Nico Doyle, former NYPD detective, now feels at home in his late wife's sun-drenched Tuscan hometown, spending his days helping at the family trattoria. But Gravigna is thrown off balance by the arrival of Michele Mantelli, an influential wine critic who can make or break local businesses, and he seems to have it in for the vineyards belonging to Aldo, Nico's landlord.

When Mantelli is poisoned, the local police have the headache of a high-profile murder on their hands, and Nico is called in to help. But narrowing down the pool of suspects will mean untangling the roots of local rivalries that go deeper than anyone expects.

First published as The Bitter Taste of Murder