Vintage Caper - Peter Mayle

Written as a mystery the dedicated fan of either adventure or intellectual sleuths will be disappointed, however, if you want a description of Paris and Marseilles with a little countryside thrown in - this will be a good read.

From a detective standpoint the case of stolen wine in Los Angelos ending up in Marseilles is too straight forward.  Every guess is right on and the case is solved in easy many, but the case has enough good characters to invite you on a food and wine trip that explores not only the 70 Petrus,  53 Lafitte Rothschild, 61 Latour, 82 Figezc. and the 74 Yquem - which for Peter must be the holy grail of wines, but also classic whites and reds that accompany the numerous dinners and lunches that the characters have.

In fact I would say that dinner was a substitute for the violent passages that are so gratuitous in the standard fare (and I liked it).  In fact, despite being in Paris, a swinging ex-thief, now a good guy, working with a classic French woman to solve a theft, traveling across the country and not having one moment of sexual tension might be the hardest aspect to believe.

I would not buy this because it is classic, but I would buy it to relax in front of a fire place with your own favorite glass of wine.