The Dark Vineyard (Unabridged‪)‬

Just before dawn one late-summer morning, Captain Bruno Courrèges is roused from sleep by the wail of the town siren atop the Mairie, summoning the volunteer firemen of St Denis. Bruno, the only policeman in the small Périgord town, follows the fire engines towards the site of a large barn, now engulfed in flames, the surrounding fields ablaze. Everything points to arson.

A Californian wine maker is planning to buy up half the valley to create a huge wine-producing operation. But opinions are divided. When another outrage follows the crop burning, it appears that someone is determined to stop the scheme and is prepared to go to any lengths including murder to do so.