Uncorking a Lie: A Sommelier Mystery

At the start of Nettman’s sprightly sequel to 2016’s Decanting a Murder, Katie Stillwell, who works as a sommelier at a San Francisco restaurant and is studying for an advanced wine-tasting qualification, attends a dinner party at the Sonoma mansion of wine collector Paul Rafferty, who’s eager for his eight guests to sample a 1975 bottle of Chateau Clair Bleu. After the wine is decanted with great ceremony and poured, Kate takes one long and thoughtful sniff and realizes that it could not be a ’75: its color and fruit-forward nose tell her it’s a much younger wine. What’s she to do? As a guest, she doesn’t want to spoil her host’s moment of glory, and no one else at the table seems to realize something’s wrong. She conveys her concerns to Rafferty’s assistant, Cooper Maxwell. Some minutes later, Maxwell is found dead in the wine cellar. Fake wines, charity auctions, collector obsession, and a splash of romance enliven the blend. Nettmann, a certified sommelier, certainly knows her stuff. Agent: Danielle Burby, Hannigan Salky Getzler Agency. (May)