The Richebourg affair

the long version

Who'd have thought it? Commandant Truchaud of the Paris police is used to dealing with villainy and violence in the French capital, but when he is summoned home to Burgundy on the death of his brother, he finds a seething vat of theft, fraud and cold-blooded murder fomenting beneath the serene surface of the little village of Nuits-Saint-Georges. What is hidden behind the cellar walls? Who wanted his brother dead? Why does Inspector Molleau have a loaded pistol in his desk drawer? As Truchaud digs deeper and deeper into the mystery, he discovers that, for some people, Richebourg is quite literally a wine to die for - The Richebourg Affair is the first of a trilogy set in and around Nuits-Saint-Georges, following Truchaud through three different wine-related scandals over the course of a year in the Burgundy vineyards.