When Lucie Montgomery visits Washington, D.C. during cherry blossom season she doesn't expect that her reunion with old friend Rebecca Natale is a setup. But Rebecca disappears into thin air after running an errand for her boss, billionaire philanthropist and investment guru Sir Thomas Asher. Also missing: an antique silver wine cooler looted by British soldiers before they burned the White House during the War of 1812.

The next morning Lucie identifies Rebecca's neatly folded clothes found in a rowboat floating in the Potomac River. Is it suicide, murder, or an elaborate scheme to disappear? A clandestine meeting in the U.S. Capitol, a startling revelation on a windy hill, and cryptic messages from Rebecca cloaked in eighteenth-century poetry are all part of the tantalizing mystery of whether Rebecca is alive or dead.

When a tornado rips through Montgomery Estate Vineyard, it not only destroys some of Lucie Montgomery's newest grapevines, but also unearths a grave in an abandoned field. The discovery sets tongues wagging in the small town of Atoka, Virginia, especially after Lucie learns the Loudoun County Sheriff's Department believes the odds are good someone in her family is responsible.

But Lucie has more to worry about than family secrets buried with the victim in her vineyard. Her charming new farm manager clashes constantly with Quinn Santori, her winemaker; and accidents, broken equipment, and injuries fuel the combustible atmosphere around the winery. Lucie's complicated feelings for Quinn involved in disturbing activities that could cost him his job.

Meanwhile Lucie has granted permission to a group of Civil War reenactors to use a field near the gravesite to stage the local Battle of Ball's Bluff, though she is unsettled by ghost stories of soldiers who still haunt the real battlefield and its cemetery of unknown soldiers. As the day for the reenactment draws near, the ghosts of her own family's past converge for an outcome she could never have anticipated.

The unabridged audio version of The Riesling Retribution is available from BBC Audiobooks America (preview on YouTube here!) and the large print version is available from Center Point Large Print.

Order the eBook version here.

Facing a freak late-May frost that threatens to kill the grapes in her vineyard, Lucie Montgomery hires a helicopter to fly over the vines -- in total darkness -- stirring up the Arctic air on the ground so the fruit will not freeze. But her luck in salvaging the harvest runs out when she discovers the body of Georgia Greenwood, a controversial political candidate, lying near the fields. Georgia’s husband Ross – Lucie’s friend and doctor -– immediately falls under suspicion. To make matters worse, Ross, a renowned collector of Civil War documents, has just discovered a letter that seems to prove Confederate President Jefferson Davis had prior knowledge of the plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. In the small town of Atoka, Virginia – proud home to Mosby’s Rangers, a legendary Confederate guerrilla company led by Colonel John Singleton Mosby, the “Gray Ghost” -– the news is a bombshell.

Three years ago Ross saved Lucie’s life after she was involved in a near-fatal car crash. Now she intends to return the favor and prove Ross’s innocence. As the search for Georgia’s killer escalates, Lucie crosses swords with her attractive but cantankerous winemaker, Quinn Santori, and confronts her own unwelcome feelings of jealousy over his new romance and job prospects. Her worries about her kid sister’s out-of-control drinking and a second vineyard-related death further ratchet up the tension. Even though Lucie believes in vino veritas -– in wine there is truth -– the path to uncovering a murderer involves making a heartbreaking decision that will alter the lives of those she loves.

Someone wants to buy the 500 acre farm and vineyard located at the foothills of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains which has belonged to Lucie Montgomery's family since colonial days. And they are apparently willing to commit murder to get it.

When Lucie's father Leland dies under questionable circumstances, the vineyard passes to his three children. But Lucie, who has been living in France for several years, quickly discovers that her brother and sister can't wait to nail up the "For Sale" sign while she is the lone holdout for reviving the ailing winery.

All too soon it's clear she's the new target of whoever wants her family's land. With a growing list of suspects - including the new cut-rate vintner her father hired shortly before he died - Lucie must act quickly to uncover the identity of a killer who seems disturbingly close to home.

• The Fountain Bookstore    Richmond, Virginia
• Books and Crannies     Middleburg, Virginia
• Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Fredericksburg, VA
• Barnes & Noble     Reston, Virginia
• Mystery Loves Company    Oxford, Maryland
• The Mystery Bookstore, Los Angeles, CA
• VJ Books    Tualatin, Oregon
• The Poisoned Pen    Scottsdale, Arizona
• "M" is for Mystery    San Mateo, California


and at these vineyards:


• Swedenburg Estate Vineyard    Middleburg, Virginia
• Rogers Ford Farm Winery    Sumerduck, Virginia
• Barrel Oak Winery     Delaplane, Virginia


Additional online resources:


• Find a local independent bookstore at IndieBound
• Independent Mystery Booksellers Association
• Amazon
• Barnes & Noble
• BooksAMillion
• Borders
• Target
• Walmart