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Product Description
Review
Praise for Peter Mayle and The Vintage Caper:
“Wine and food aficionados will find much to savor. . . . Light, funny, and packed with a menu’s worth of scrumptious descriptions of exceptional dinners and drinks.”
—USA Today
“A succession of excellent repasts and leisurely ambles, which Mayle depicts with painterly ease and signature savoir vivre. . . . Pure Provence.”
—National Geographic Traveler
“A lighthearted romp . . . in which picking the right restaurant, choosing the best dish on the menu and, of course, finding the perfect wine (and female companion) to accompany the feast is every bit as important as catching the thief.”
—Los Angeles Times
“A smooth ride you’ll enjoy from beginning to end. . . . Peter Mayle’s love of France is infectious. . . . The vintages are a fine complement to the action.”
—The Washington Post
“Cinematic. . . . Meals are lovingly described, scenery comes to life, paragraphs take long floral detours. And everyone is blessed with hypersensitive taste buds. . . . By the time Levitt returns to America, readers will have learned much about the history of winemaking, the key wine regions, various auction houses, critics and books—and even how to lift fingerprints from bottles.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“Provides a delightful behind-the-scenes tour of France and its wines, a satisfyingly satirical view of materialistic excesses in America, a mystery that keeps the reader guessing, and a pleasing, robust finish.”
—The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Mayle [is] something of a wonder . . . chronicling the scene around him in irresistible prose . . . the joys of a bountiful climate, brilliant sun and a splendid cuisine.”
—Time
“Sexy is the name of the game in this book, from the sensually and lavishly appointed wines and gourmet foods to the well sculpted women. . . . This is a book that celebrates wine, food and excess of all kinds.”
—Chattanooga Times Free Press
“[Mayle is] a writer of grace and good humor.”
—The New Yorker
“Abundant with luscious descriptions of the gastronomic delights of France . . . Mayle’s international caper is the vehicle for his exposition of all things French: countryside vineyards, brilliant sunsets, chateau wine cellars, exquisitely prepared dishes, and, of course, wine.”
—Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
“Relentlessly entertaining. . . . Mayle has concocted a shameless guilty-pleasure bonbon in The Vintage Caper.”
—Raleigh News-Observer
“Whether you’re going to France or just to eat, Mayle is worth reading.”
—San Jose Mercury News
“[Mayle] knows his wines and cuisines, evident in this mystery featuring gourmand-investigator Sam Levitt. Readers can vicariously enjoy world travel, great meals and memorable bottles of vino.”
—Sacramento Bee
“Mayle’s prose bubbles with the pertness of champagne and teems with sumptuous delights. . . . His story has as many unexpected twists as the wending streets of France that are featured throughout the novel, making this one countryside romp that will both thrill and transport oenophiles and armchair travelers alike.”
—Bookpage
“This light and funny mystery novel about food and wine is satisfying. . . . Aficionados will find much to savor in The Vintage Caper.”
—Visalia Times-Delta (California)
“Wine and food aficionados will find much to savor. . . . Light, funny, and packed with a menu’s worth of scrumptious descriptions of exceptional dinners and drinks.”
—USA Today
“A succession of excellent repasts and leisurely ambles, which Mayle depicts with painterly ease and signature savoir vivre. . . . Pure Provence.”
—National Geographic Traveler
“A lighthearted romp . . . in which picking the right restaurant, choosing the best dish on the menu and, of course, finding the perfect wine (and female companion) to accompany the feast is every bit as important as catching the thief.”
—Los Angeles Times
“A smooth ride you’ll enjoy from beginning to end. . . . Peter Mayle’s love of France is infectious. . . . The vintages are a fine complement to the action.”
—The Washington Post
“Cinematic. . . . Meals are lovingly described, scenery comes to life, paragraphs take long floral detours. And everyone is blessed with hypersensitive taste buds. . . . By the time Levitt returns to America, readers will have learned much about the history of winemaking, the key wine regions, various auction houses, critics and books—and even how to lift fingerprints from bottles.”
—The New York Times Book Review
“Provides a delightful behind-the-scenes tour of France and its wines, a satisfyingly satirical view of materialistic excesses in America, a mystery that keeps the reader guessing, and a pleasing, robust finish.”
—The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Mayle [is] something of a wonder . . . chronicling the scene around him in irresistible prose . . . the joys of a bountiful climate, brilliant sun and a splendid cuisine.”
—Time
“Sexy is the name of the game in this book, from the sensually and lavishly appointed wines and gourmet foods to the well sculpted women. . . . This is a book that celebrates wine, food and excess of all kinds.”
—Chattanooga Times Free Press
“[Mayle is] a writer of grace and good humor.”
—The New Yorker
“Abundant with luscious descriptions of the gastronomic delights of France . . . Mayle’s international caper is the vehicle for his exposition of all things French: countryside vineyards, brilliant sunsets, chateau wine cellars, exquisitely prepared dishes, and, of course, wine.”
—Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
“Relentlessly entertaining. . . . Mayle has concocted a shameless guilty-pleasure bonbon in The Vintage Caper.”
—Raleigh News-Observer
“Whether you’re going to France or just to eat, Mayle is worth reading.”
—San Jose Mercury News
“[Mayle] knows his wines and cuisines, evident in this mystery featuring gourmand-investigator Sam Levitt. Readers can vicariously enjoy world travel, great meals and memorable bottles of vino.”
—Sacramento Bee
“Mayle’s prose bubbles with the pertness of champagne and teems with sumptuous delights. . . . His story has as many unexpected twists as the wending streets of France that are featured throughout the novel, making this one countryside romp that will both thrill and transport oenophiles and armchair travelers alike.”
—Bookpage
“This light and funny mystery novel about food and wine is satisfying. . . . Aficionados will find much to savor in The Vintage Caper.”
—Visalia Times-Delta (California)
Book Description
From Hollywood to Marseille with delicious stops in between, Peter Mayle’s latest novel is filled with the culinary delights and entertaining characters that make him our treasured chronicler of French food and life.
The story begins high above Los Angeles at the impressive wine cellar of lawyer Danny Roth. Unfortunately, after inviting the Los Angeles Times to write an extensive profile extolling the liquid treasures of his collection, Roth finds himself the victim of a world-class wine heist. Enter Sam Levitt, former lawyer and wine connoisseur, who follows leads to Bordeaux and Provence. The unraveling of the ingenious crime is threaded through with Mayle’s seductive rendering of France’s sensory delights—even the most sophisticated of oenophiles will learn a thing or two from this vintage work by a beloved author.
The story begins high above Los Angeles at the impressive wine cellar of lawyer Danny Roth. Unfortunately, after inviting the Los Angeles Times to write an extensive profile extolling the liquid treasures of his collection, Roth finds himself the victim of a world-class wine heist. Enter Sam Levitt, former lawyer and wine connoisseur, who follows leads to Bordeaux and Provence. The unraveling of the ingenious crime is threaded through with Mayle’s seductive rendering of France’s sensory delights—even the most sophisticated of oenophiles will learn a thing or two from this vintage work by a beloved author.
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Most helpful customer reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Peter Mayle always delights.,
By
This review is from: The Vintage Caper (Hardcover)
Peter Mayle's books are like a breath of fresh air. His ability to titillate the senses is unequalled. The Vintage Caper is a simple humorous crime story with a neat twist at the end. However the story is almost incidental to the scenes of Provence, French cooking and a plethora of mouth watering wines that Peter conjures up with consumate skill. This is a book that should ideally be read while lounging in a hammock somewhere in the Provence countryside in the shade of a tree by the side of a stream, the sun beating down and with a glass of chilled Pouilly Fuisse at one's side.My reading was on a cold Canadian winter night with an outside temperature many degrees below zero; fortunately I was sitting by a warm fireplace with my wine of choice that night, a fine Vosne Romanee.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.4 out of 5 stars (56 customer reviews) 55 of 61 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Light beach fiction,
By Leary Blaine - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Vintage Caper (Hardcover)
Fun, well-constructed tale. Keeps moving. Written with Mayle's typical cleverness and skill with phrasing. But it's very *light* fiction. It's plot-driven vs character-driven. Reading "A Year in Provence" makes one think. Heck, Mayle himself -- as a reluctant "character" -- revealed the evolution of his own biases over the course of that book. That was excellent: the writer as unwilling participant, revealing more about himself to the reader than perhaps he intended as the writer.There's nothing like that here. It's a good story, with pleasant characters and a lot of fun. But it won't leave you contemplating anything more serious than why you haven't had a good bouillabaisse for a while. This is the kind of book that only authors with several best sellers to their credit get to publish. If a first-time author were to approach a publisher with this manuscript, it would never see the light of day. But Mayle is a brand. And I'm a fan of that brand. So I'm happy to have read it and enjoyed it very much. But I hope you'll find it useful to know that it's at the lighter end of the Mayle spectrum (like, say, Grisham's "Playing for Pizza"). Enjoy! (Under the sun)(Tuscan or otherwise) 24 of 27 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
Don't waste your time.,
By M. Naiman - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Vintage Caper (Hardcover)
If you have an interest in Marseilles, France and travel there in general, you may find this book interesting. As a work of fiction though, it has to be one of the worst books I have ever read.As a "Who Done-It?" mystery, the story fails completely. While the pretext of the crime itself is at first intriguing and makes sense (a three million dollar wine collection is stolen from an L.A. wine collector), how and why his main character, Sam Levitt, ends up in France, and figures out who the main culprit is makes almost no sense at all. Once the culprit is revealed, it is all downhill from there. What follows for the remainder of the book is a complete lack of intrigue or action. The plot line becomes annoyingly predictable and is surprisingly devoid of any of the usual twists or turns traditional to the genre. Sorry for the spoiler, if you can call it that, but the story ends exactly how the main character predicts it will. Mayle's characters are also pathetically cliche and one-dimensional. While this, again in the tradition of the "Who Done-It?" genre, can sometimes be forgiven if the story is at least intriguing, sadly it is not. More annoying still is the pretentious and overly repeated message from Mayle: L.A. is phony and plastic while Marseilles is the Mecca of wine, romance and fine dining. Mayle goes into excruciating detail about every bite of food his one-dimensional characters take. It seems his real intention is to impress you with his knowledge of Marseilles and French cuisine while the story and plot are thrown in as an afterthought. Ironically though, while the book is supposedly about great French wines (whose legendary vintages are listed by Mayle ad nauseam), the subject matter itself is barely explored at all by the author. Most wine enthusiasts reading the book would probably be very disappointed. 26 of 31 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
amusing crime caper,
By Harriet Klausner - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Vintage Caper (Hardcover)
Hollywood entertainment lawyer Danny Roth cherishes his wine collection, insured for three million dollars. He is so full of pride over his vintage collection he boasts excessively about his vino darlings during a Los Angeles Times interview. However, Danny feels violated when someone who obviously read the article absconded with his wine collection.Insurance agent Elena Morales hires her former boyfriend Sam Levitt, a wine connoisseur, to investigate the theft. He follows the trail to France where he teams up with insurance agent Sophie Costes, a wine and food gourmand. They soon track the purloined wine to Marseilles with billionaire wine collector Francis Reboul as the prime suspect behind the theft. This is an amusing crime caper that will have readers toasting Peter Mayle with A Good Year French champagne. The story line is fast-paced and straightforward as the shortest distance between California and French Lessons is between Sam and the other players. With a solid cast, Vintage Caper is lighthearted fun as each key participant makes their play for the valuable vino with not one of them fully trusting any of the others. Harriet Klausner |
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