A Riesling to Die

Book 1: Wine Trail Mysteries

by J.C. Eaton

Genres: Amateur Sleuth; Animal Cozy Mysteries

Synopsis

From the author of the Sophie Kimball mysteries—a writer, a goat, and a trusty Plott hound must weed out a killer at a New York winery.

Norrie Ellington is a successful screenwriter living in New York City. She’s also been a silent partner for her family’s winery upstate—until her sister and brother-in-law take a year-long sabbatical. With an experienced staff doing the work, Norrie figures Two Witches Winery will run itself while she enjoys the countryside and writes in peace and quiet.

Unfortunately, there’s a sour grape in the town of Penn Yan who doesn’t care for vineyards. Bed and breakfast owner Elsbeth Waters complains to everyone who’ll listen that the local wineries are bad for her business. But when Elsbeth’s body is found on Norrie’s property, the victim of foul play, the screenwriter-turned-vintner dons a sleuthing cap to uncover the identity of a killer who told the B&B proprietress to put a cork in it—permanently . . .

FIRST IN A NEW SERIES! 

Praise for A Riesling to Die:

“Well plotted with interesting characters and a humorous thread that kept my interest until the final scene.” —V. M. Burns, author of the Mystery Bookshop Mysteries, R J Franklin Series, Dog Club Mysteries, Fairy Tale Cozies

“A real treat. Plenty of suspects and some crazy theories kept me guessing the entire story.” —Escape with Dollycas

Release date: March 27, 2018

Publisher: Lyrical Press

Print pages: 320

Sample

Chapter 1

Upstate New York

The sign off to my right read Welcome to the Seneca Lake Wine Trail, and I knew in that instant I had lost my mind. What the hell was I thinking? I slowed the car for a split second and then picked up speed. It wasn’t that I minded doing favors for people, but they were always on the easy side. Picking up someone’s mail while they were gone, feeding a friend’s cat or taking a colleague to an appointment because their car broke down. But this? This bordered on insanity.

My older, by one and a half years, sister, Francine, pleaded with me to “oversee” our family winery in Penn Yan, New York, for a year so she and her husband, Jason, who worked for Cornell University’s Experiment Station in nearby Geneva, could spend that time researching some godforsaken bug in Costa Rica.

I wished I had never said yes, but Francine could be downright persuasive. Annoying, really. She called me three months ago as I was headed out the door of my tiny Manhattan apartment wedged between Nolita and Little Italy. An apartment I inherited from a great aunt because no one in our family wanted to live in “the city.” They equated it with drugs, sex, robberies and lunatics. Unfortunately, they were sort of right. But the advantages to living in a place that didn’t shut down at eight o’clock could be mind-blowing. Too bad my sister didn’t share my opinion. Her life revolved around that winery and now she wanted mine to do the same.

“Come on, Norrie, you’re the only one I trust. It’s not as if you have to live in New York City. You’re a screenwriter. All you need is a laptop and a phone line. We’ve got those. Besides, it’s only for a year. One year.”

“A year? A full year? That’s the life span for some species. Can’t Mom and Dad do it?”

“You have got to be kidding me. The last thing Jason and I want is for them to come back from Myrtle Beach and undo everything we’ve done in the past five years. I thought Dad would never retire.”

“The winery has staff. The winemaker, the vineyard manager, the tasting room manager, the bistro chef, the—”

“Norrie, you don’t have to tell me who works for us. That’s just the point. They’re staff. You’re family. And, you’re part owner of the winery.”

“A silent partner. I like it that way. You know as well as I do I’ve never been interested in the winery business. Not like you. You have a degree in hospitality and hotel management. Big surprise. Even as a kid you were the one who would go out in the winter to help prune the vines, or badger the winemakers to figure out how they made wine out of grapes. I’m the one who sat in my room writing. Remember?”

“Of course I do.”

“For your information, I’ve made a great career out of it.”

“You can still do that. Only from Two Witches Winery instead of Great Aunt Tessie’s apartment.”

That was another thing. The name. Two Witches Winery. It was located on Two Witches Hill in Penn Yan overlooking Seneca Lake. The hill was named after, you guessed it, two women in the eighteenth century who were thought to be witches. Unfortunately, Francine and I had to go through school with that moniker. Boys teased us relentlessly. “Which witch are you?” “Are you the good witch or the bad witch?” We begged our parents to change the winery name, but they refused. My dad said it reflected the history of the hill.

As far as Francine and I were concerned, it reflected the prior owner’s refusal to think up something original and when my parents bought the place when Francine was born, the name stayed. But that didn’t mean I had to.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I really can’t do this.”

“Can’t or won’t? If it’s because you think you’re not qualified, don’t worry. I’ll walk you through everything. Come on, you’ll still be able to write those screenplays and maybe living in the Finger Lakes will give you some new ideas.”

“I’ve had twenty-nine years of Finger Lakes living already.”

“Great. You can make it thirty. Please, Norrie? Please?”

“I really, really can’t.”

“Pleeze…pleeze, Norrieee.”

The “eez” sounded like the worst whine I’d ever heard and, in a moment of sheer weakness, lunacy, really, I said yes. Now I was less than fifteen miles from Two Witches Winery and it was too late to turn around and go back to the city. I had sublet my apartment for a year and crammed all of my personal belongings into my small Toyota sedan. I took a deep breath and looked off to the right.

Seneca Lake was in its glory. It was early evening in mid-June and its sapphire water, set against the deep green hills, was magnificent. A few sailboats dotted the shore. Time for happy hour at the lake’s numerous bars. It was idyllic all right, if a Norman Rockwell painting was what someone had in mind. For me, it was simply the place where I grew up. I picked up speed and continued to drive north, chastising myself for ever agreeing to do such a lamebrain thing.

I was so deep in thought I was halfway up the lake before I knew it and almost missed the turnoff to our winery. A giant sign on the road read “Grey Egret Winery and Two Witches Winery to the right.”

Grey Egret sat at the bottom of the hill. It was a small winery owned by the Martinelli family. I wondered which one of their kids got stuck continuing the legacy. Their parking lot was emptying and I glanced at the clock. Five fifteen. Most wineries closed at five. That meant I was spared making an entrance at Two Witches. I’d just head to the house.

The vineyards on either side of the road seemed to stretch on for miles. Some belonged to us, others to Grey Egret. Other than the cars coming down the hill, it was one of those quintessential postcard scenes. I pressed on. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw what looked like a llama. Nope. Too fat. What the heck? It was on our property, too. Fenced in with the winery behind it.

I don’t care what it is, I’m not taking care of it.

The house was about a half mile past the winery, set back near the woods. I pulled into the long driveway and looked at the vineyards again. I had to admit, based on eyesight alone, Francine and Jason were doing a great job. Last thing they needed was for me to muck it up.

A quick slam of the car door and I walked to the house. Francine must’ve glanced out the window or, worse yet, had sat there waiting. She hurried toward me. Tall, slender, with ash-colored hair, she had the look of a professional model without all the effort.

“Norrie! Thank goodness. I was beginning to think you had second thoughts.”

“I had third and fourth thoughts. Give me a day and the number will exceed ten.”

She looked at me doubtfully.

I gave her a hug and smiled. “I sublet the apartment. Even if I wanted to escape out of here, I’d have to wait out the year.”

“Good. You won’t be sorry. Think of it as an adventure. Something new every day.”

“Uh, yeah. Speaking of new, what’s that animal in front of the winery? Please don’t tell me it belongs to us.”

“That’s Alvin. He’s a Nigerian Dwarf Goat.”

“My God! He’s a dwarf goat? What do the regular ones look like? Camels?”

“Don’t be silly. He’s really quite small for his breed. We got him two years ago. Jason thought it might be entertaining for the visitors, and he was right. When word gets out that a winery has great wine and is also a fun place for kids, people are more likely to visit.”

“You’d better not tell me I have to feed him and clean out his…his what? A stall? A barn?”

“He has a small house, but the vineyard guys take care of him. You can cross that off your list.”

“Whew.”

“Come on, you must be hungry. Jason threw a few steaks on the grill and I made some rice and ratatouille. He’s got an evening meeting with his colleagues at the station, so we’ll have lots of time to chat. Hold on. Let me get him. He can help you with your bags.” Francine took one look at my car and winced. “Pioneers crossing the plains didn’t take as much stuff. We have blankets and…what’s that? Don’t tell me you packed a coffeemaker?”

“It’s a Keurig. I don’t know how to use a real coffeemaker.”

“You can relax. We own a Keurig, too. And we have a microwave and Wi-Fi and all sorts of twenty-first century stuff. It’s not like when Mom and Dad lived here. We even have satellite TV. No more antenna and three stations.”

“Francine Ellington Keane, that’s blasphemous.”

We both laughed and, for the first time, I didn’t feel as if I had made the mistake of a lifetime. Francine shouted for Jason and, after more hugs, the three of us carted my stuff into the house.

“Hope you don’t mind,” Jason said, “we sort of took down the dorky daisy wallpaper from your old bedroom, removed the furniture, well, sold it, actually, and set up a new, modern guest room. Hey, there’s a queen-size bed in there now. That’s got to be a plus.”

“Uh, sure. I haven’t slept in that room in what? Seven? Eight years? It’ll be fine.”

It wasn’t as if I hadn’t seen my sister or brother-in-law in all that time. It was just I’d seen them at other locations. Or, to be precise, other events. Our cousin Marianne’s wedding in Pennsylvania, our nephew Shane’s wedding on Long Island and our uncle Phil’s funeral in Ohio.

The one thing that stayed the same was the view from my bedroom window. Since the room was upstairs and at the front of the house, I could see clear across the lake. When I was little and we’d had a blizzard, I used to pretend I was living in the ice house from Doctor Zhivago.

Francine and Jason did more than modernize my old bedroom. They totally remodeled the old farm kitchen and re-did the downstairs bathroom. They also added a small en suite to their room but left the old claw tub and turn-of-the- (gasp) twentieth-century bathroom; the one I was to use, as is. At least there was hot and cold running water.

My sister tossed my goose-down pillow on the bed and shrugged. “We’ve got these, too, but I understand people like to sleep with their own. You can unpack later. Dinner’s been ready. What do you say?”

* * * *

I scarfed down a perfectly grilled steak and dove into the fixings she had prepared. It was still warm outside, so we ate on the small deck behind the house. Nothing but woods and the edge of the vineyard. Jason had to rush off to a meeting so that left my sister and me alone to get caught up.

Francine brushed a strand of hair from her forehead and leaned back. “First thing tomorrow, I’ll walk you through the winery. I made arrangements with all of the area managers to show you the ropes. Tomorrow you get to work with Cammy in the tasting room.”

“Cammy? What happened to Tim McCauley, the prior tasting room manager?”

“He retired over a year ago and moved down south to be near his kids. Cammy Rosinetti’s been with us ever since. Her family’s from Geneva and she knows the wine business in an indirect way. Her parents used to own Rosinetti’s Bar on Exchange Street.”

“I thought that name sounded familiar.”

“Listen, Norrie, I know things are moving fast and I hope you don’t get overwhelmed. Jason and I fly out of Rochester on Friday. That’s less than a week.”

My voice sounded as if it would crack. “That’s three days. Not counting tonight and Friday.”

“You’re a quick study. You’ll have this all under control by the time we head to the airport. Oh, hope you don’t mind, but you’ll need to drive us. In our car. The Subaru. Four-wheel drive and all. Use it this winter. Walden’s Garage will get the snow tires and studs on for you. You remember where that is, don’t you?”

“Of course. On Pre-Emption Road. I may have been gone for a while but my memory’s still working.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sound—”

“Like Mom?”

“Yeesh. There’s more, too, Norrie. I couldn’t get into all of it on the phone with you and tonight’s not the best time. We’ll talk about it tomorrow, okay?”

“Is everything all right? Are you and Jason all right?”

“We’re fine. Nothing like that. It’s business stuff. The winery. I’ll clean up and you should unpack. We’ve got the whole day tomorrow to talk.”

I helped bring the dishes to the kitchen and wiped off the picnic table. “You can tell me anything, you know.”

“That’s why I needed you to be the one to look after the place.”

Chapter 2

Francine had to do some last-minute shopping the next morning so she pointed me in the direction of the tasting room, which I already knew, and told me to introduce myself to Cammy.

Years ago, our tasting room consisted of a loading dock on the back of the winery, but now it was a huge building that resembled a ski lodge. Vaulted ceiling, timber beams, the whole works. A natural-gas fireplace was the centerpiece of the structure, with round tasting tables spaced evenly throughout the room. Large glass-paneled doors opened to the wooded area behind the building and vineyards. To the far left was a witch-themed bistro, what else, that featured sandwiches, paninis and soups. Its arched doorway separated it from the tasting area but still allowed for that “open concept.”

The front windows gave visitors an unobstructed view of Alvin. It was impossible, but he looked as if he had grown at least a foot overnight. I was sure the vineyard workers were thrilled beyond belief to be adding him to their to-do list each day.

The winery office was off to the left as visitors entered the building. Nothing special, as I remembered. Some desks, a computer, file cabinets and a printer. Things might’ve changed, but I doubted it. If this was the spot Francine envisioned me working on a screenplay, she was sadly mistaken. I pictured all sorts of interruptions and not the good kind, either.

“Miss Ellington, can you check on a sewage smell?”

“Miss Ellington, the exterminator says we have termites.”

“Miss Ellington, someone dropped a case of our merlot.”

Nope, I had my laptop, the house had Wi-Fi, and the winery had staff. End of story.

I opened the door to the tasting room and stepped into the kitchen on the right. I almost didn’t recognize it. Two industrial dishwashers took the place of the old clunker we were forced to use. In addition, there were two stainless-steel refrigerator/freezers. The double sink was the same, but the faucets had been replaced. I hadn’t really paid much attention to the financials and I wondered if Francine and Jason were in too deep. Was that what she alluded to last night?

I took in the small banquet room behind the kitchen. Other than new tablecloths and window treatments, it looked the same—a warm and cozy spot for bachelorette and engagement parties, meetings, local author book signings and all sorts of events. Lots of wineries, including Two Witches, did that sort of thing to generate extra income and promote the wines. I paused in front of a watercolor a local artist had painted of the winery, then I exited through the banquet room’s main door into the tasting room.

We wouldn’t open for business for another hour, but I could see the back of a woman whom I assumed was Cammy. Before I could say anything, she spoke.

“Please and thank you for the year.”

“Huh?” I stared at the robust brunette with her hair in a bun and an orange winery T-shirt that read, Two Witches Winery–The Spell’s On Us.

“It gets crazy around here when we’re doing tastings. I don’t have time to be saying please and thank you when we’re slammed so I like to get it over with right away. Cammy Rosinetti, tasting room manager. You must be Francine’s sister.”

“Norrie Ellington, screenwriter.”

“Uh-huh.”

She looked at me as if she thought I was delusional. “Planning on writing an exposé on the winery business? Because if you are, I’ve got the skinny on stuff you wouldn’t believe. Not here, of course, but word gets out.”

“Uh, no. I write romances. Maybe you’ve heard of some of the movies I’ve adapted from novels or short stories. Kisses in the Snow, A Hug from the Mountaintop…mostly TV movies.”

“Nope. I don’t go in for all that sappy stuff. I understand you’re taking over the winery for a year. Doubt you’ll have a whole lot of time to be writing about hugs and kisses.”

“I’m overseeing the winery. Not actually working, working.”

“Uh-huh. We’ll see how that goes. Have you ever served customers in a tasting room before?”

I thought back to high school and cringed. “Sort of. It didn’t last long. I got a job instead writing up ads for one of the local newspapers.”

Again, the “uh-huh” followed by “It’s really quite simple. People come in. People taste wine. Hopefully people buy wine. Your job is to get them to buy wine. But without being pushy. The wine sells itself.”

“Oh, I’m not going to be doing the tastings. Like I said, I only need to learn how to do the tastings. All I remember is white wine first, then red. Always go from dry to sweet.”

“That’s more than most newbies know. Look, I’ll walk you through this anyway. In case.”

I didn’t like the way she said “in case.” I was afraid it was code for “you’re on the schedule.”

First thing Cammy did was take out a tasting sheet and point to the list of wines. “Each customer gets to taste five wines for five dollars. No double tastings. Keep in mind, it’s a taste, not a glass.”

Then, as if to prove her point, she took a bottle of water and one of the wineglasses and showed me what she meant. “Some of our customers think wineries are barrooms. We have to remind them this is only a tasting. If they love the wine, they can purchase it. Plus, we deduct two dollars from the cost of the tasting if they buy a bottle.”

“Whoa. Sounds like a good deal to me.”

“It is. It’s also pretty customary around this wine trail.”

In the next half hour, she walked me through loading the dishwasher with the filled trays of used wineglasses and restocking the shelves.

“Other than the ones in the bins by the wall, the wines are in the storage room behind that rack of T-shirts. Don’t carry out more bottles than you can comfortably handle. Better a dozen trips than one that ends up with broken bottles and wine all over the floor.”

“Uh, other than you, who works here?” I asked.

“Lizzie mans the cash register. She’s full-time like me but different days. I’m here every day except Sundays and Mondays. Glenda works Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Roger works Wednesdays, Fridays and weekends. Sam works alternate Fridays and weekends. I can get you a schedule if you want.”

“Uh, I’m okay for now.”

“Oh, forgot to mention this. In the fall, we hire more part-time help for the weekends. The wine trail all but explodes with visitors between September and December.”

Explodes. Terrific. I translated that to mean I would be the one responsible for hiring the part-time help. “I suppose there’s an application process and all.”

“Sure. But most of our hires are from word of mouth or people we recommend.”

Finally, I got to see the wine list. Cammy insisted I sip each wine so I’d know the product before I left the tasting room or her reputation would be sullied forever. I didn’t argue.

I wasn’t really what anyone would call “a drinker.” Not even a glass of wine once a week. Pretty unusual coming from a family that owned a winery. But I wasn’t a teetotaler either. I’d have a glass of wine now and then at celebrations and I’d been known to enjoy dessert wines after dinners when I had the chance to dine in fancy restaurants.

I picked up the tasting sheet and perused it. I recognized the staples that appeared on most Finger Lakes winery lists—Chardonnay, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Cabernet Franc, Cayuga, Lemberger, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Pinot Gris and Vignoles—but I was taken back when I saw a new name: Grüner Veltliner.

“What’s that?” I asked. “I thought I was pretty familiar with the grapes we grow.”

Cammy looked at the list and let out a long, torturous sigh. “It’s a white wine with hints of peach and citrus. Very food friendly.”

“Then why do you have that awful expression on your face?”

“It’s not the wine. It’s the grape.”

“Huh?”

“Not native to the Finger Lakes and when your sister and the vineyard manager wanted to introduce it, well, let’s just say it was a real process. It meant removing the old vines from some of the Chardonnay grapes that had been here forever and planting the new stock.”

“I thought that was something vineyards did every fifteen years or so. The vines don’t yield the quantity and quality like they used to.”

“True, but they always replant the same or similar varieties. The Veltiner is a real risk. Customers are leery of trying something new.”

“At least the blends are the same. We still have Cauldron Caper, a mix of Cabernet Franc and Cayuga, and, oh look—Witches Brew. That was Francine’s favorite.”

“Yeah. It’s a top seller, too. Great blend of Riesling, Pinot Gris and Chardonnay. Say, you know more than you’re letting on. For someone who says they distanced themselves from the winery, you seem very knowledgeable.”

“Uh, like I said, I worked in the tasting room for a while but let’s leave it at that.”

Cammy shook her head and laughed. “Okay. How many bottles did you break?”

“An entire case. That wasn’t the worst of it. It was the last case of some very expensive dessert wine. I kind of tripped over something.”

The laugh lines on the side of her mouth got bigger. “Maybe you can help with the gift shop if you feel like it. The gang and I have it pretty much under control when it comes to ordering stock, packing and shipping cartons to buyers and organizing the little events for the banquet room.”

Just then the door swung open and a stout gray-haired lady with red lipstick and wide hoop earrings walked in. She took off the light jacket she was wearing, revealing a lime green T-shirt from the winery. “I spoke to Lizzie this morning. She’s making the bank deposit and will be in shortly. What’d I miss?”

Cammy motioned her over and stepped back from the table. “Good morning, Glenda. This is Norrie. Francine’s sister. She’s going to be managing the winery while Francine and Jason go chasing after some bug in Costa Rica.”

I could tell by the tone of Cammy’s voice she had the same impression of Jason’s entomology work that I did.

“Nice to meet you,” I said.

“Same here. Hope you plan to do some tastings with us. It’s really tremendous fun. Never a dull moment. I thought when I retired from food service at the school I’d never want to work again. This is different. No food fights. No screaming kids. Of course, it does get kind of hairy in the fall, but nothing we can’t handle, right, Cammy?”

Cammy puff. . .