SPECIAL SPOTLIGHT TOUR!

Authors Jean-Pierre ALAUX and Noël BALEN

Do you know a better combo than French wine and mystery?
Perfect for a cozy end of the year!
Join the tour,
sign up to do a simple spotlight
you will receive an easy file to copy and paste on your book blog,
and you will be entered in a contest to win a $20 gift card of your choice!

Jean-Pierre ALAUX and Noël BALEN

on  Tour

November 23-December 23

with

The Winemaker Detective:
An Omnibus

(mystery)

 Release date: December 5, 2015
at Le French Book

309  pages

ISBN: 9781939474568

Website | Goodreads

SYNOPSIS

The ideal gift for mystery and wine lovers — An immersion in French countryside, gourmet attitude, and light-hearted mystery.

Two amateur sleuths gumshoe around French wine country, where money, deceit, jealousy, inheritance and greed are all the ingredients needed for crime. Master winemaker Benjamin Cooker and his sidekick Virgile Lanssien solve mysteries in vineyards with a dose of Epicurean enjoyment of fine food and beverage. Each story is a homage to wine and winemakers, as well as a mystery.

In Treachery in Bordeaux, barrels at the prestigious grand cru Moniales Haut-Brion wine estate in Bordeaux have been contaminated. Is it negligence or sabotage?

In Grand Cru Heist, Benjamin Cooker’s world gets turned upside down one night in Paris. He retreats to the region around Tours to recover. He and his assistant Virgile turn PI to solve two murders and a very particular heist.

In Nightmare in Burgundy, a dream wine tasting trip to Burgundy turns into a troubling nightmare when Cooker and his assistant stumble upon a mystery revolving around messages from another era.

This made-for-TV series is “difficult to forget and oddly addictive” (ForeWord Reviews).

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

©David Nakache

Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noël Balen,
wine lover and music lover respectively,
came up with the idea for the Winemaker Detective series
while sharing a meal,
with a bottle of Château Gaudou 1996,
a red wine from Cahors
with smooth tannins and a balanced nose.

 ABOUT THE TRANSLATORS

 

VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR SCHEDULE

Monday, November 23
Spotlight and giveaway at The Discerning Reader

Tuesday, November 24
Spotlight and giveaway at It’s a Mad Mad World

Wednesday, November 25
Spotlight and giveaway at Griperang’s Bookmarks

Friday, November 27
Spotlight and giveaway at Queen of All She Reads

Sunday, November 29
Spotlight at Svetlana’s Reads and Views

Monday, November 30
Spotlight and giveaway at The Book’s the Thing

Saturday, December 5
Spotlight and giveaway at I’d Rather Be At The Beach

Thursday, December 10
Spotlight and giveaway at Musings of a Writer & Unabashed Francophile

Wednesday, December 16
Spotlight and giveaway at Fuonlyknew

Tuesday, December 22
Spotlight and giveaway at LibriAmoriMiei

Wednesday, December 23
Spotlight and giveaway at Words And Peace

The bloggers mentioned above
will be entered in a contest to win a $20 gift card!
If you want to get your chance,
contact France Book Tours
and tell us on which day
between Nov 23-Dec 23
you could post this same information about this book

You can enter the global giveaway here
or on any other book blogs participating in this tour.
Be sure to follow each participant on Twitter/Facebook,
they are listed in the entry form below.

Enter here

Visit each blogger on the tour:
tweeting about the giveaway everyday
of the Tour will give you 5 extra entries each time!
[just follow the directions on the entry-form]

Global giveaway open internationally:
5participants will each win a copy of this book.
Print/digital format for US residents
Digital for all other residents

We have winners!

won a copy of

In the Shade of the Almond Trees

(historical fiction)

 Release date: September 29, 2015
at Open Road Media

280  pages

ISBN: 978-1480461178

Website | Goodreads

SYNOPSIS

In the aftermath of World War I, a family estate hangs in the balance.

For generations, the Barthélemy family tended to the olive trees of Restanques, a sprawling property in Cotignac whose olive oil and almonds were as incredible as the countryside that produced them. But all that changed when war came to France. Robert Barthélemy never returned from the trenches, and without him, the farm is beginning to die. His widow has lost the will to live, and only the fierce efforts of their daughter, Jeanne, have kept the creditors at bay.

Jeanne is spending an afternoon at home with the family’s grim financial statements when a handsome stranger appears on the front steps. His name is Jérôme Guillaumin and he is a brilliant botanist about to embark on a journey around the globe. From the moment they meet, Jeanne is struck by feelings she never thought possible: feelings that could save her life or destroy everything she has ever known. [provided by the publisher]

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dominique Marny
was raised in a family
that loved art, literature, adventure, and travel.
In addition to being a novelist,
she is a playwright and screenwriter,
and writes for various magazines.

Follow Open Road Integrated Media on Facebook |   Twitter
Subscribe to Open Road’s Newsletter

ACCESS REVIEWS
BY CLICKING ON THE BANNER

Dominique Marny

on  Tour

September 29 – October 8

with

In the Shade of the Almond Trees

(historical fiction)

 Release date: September 29, 2015
at Open Road Media

280  pages

ISBN: 978-1480461178

Website | Goodreads

SYNOPSIS

In the aftermath of World War I, a family estate hangs in the balance.

For generations, the Barthélemy family tended to the olive trees of Restanques, a sprawling property in Cotignac whose olive oil and almonds were as incredible as the countryside that produced them. But all that changed when war came to France. Robert Barthélemy never returned from the trenches, and without him, the farm is beginning to die. His widow has lost the will to live, and only the fierce efforts of their daughter, Jeanne, have kept the creditors at bay.

Jeanne is spending an afternoon at home with the family’s grim financial statements when a handsome stranger appears on the front steps. His name is Jérôme Guillaumin and he is a brilliant botanist about to embark on a journey around the globe. From the moment they meet, Jeanne is struck by feelings she never thought possible: feelings that could save her life or destroy everything she has ever known. [provided by the publisher]

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Dominique Marny
was raised in a family
that loved art, literature, adventure, and travel.
In addition to being a novelist,
she is a playwright and screenwriter,
and writes for various magazines.

Follow Open Road Integrated Media on Facebook |   Twitter
Subscribe to Open Road’s Newsletter

TOUR QUOTATIONS

Unshelfish

Marny always manages to exploit her characters emotional strength, fragility and vulnerability yet they manage to overcome victoriously. Her lush descriptions of France be it untouched countryside or the bustling city captivates the reader without hesitation. I find her romances contain the perfect blend of mischance and serendipity, always a pleasure to read.

The Fictional 100

The pace of Marny’s prose is measured and restful, like the undulating rows of olive trees in their estate of Restanques.
What I liked most about this novel was that it presented two strong female characters, who were NOT romantic rivals, but rather childhood friends, whose lives converged again at this critical moment.
At the risk of repeating a stereotype, this novel felt ‘very French’ to me (in the best way!), focusing as it did on the sometimes disastrous love affairs of the principal characters. Perhaps that is just the hallmark of good historical romance, in any language!
With the strength of this book’s compassionate portrayals of Jeanne and Rosalie, and Marny’s sure hand in crafting a well-paced story, In the Shade of the Almond Trees captured my interest throughout, and I can highly recommend this slice of Provençal life and love in the aftermath of the First World War.

French Village Diaries

This novel is set in the years directly after the First World War and as well as beautiful descriptions of it’s Provencal setting and the olive and almond tree orchards, that conjured up perfect pictures in my mind, there was lots of historical interest added in as well.
We are shown a snippet of the real Provence of the period and this all added to the story for me, making it a very enjoyable read.
This would be an ideal book for readers who enjoy historical fiction set in France.

LibriAmoriMiei

I loved the atmosphere of this book, the author makes some wonderful descriptions of the countryside: its colors, its scents, fruits, local markets. It makes you really feel like going to visit this estate.
I appreciated very much the choice of the author to use an omniscient narrator, it was possible to know the story from the point of view of all the characters, it was really exciting.
It’s the first book I read of this author but I like her style and will certainly read something else.
It was a compelling historical novel, the pace is not fast but the setting and the characters are lovable. It’s well written and was a real treat.
I definitely recommend this one.

Queen of All She Reads

Filled with colorful characters, the beauty of the countryside, the changing social structures and a young woman’s discovery of love, this is a book romance lovers will enjoy.

Svetlana’s Reads and Views

I did enjoy a lot of things about the book such as the way the scenes are built, and the way the characters are experiencing uncertainty when it comes to romance or whom they should be with, and the language or the way the book is translated has a strange beauty that pulls one in and doesn’t really let them go.

History from a Woman’s Perspective

Overall, this story is about one woman’s strength and perseverance to survive. It is filled with loss, love, family, hope, and choices.
I liked the author’s writing, and I thought the setting of Jeanne’s countryside farm was beautifully described. I recommend this to anyone interested in historical fiction, strong heroines, France, and the aftermath of World War I.

Musings of a Writer & Unabashed Francophile

There are a great many characters, and this book is written in a omniscient point of view, which is one that is not used very commonly.
The book was interesting in a historical sense, and learning about olive groves and nougat and almonds and such, because I had little idea of these things before.