the crime in a calculated attempt to find the real killer. There he encounters a determined and attractive FBI Agent who has her own reasons for investigating the murder. An attraction between them flourishes as they team up to find the killer. But as the body-count increases, and the killer eludes them, Eric doubts his life will ever be the same.

Killer Cuvée is a blend of real world winemaking, murder, and romance. Authentic scenes of winemaking will interest anyone who has enjoyed a glass of fine wine.

[Sharon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Could have been an interesting book. The plot had potential, but the writing was not good. I only finished it because when I really started hating it I was mercifully close to the end. The author switches from first person to narrative, depending on which character is telling certain parts of the story. Also, the writer spends way too much time describing the physical attractiveness of two of the female characters. I got really tired of reading about firm breasts, shapely legs, etc. A mention here or there would be OK, but he overdid it. Also, he described one of the characters are being "typically British: polite and reserved". Huh? Where did that inaccurate stereotype come from? One of the worst books I have ever read. I will not read any more books by this writer. Big waste of time. Add in the numerous typos, and it adds up to a disappointing read.

[Gail Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

RECEIVED BOOK FREE THROUGH GOODREADS FIRST READS. I didn't even write an initial review...i read it in 2 days!!! I found the 'wine' aspects very informative and easy to read. I found the 'mystery' story very well written and again easy to read. If you are a 'wino' (haha) you find this read to be right on the money and if you are into mysteries, it will be a great read. I LOVED THIS BOOK. I look forward to reading GINGERS STORY (i house/dog sit!!)

[Daniele · Rating 1 out of 5]

I enjoy cozies but am not sure this exactly qualifies as one. I also like learning about new places and things, in this case wine making, but these lessons were boring. The dialogue was stilted, the writing didn't flow, the story, not so much far fetched, as just unbelievably weird situations. I didn't like the characters or how they related to one another...that's never a good sign. I am glad I picked this one up for free on my kindle.

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a Kindle freebie that I chose because of it's setting in Walla Walla. We have friends who live there (and we've visited several times) who are involved in the wine industry. Entertaining mystery with lots of info about wine making.

[Kay · Rating 2 out of 5]

Washington wine mystery.

[Suzan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't make it through this book. I stopped reading a little over half way. I kept hoping it would get better but no.

[Jill]

about three typos. predictable. liked wine making tie in