The Critic (The Enzo Files (2)) (original 2007; udgave 2016)

What's not to like about Peter May's books? They are set in (at least to me) exotic locales, have intriguing main and secondary characters, use contemporary forensic science methods to solve the crime, and the main detective knows he needs the assistance of others to solve the puzzle.

Enzo Macleod is a Scotsman transplanted to France where he teaches biology and solves unsolved crimes on the side. In this book he is in the Gaillac region of France looking into the death of an American wine critic, Gil Petty, who disappeared four years ago while he was tasting wines of the region. His body has just recently come to light having been preserved in wine for the intervening years. Enzo is staying in the same little cottage that Petty stayed in and he wants to get a job picking grapes to do some undercover investigation. Even before he can get started someone tries to kill him by knocking him out and leaving him in the path of a grape picking machine traversing a wine field at night. Soon Enzo has help in his search. He calls in his student Nicole, a computer whiz; then his sometime lover, Charlotte, shows up from Paris; Gil Petty's daughter, Michelle, from California arrives in France to retrieve her father's effects; rounding out the team are Enzo's daughter Sophie and her boyfriend Roland. Michelle seems to be very attracted to Enzo who wouldn't mind exploring this relationship since Charlotte can't commit to anything but they always get interrupted before anything can go too far. When another wine-soaked body shows up in the same area as Petty's the instructing judge makes Enzo's involvement official. That means he can see the evidence collected previously and ask for tests. Michelle gets her father's laptop which initially doesn't have anything too interesting but then Nicole suggests that Petty might have stored his information in the cloud. Enzo knows someone in California that can examine the wine from Petty's body in conjunction with soil samples from vineyards that Petty visited and determine where the wine was produced. (First Enzo has to get the soil and wine samples to California which involves some skulduggery in order to get them past customs.) He knows he must be getting close because someone attempts to kill him (after killing his dog and stringing it up--a piece of information I really didn't need) when he arrives back in Gaillac from the USA. Fortunately Sophie and Roland arrive just in time to chase the killer off. Enzo will undergo one more attempt on his life before the case is over; I guess that's just par for the course in the life of a private detective.

Enzo's love life doesn't seem to be getting any better but it seems that Nicole has found a man that suits her (and her father). Sophie and Roland seem to be matched up well. Maybe Charlotte will finally succumb to Enzo's charms. And maybe Enzo will survive the people who are out to kill him because it seems there is more than one. ( )

There is a lot about wine-making and tasting, not so much about solving a murder. It's a tedious story, much weaker than others in the series. ( )

Lots of great background on wine-making and wine criticism - but great background does not make a great novel - I'm doubtful about Enzo's appeal as a lead character. The book just felt a bit "clunky" ( )

I finished Peter May's The Criticthe second book about a Scottish forensic scientist Enzo McLeod living in France. In this outing he is in the Gaillac wine area,and there is a lot about winemaking. I was a litle disappointed in the denouement,as the murderer hadnt been in the story since about page 50,and the motivation was somewhat incredible,the murderer was just insane really. Not my sort of story, I enjoy the gradual revealing of the villain,worked out from clues,not a barely mentioned character suddenly popping up.What the oldtime detective fans called fair play. Not sure if I will continue with the series. ( )

From Amazon:

Former forensics expert, Enzo Macleod, takes up his second challenge of solving seven unsolved murders written about in a book by Roger Raffin. Gil Petty was the world's leading expert. His review could catapult the price of a particular wine, or destroy a winery until he went missing. No one expected he would turn up three years later as a scarecrow in a vineyard having spent those three years in someone's wine vat.

My Thoughts:

I more than likely would have given this book higher stars IF I had not just read Peter May's Lewis Trilogy. That was a 5 star offering...this lacked the same atmosphere and pizzazz. It also could be that I am not enthralled with wineries but I was enthralled with the scarecrow and also with the secret code that the wine critic used to rate the wines. That was the best parts of the book. I will continue this series as I believe that Enzo Mcleod does indeed have promise.
( )