Dying on the Vine

Gourmet Detective #3

by Peter King

“Frolic through the vineyards and fine restaurants of Provence” in this delectable mystery set in French wine country, where the time is ripe for murder (Publishers Weekly). The vineyards of the Willesford Wine Group occupy a particularly choice section of French wine country. From the grapes of Provence, the owners of this impeccably managed syndicate have squeezed international fame and fortune. Next to their spectacular estate lies the petite Peregrine Winery, whose shadowy owners suddenly make repeated requests to buy Willesford’s property—raising their offer each time. Unable to discern Peregrine’s motive for these persistent attempts, the Willesford group sends for London’s gourmet detective, a sleuth with impeccable reasoning and an even finer palate. When he arrives in Provence, he doesn’t even have time to sample the pâté before he finds a dead man leaning against a cart, dripping blood into the fine French terroir. For the winemakers of Provence, this will be an excellent year for murder.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Cozy Mystery, France

287 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 1998

About the author

Peter King is an English born author of mystery fiction, a Cordon Bleu trained chef and a retired metallurgist and aerospace scientist. Before writing full time, he operated a tungsten mine, prospected worldwide and worked on rocket engines for NASA Apollo missions. After retiring in 1991, he began writing fiction and is best known for the Gourmet Detective series and the Jack London historical mysteries. His work blends culinary detail, historical research and classic whodunit storytelling.

Reviews

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was intrigued by the title and this author’s biography - a Cordon Blue chef, a metallurgist and oversaw South America’s first steel plant. With such a breadth of experiences where would this mystery take the reader? Mr. King delivers a light mystery set in Provence and the descriptions of the countryside are wonderful which appealed to me as did the food and wine descriptions. The plot is action packed but the character development is weaker. A good end of summer read!

[Golfergirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an easy relaxing read. The detail on the food and wine is always interesting, as is the exploration of the region. It is fun to have a peek into the rich and famous lifestyles. The mystery is well handled. Hints are dropped along the way so if we pay attention we may pick up some clues. However the tension is maintained and the denouement is satisfying. All in all a very enjoyable read.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is book 3 in the Gourmet Detective series. I admit I have not read the first 2, and I plan to seek them out. Peter King is a Cordon Bleu-trained chef, and his passages on wine and food are sublime. I wanted to eat (and drink) what our hero was eating and drinking - and he did quite a lot of both in this book.

Example - on page 15 he orders a Kir (love them even though they no longer seem to be in style), but he says "This one had just the right number of drops of Cassis and a good Montrachet.... Ok, I checked, the least expensive Montrachet at my local Total Wine is $74.99. Our hero has excellent and expensive tastes!

In this installment, a small vineyard wants to buy a huge surrounding vineyard. Each time an offer is made and rebuffed, the offer gets larger and larger. Communications to the vineyard asking why they want to buy this large vineyard are ignored. The Willisford vineyard hired a private detective in Provence to find out what is going on, but he's gone missing. So they hire the Gourmet Detective to see if he, with his chef background, can figure out what the underlying reasons are. As soon as he arrives in Provence, he finds a dead body. And murder attempts keep piling up. What in the world is going on?

There was a lot going on in this book - lots of characters, food, wines, local color. I admit I just could not figure it out. Who was the mastermind behind wanting to buy the vineyard and the murder(s) and more importantly why. In the end it all came together but till then it was a bit of a confusing ride. Hence 3 1/2 stars instead of 4. But I'll go back and work on this series because the passages about food and wine and worth a read all on their own.

[Debbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. This murder mystery has plenty of culinary tidbits and mouth-watering descriptions of food, but the mystery itself had so many narrow-escapes for the gourmet detective that I started rolling my eyes. I won't be continuing with this series. For murder mystery seasoned with food descriptions, I will stay with Diane Mott Davidson, although I will concede Peter King has a more sophisticated style.

[Sunshine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up from half price books for $2 in the clearance section and was certainly worth the price. I haven't read the previous books in the gourmet detective series but I would definitely read them if I come across them. A mystery book mixed with a heavy dose of mouth watering food descriptions is what this novel entails. I wish it focused more on the mystery aspect and at times I wanted the detective to stop eating at every restaurant in his path and get back to the important matter at hand. I also lost track of who's who during the reading and wish the characters were more distinct or memorable. The way the detective describes women does seem to have a tinge of sexism, but it was not overly distracting as there were only 3 ish women of relevance, all of whom were noted as attractive. Nevertheless I did enjoy reading this novel and found the mix of culinary knowledge and mystery intriguing. The main culprit was surprising but not completely unexpected.

[Lenora Good · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're on a diet, you may not want to read this series. The Gourmet Detective's author is a Cordon Bleu-trained chef, and he loves describing various foods and the wines that go with them.

The story takes place in Provence, with side trips to Monaco, and abandoned towns. The owners of a large winery want to know why a wee winery is offering to buy their vineyard for a price way over market value. The Gourmet Detective is hired to find the answer. He was not hired to find all the bodies, but hey, it's a mystery.

This is a cozy mystery, or as I call it, fun fluff. A great read for the beach, or if it's winter, read in front of the fireplace.

[Barbara George · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new taste in reading

This is a great way to learn the ways of French wine and food while delving into a one of a kind mystery. There are twists and angles that keep the reader guessing and anxiously reading. I love the way king paints pictures of the land and people and history that really make you want to be right there seeing smelling living.

[Eugene · Rating 2 out of 5]

As with the other three I’ve read in this series, I wanted to like it more; the locales (here, the south of France), the food, and the wine country and the vineyards…and yet…the plots are OK but the “Gourmet Detective” himself (never named) is a bit of a downer - not developed enough to be intriguing and his obsession with women’s looks gets wearying after a while. This time, the semi-mad bad guy and his phalanx of thuggish paramilitary henchmen is a major turnoff as well. Even the climax isn’t very…climactic.
If I run across one of the other 3 or 4 I haven’t read, I’d give the series another try, but it’s not on any priority list.

[AngryGreyCat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dying on the Vine is book 3 in the Gourmet Detective series. This one is set in Provence as the Gourmet detective investigates vineyards and possible fraud. A death due to a local species of wild boar, airborne bee hive attacks and various other shenanigans abound. All long the way there is an abundance of wine and food. This one is a bit of a stretch and not as strong a book as the first in the series.

[Phil Ellenberger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good

If you're interested in details of Provencal cooking and wine this would ba five star rating. As a mystery it is average. It has some interesting history woven into the narrative so in my view it ends up three star.

[Denise Link · Rating 2 out of 5]

This gets two stars because it's the rare book that puts me to sleep instead of making me want to keep reading. Still, life is too short to read boring books. I'm giving up, and I'm not even curious enough to read the end to see what happens.

[Nancie Lafferty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute mystery set in Provence, France. An investigation by the “Gourmet Detective” involves tasty and interesting descriptions of French food, wine, locals and customs and quite a few suspicious deaths. Good, relaxing read.

[Andrea Eckelman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book, but I found it a little slow for my liking. Also, the actual murder mystery was a bit hokey.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm enjoying this series! I'm learning a lot about food I'll never eat!! I enjoy the main character and the mysteries.

[Wade Alderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter King never disappoints

Another great Cozy Mystery and LOVE to web search the recipes. This is a fantastic book and well worth the read.

[Jennifer Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Gourmet Detective story. 3rd one I've read, but not as good as the others. The ending was unexpected though.

[Sonjie Outlaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very French story

A good story about wine and a detective. How many times can your life be in danger before your time is up.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A hard start but a good finish.

[Linda Watson · Rating 3 out of 5]

O la la. French Food to Die For

The descriptions of the food can't help but make you hungry. I wouldn't recommend reading this. If you're on a diet.

[Suzanne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Might put this in the recycling bin to save anyone else the waste of time.

[Neely Powell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Gourmet Detective is sent on a mission to find out why a small vineyard is trying to buy a large vineyard above market price. A mystery ensues.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

P

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, hmm... I've read the whole series now. I'm not going to do individual book reviews, some of them are better than others, but they're all enjoyable, quick reads. Then again, throw gourmet food and wine into anything and I'm likely to add some points to it in my mind. Bizarrely, though, given that I gave all the books three stars, I don't know that I recommend them. Had they been written fifty years ago, I'd give them some more slack, but here are my issues with, well, all of them:

The gourmet detective himself, our protagonist, is an unlikable twit. He's a middle aged, pretentious white man, with delusions of self importance. He fancies himself a ladies man and, of course, manages to get one or another into bed (trailed off, never portrayed, just make sure we know it happened, wink, wink) in all or almost all the books. He's misogynistic, racist, and classist. He fancies himself a connoisseur of all things food and wine, and throws about names and terms, most of which the average reader will not have heard of, and will probably just move past without much thought. The problem is, he's pretty much clueless and the mistakes in his descriptions of various ingredients, dishes, and bottles of fermented grape juice are legion.

In short, and yes, I realize I'm generalizing and could be accused of bias myself, he's the sort of detective that a 70+ year old retired upper middle class British metallurgical engineer (who apparently at some point went to the Cordon Bleu cooking school to be trained as a chef, though my bet is he just took a few cooking classes for home cooks, then again, who knows, but it seems he did it after retiring at some point in his 70s) would reimagine himself to be if he were to become a food detective. In short, a sort of Walter Mitty alter ego.

[Nor Finn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Forgettable really. I had to read the last few paragraphs to remember the story each night. Something about murder at a winery and someone dowsing for gold/oil/water, wild animal attacks, caves in the hillside, some flying machines, cars, good-looking women, yachts...I just did not relate to his style of writing. It felt very male, educational, choppy. Not what I look for in a summer novel. And I love anything relating to fine wine, food & etc. this one did not whet my appetite or take me on an exciting adventure.

[Christina · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was not as good as the first two in the series. :( I had a hard time making myself read this book. I understand that the main character in this series is called the Gourmet Detective, but the huge description of the food he was eating is getting old. I truely feel that is the reason I did not enjoy this book as well as the others. I will be a trooper though and try to read the next one!!!!

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another pleasant tale, this time placed in Provence, France. The mystery part is minor; I love the descriptions of the food and wine and the countryside. One star shy of 5 because I find not knowing the name or age of the narrator precious at best, in addition to the author's 13 year old's attitude toward women. So far these books have been stand alones with only the narrator reappearing.

[Diane Wachter · Rating 3 out of 5]

HB-B @ 1998, 6/17/07. In Provence, the Gourmet Detective, visiting a vineyard, finds the gored body of a stranger draped over a cart. He finds himself in mortal danger when a villager standing next to him is killed by a crossbow, and he is nearly drowned in a suspicious accident. Okay.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like food, wine, and Provence (and I do), mixed with a mystery, this is a quick, fun read for you.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another amusing tale of detection. I learned a few things about some rare/obscure French wines.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the food and wine descriptions. Learned a couple of things about wine. A light read; not too hard to figure out the mystery, but I'd read his other books.