The Blood of the Vine, Volume 15: Drinking and losing in the Loire Valley

Résumé

atrick Dieumegarde, considered to be the greatest actor of his generation, approaches his fifties with panache. Originally from Touraine, he bought a sumptuous wine estate on the lands of Vouvray. In honor of his new conquest, the lovely Victoire Margerolle, a young star of French cinema, he organizes a party at his château de Tremblay. The oenologist Benjamin Cooker and his dashing assistant Virgile, winemakers solicited by Dieumegarde for their reputation for excellence, are both invited to this evening where the Gotha of show business will shine. Unfamiliar with these social festivities, the Bordeaux accomplices end up accepting the invitation. They did not imagine, however, that they were going to be witnesses – and perhaps even actors – of a particularly sordid crime. Two thriller authors also hang out in the area, scouting for their next book. They too did not imagine discovering the secrets immured in the freestone of the cellars. The harsh reality, as often, exceeds the fiction. In the gentle tranquility of the banks of the Loire, dirty stories, too quickly buried, are intertwined with adulterated desires and petty ambitions.

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