Though I wasn't too thrilled by books 1 & 3 in this series, I committed to reviewing this so I read it and I have to say it did work a bit better than the previously mentioned two. It's a quick read filled with wine, beautiful French scenery and a murder mystery our wine loving detective Benjamin Cooker is tasked with solving. This one can easily be read even if you haven't read the other books in the series.

A big thank you to NetGalley and Le French Book for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Deadly Tasting is book four in the Winemaker Detective Series. Local Bordeaux police consult wine expert Benjamin Cooker, following the discovery at the scene of a brutal murder, of twelve wine glasses deliberately placed in a semi-circle and only one glass contains wine. Cooker needs to identify the wine in the glass to understand the message the killer is leaving. But when a second murder occurs and this time two glasses are filled with wine, Cooker and the police realize that time is of the essence if they are to stop the killer from striking again.
Certain the wine left in the glasses is a grand crux Pomerol from the Pétrus estate, Cooker must figure out who could have an apparently unlimited access to such an expensive wine. Delving into the history of the wine necessitates revisiting the history of the Nazi occupation of the area and digging up secrets from this dark time in Bordeaux history.
The writing is tight and the story fast paced. There are some lighter moments involving Cooker and the cabbage soup diet that his wife has him on. Though not strictly necessary to the story, these moments help to lighten the mood following some of the more gruesome murder scenes and the telling of the heavier aspects of the Nazi occupation.
Much to my surprise I became quite intrigued by the wine information and found myself researching Pomerol wine, the Pétrus estate and even the cabbage soup diet. Everything that I learned from my investigations confirmed how well the authors had done their research and how smoothly they incorporated facts and history into the mystery.