Synopsis

Lorraine Evanoff’s Pinot Noir marks the return of brilliant investment banker Louise Moscow ten years after working with the FBI and CIA to take down the corrupt Bank of Credit and Commerce International. This time, in the aftermath of the catastrophic events of September 11, 2001, the FBI summons Louise out of witness protection to investigate another international banking scandal: the unsolved murder of multi-billionaire banker and philanthropist, Ekram M. Almasi when billionaire and his nurse.

Even though local investigators seem to have found the ideal culprit for the murder, the case is not as open-and-shut as it might seem. The FBI unofficially get involved, taking Louise away from her “island paradise hideaway” to flesh out some of the missing pieces. She begins a journey that will take her to Monte Carlo, Paris, and Burgundy. The amazing scenario, however, cannot hide a complicated and awful truth.

Louise hops from one undercover assignment to another, aided by both a curiosity about how the world works and a determination to make it work for her. Equal parts scholar and sensualist, she will find out the answer but enjoy herself while doing so. One moment she’s deploying her brand of “forensic accounting” to uncover some obscure financial information that may blow up the case; the next she’s swooning over the complex “barnyard smells” of a particular Burgundy.

Evanoff is clearly besotted with French history and effectively blends it with her heroine’s struggles against uncooperative witnesses, a mysterious vine disease, a gun-wielding monk, and a secret society. Moscow glides through it all with a James Bondian flair. Able to handle a high-powered speedboat, an ex-lover, or a ginger-haired villain with equal ease, this international spy is a protagonist you’ll want to follow.