The French Paradox
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- £7.99
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- £7.99
Publisher Description
Lucie Montgomery's discovery of her grandfather's Parisian romance unlocks a series of shocking secrets in the gripping new Wine Country mystery.
In 1949, during her junior year abroad in Paris, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis bought several inexpensive paintings of Marie-Antoinette by a little-known 18th century female artist. She also had a romantic relationship with Virginia vineyard owner Lucie Montgomery's French grandfather - until recently, a well-kept secret.
Seventy years later, Cricket Delacroix, Lucie's neighbor and Jackie's schoolfriend, is donating the now priceless paintings to a Washington, DC museum. And Lucie's grandfather is flying to Virginia for Cricket's 90th birthday party, hosted by her daughter Harriet. A washed-up journalist, Harriet is rewriting a manuscript Jackie left behind about Marie-Antoinette and her portraitist. She's also adding tell-all details about Jackie, sure to make the book a bestseller.
Then on the eve of the party a world-famous landscape designer who also knew Jackie is found dead in Lucie's vineyard. Did someone make good on the death threats he'd received because of his controversial book on climate change? Or was his murder tied to Jackie, the paintings, and Lucie's beloved grandfather?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In Crosby's intriguing 10th Wine Country mystery (after 2019's The Angels' Share), vintner Lucie Montgomery is dismayed to discover the body of landscape designer Parker Lord, her good friend and adviser, in the vineyard of her family's Virginia winery. Parker had received death threats after publishing a highly controversial book about climate change. Lucie does what she can to assist the local authorities, identifying several suspects among the close-knit community. Meanwhile, Lucie's 93-year-old French grandfather is due to arrive from Paris, his visit coinciding with the 90th birthday of Cricket Delacroix, an intimate friend of Jackie Onassis, who bequeathed to Cricket a number of paintings by 18th-century French painter Vigée le Brun. As Lucie and her fiancé, winemaker Quinn Santori, search for the killer, they uncover a possible link between Parker's murder and Jackie, the paintings, and her grandfather, who had a fling with Jackie in 1949 during the future First Lady's junior year abroad. Well-researched historical details bolster the complex plot. This tale of ambition, artistic integrity, privacy, and wine should win Crosby new fans.
