Sweet Poison [Large Print]

Ray Taylor is hosting the annual meeting of the exclusive North American Epicurean Society (NAMES) in the hope of becoming the newest member. The club is so elitist that only 57 people can belong to it at one time and someone's death is just about the only way to join. This year's guest speaker is the obnoxious 300+ pound food critic Augustus Poole, who is despised by much of the culinary community. In exchange for orating, Augustus has demanded a body guard and a special bottle of wine, a `47 Chateau d'YQuem. Ray's son pleads with his buddy Jack Donne, a former law enforcement official now working in the family winery, to protect Augustus. The money and bennies are so good, Jack accepts the job even though he finds Agusttus to be an overbearing bore At the first night dinner, Augustus and the renowned chef Nicky Peoletti argue. The next morning, Nicky is dead and Augustus is the prime suspect. Though he was hired to be a bodyguard only, Jack begins to investigate who poisoned the chef. The second Jack Donne mystery, SWEET POISON, is a well designed who-done-it that has superbly developed characters and interesting insight into the wine industry. As with the first novel, DEADLY VINTAGE, Jack remains a very intriguing protagonist, whose woes with his non-winery clients add much to the tale. The recurring secondary characters like Jack's dad and uncle also add flavoring. However, as in the first novel, it is the client, who drives Jack to distraction, that propels this story line into the higher levels of excellence in the "vintage" mystery section of the culinary sub-genre. Harriet Klausner