If Sam Spade was a psychologist and famous Hungarian-Swedish detective working in Nazi Europe instead of California, this will give you an idea of the setting for this creative and violent detective story. When the Nazis took over France they pillaged the wineries. One vintner puts one over on them by poisoning a case of 1934 Pinot Noir wine, knowing that Nazi Colonel Riffel will not share this fantastic plunder. The Colonel sends the 12 tainted bottles to high ranking party officers, thinking this will be a great way to gain power. Instead he learns that they have been poisoned, the first victim is Troy Bastick, and he will be held responsible unless he can recover the other bottles before they can be opened and consumed. He recruits Dr. Mads Molnar, a wise-cracking, heavy drinking Hungarian-Swedish detective, on the run from the Arrow Cross (Hungarian version of the Gestapo) for his resistance work. Molnar agrees to find the poisoned wine in exchange for a visa to Sweden, so he can escape to a neutral country. Detective Wolfram Bastick (son of the first victim) and a psychopath is determined to find his father's murderer, no matter how many people he hurts or kills. He enjoys inflicting pain and suffering, torture is his drug. As Molnar dashes around Europe tracking down the wine bottles, he meets Marilyn Ghetz, secretary to General Hiedleburg, one of the recipients. Marilyn is an Aryan goddess, the perfect vision of German femininity, and she is also the fiancé of Wolfram Bastick. As the bottle s of wine get recovered, Bastick and the Arrow Cross close in on Molnar, who sort-of kidnaps Marilyn the night before her wedding and there's a action-packed escape from a Danish castle. Molnar's secretary Eva is rescued from prison after she's taken into custody and the slimy Colonel Riffel receives poetic justice from Bastick in a very satisfying ending. I'm sure there will be more adventures and Mad Molnar will get into more hot water, drink champagne and have massages, all while wise-cracking and saving the damsels in distress.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Very unique story. It was enjoyable read and did keep me interested. I will be on the look out for more by this author.

One of the strangest books I’ve ever read. Allegedly based on a true story set during WWII, a French vintner decides to wreak revenge on the German invaders by poisoning a case of Pinot Noir. The German officer who receives the case decides to send a bottle to twelve other officers he wishes to impress. When reports start coming in that people he sent the wine to have died by poisoning, he realises that he needs to get the bottles back and destroy any evidence linking them to himself. Thus, he hires the detective Mads Milner to retrieve the bottles.

This book appealed to me as it appears to be a war story with a difference. However, the plot is simply to ‘easy’ to be believable. Molner merrily skips from one encounter to the next while the characters are cartoon like in their simplicity. Perhaps this was deliberate but it therefore lacks the necessary gravitas to be viewed as a historical novel. It was touch and go whether I finished it or not, but it was the desire to see how far fetched the next stage of the plot could be that kept me going.

Great characters in a unique story. The book was full of action and surprises. Thevwriting is descriptive snd it was easy to picture each character snd each location.

I am very picky about the historical fiction books I read especially when the plot is centered in WWII. Too many books both fiction and nonfiction written ad nauseum about the same thing just with different points of view. ENOUGH ALREADY!!!! However, I make an exception with this one because there is a story involving wine. Nazis storm a French winemaker's seller and take his wine. Somehow he is able to poison twelve bottles and each Nazi who drinks from them dies. What happens after? You will have to read!

I love how this book was organized. Once the poison bottles of wine were consumed. Each chapter has a story of one of the twelve poisoned bottles and its victim. This was quite unique. I liked this book so much, I will get it after it is published. Highly recommended!

Thanks to Netgalley, Mads Molnar III and ATS Press: Independent Books Publisher's Association (IBPA) Member's Titles for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 11/1/20

Dear Potential Reader, if you enjoy Indiana Jones with a touch of Dick Tracy read this book. This story is set during the second World War. The reader finds out from the very beginning of the book that the whole story is based off of true events that he was told by his grandfather, which makes the story more intriguing. I found myself wondering throughout the read which parts were real and which were fictional. The author does an excellent job in portraying how evil and cruel the Nazi party in Germany really was, and how the members of the party from soldiers to doctors to civilians were brainwashed into thinking there was a superior race and it needed to be accomplished no matter the cost. What really grabbed my attention and made me select this title was the fact that the book was called Pinot Noir, and what wine had to do with Nazi Germany. I had to know what the association between wine and the Nazis was and was not disappointed.

The main character in the story is Detective Molnar. He is a debonair, suave psychologist/detective that is a huge ladies man and knows how to get down to the brass tacks of any case he is called for. The book itself has a lot of action and double crossings which is what gave me as a reader the Indiana Jones feel. The author has some truly noteworthy quotes on alcohol and how it can grab and hook people. I found his feelings on the subject truly heart wrenching. There truly is something for every reader in this book action, suspense, drama and a dose of a love story.

I absolutely loved this book! In the introduction, the author mentions that it’s based on true events and inspired by his Grandfather. What bedtime stories you must heard Sir! Pinot Noir is the story of a case of wine that has been sent out bottle by bottle to some high ranking Nazi’s, but unbeknownst to the sender, another high ranking Nazi, the wine has been poisoned. He hires, and I use that term loosely, a Hungarian detective to retrieve the bottles and destroy all evidence that can trace the bottles back to him.

I’m not going to spoil your delight at reading this action packed story, but suffice to say, there is enough action, twists, surprises, and rooting for the underdog that you will.not.put.this.down! Trust me, I read it in one sitting.

If this isn’t made into a movie, Hollywood is dumb. You know those WWII movies they made back in the late 60’s early 70’s like “The Dirty Dozen”? If you like those movies, this book is perfect for you!

Bravo Mr. Molnar! I can’t wait to read more from you.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers and the author for an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

"You could tell they were vintners by the gleam in their eyes". In his wine cellar, Rene Neuf "...sobbed...as if life had left him...he finally stopped...he chuckled softly...new emotion winked in his eyes. The gleam had returned".

Alsace, France, 1940. Colonel Karlin Riffel demanded a tour of Neuf's wine cellar. What is your best year? A case of 1934 Pinot Noir, "...bows tied around twelve bottles-every one with a red, feminine kiss on a white label" was loaded into Colonel Riffel's vehicle. Why not gain favor by sending each bottle to a selected recipient accompanied by a personalized note? The first bottle of Pinot Noir was consumed by Generalleutnant Troy Bastick. "Neither Wolfram [Bastick] nor his father could know that ...'the love pea' ...an inactivating protein poison...[had been] added to the Pinot Noir". Famous Gestapo Detective, Wolfram Bastick promised to avenge his father's death.

Upon learning of Troy Bastick's demise, Colonel Riffel confronted vintner Neuf. "I sent your bottles to officers all over Deutsches Reich...". Neuf's comeback, "police detectives will be asking who sent them?" The bottles must be tracked down, the Pinot Noir and attached notes destroyed. To this end, Hungarian clinical psychologist turned detective, Mads Molnar, was hired by the Gestapo. Molnar having served as a psychologist to soldiers during WWI, could no longer "...bear fixing broken soldiers". He was now a top notch detective, but he was between a rock and a hard place.

Budapest, Hungary, 1940. Borrowing a milk truck, Mads Molinar and "hired muscle" Miles Fekete were determined to drive "A bunch of Jews from Hungary, masquerading as milk bottles" to safety...an unexpected roadblock...a member of the Arrow Cross, Hungary's Fascist Party died as the truck barreled through a checkpoint and headed for the Austrian border. Molnar was wanted by the Arrow Cross Party while being recruited by the Nazi Party. A mission as explained by Riffel: quietly destroy all twelve bottles of poisoned wine and accompanying notes...work a miracle". Molnar having no choice, agreed. If he succeeded, he would be given exit papers to Sweden. The Arrow Cross Party claimed however, "Wherever you go in the Reichsmark, we will be watching, and when the Nazis are done with you...".

"Pinot Noir" by Mads Molnar III is a work of historical fiction based upon his grandfather's wartime stories. Having experienced WWI, distaste for war and the struggle between life and death was evident. A little girl was saved moments before experimentation and given a new lease on life. The story of Marilyn Ghetz's family was revealed. What made Wolfram Bastick tick? First time novelist Mads Molnar III has penned a fast paced, page turning thriller, a novel truly written from the heart. Highly recommended.

Thank you ATS Press and Net Galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am very passionate about food and wine, historical fiction and mysteries so I thought this would be an interesting blend, but it was not what I had hoped for. It starts out strong from the beginning but I had to struggle to crawl this one.

This book started strong with a great plot. Set during WWII, the German army overruns the vineyard of a French winemaker, who poisons 12 bottles of wine the Nazis confiscate. The wine bottles are then sent to unsuspecting victims before the poisoning is found out when the first victim consumes the wine and dies. With the wine disbursed, where would the bottles end up? Could they be found before more deaths occur? Unfortunately, I lost interest when two competing detectives try to solve the case and I couldn't connect to either character. I didn't finish the book, but I'm giving it two stars because of the great plot and the characters might appeal to other readers. Not for me.

Wouldn’t we all like to write the ending to our own story. Maybe one day my granddaughter will do me the honors as Mads did here with the story of his grandfather during World War II. Taking creative license and weaving it around some basic truth allows for a very enjoyable mystery, as the author has done here. Though I’d have liked all twelve recipients to have the same outcome as the first one.

This is the debut novel by pseudonym Mads Molner III.

I picked up this book because I was intrigued by the synopsis, the originality of the idea and not having a clue who Mads Molner III is.

In 1939, the night before Nazis raid his cellar, a French winemaker poisons a case of his best pinot noir to spite the invaders. The Nazis take the bait and the adventure begins. Every chapter of Pinot Noir tells the story of one of the 12 poisoned bottles in that case and the lives they change forever. Detective Mads Molner is called on to recover all the bottles in exchange for a ticket out of Axis territory and a pardon for killing a fascist. Not a simple task but made even worse by the fact that Wolfram Bastick whose father was killed by the wine, is also on the case in search of the killer of his father.

This book is so different from what I normally read but I really enjoyed it. Great characters and a fast moving plot making it an entertaining read. 

I would like to thank both Netgalley and ATS Press for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.