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[marcs]

EXCERPT:

"Half-concealed by the lengthening shadows, attorney Leo Barton waited across the street from the old courthouse. It wasn't like him to be furtive, but he needed answers. This case stank -- stank like blooming brett on an old Beaucastel. Margaux Lalande was a lot of things but she was no murderer. She'd always been enigmatic, exotic -- a 1947 Cheval Blanc among the mundane box wines of their small Maine town -- but he'd never found a hint of violence in her rich, seductive, complex personality. Of course, some would say that it was precisely her seductiveness that had blinded him to the heat beneath.

He closed his eyes and tried to summon the lawyerly objectivity that had never failed him. He remembered his first look at the state's case. It started with a rush of sweet, obvious circumstantial evidence to draw in the jury, but by the middle of the file it had turned into a flabby, unstructured mess, entirely lacking in balance. It closed with nothing but a blast of hot invective. Yes, there had to be more to this story. The DA was a publicity hound -- it seemed that every year saw a new, overhyped "crime of the century" -- but even for him the case felt manipulated and artificial.

The last light in the old courthouse had gone out a half hour ago. It was time. Leo slipped across the street. Quickly forcing the lock to the back entrance, he stepped inside to the familiar scents of the 19th century hallways -- cedar wood, some lead pencil, a touch of brown sugar, and a haunting cassis element. He walked down the corridor toward the evidence room. It was here he'd find his answers. But he froze as he heard a sudden, sharp sound, like the popping of a cork...."

THE REVIEWERS AGREE -- A TOUR DE FORCE!

Robert Parker: "replete with flavors of roasted plums, hot bricks, barbecue spices, Tasmanian oolong tea, and juicy persimmons, it coats the mouth completely...a seemingly endless finish lasts over 85 pages"

James Suckling: "I'm here with the author. I'm 99, no, 100 points on this. A *perfect* mystery novel"

COMING IN THREE YEARS -- BUT YOU CAN RESERVE A COPY BY PAYING YOUR MONEY NOW -- "LISBON STREET"

[marcs]

(I know I'm new here, but I couldn't resist ...Jim seems like a good sports).

[JimHow]

Funny material, Marcs, I need to try to dig up some of the old stuff from back in the day.

Can anyone find the links to:

BWE vs. Lynch Bages

BWE vs. Robert Parker

The Exorcist

and

What was the title of that thread on the "execution" of the 1988 DRC La Tache?

[alchemeus]

ROFL!

[stefan]

[jal]

Outstanding!!

BWE vs. LYNCH BAGES: http://bordeauxwine.org/bwe/new/9/6409/

BWE vs. Robert Parker: http://bordeauxwine.org/bwe/new/0/26750/

The Exorcist: http://bordeauxwine.org/bwe/new/3/45563/

1988 La Tache on Death Row: http://bordeauxwine.org/bwe/new/1/45231/

[JimHow]

Thanks for digging those out Jacques!

[Ramon_NYC]

[marcs]

Thanks, guys. I think we all know that so many years of writing about wine on the web have to leave their mark on Jim's prose style, even if just in subtle ways...

That Burgundy possession story you linked is hilarious. At least, it started out hilarious, but then began to seem strangely realistic

The truth is that the Burgundy demons have found an even more effective technique than tempting us all into burgundy....they have conspired to raise Bordeaux prices up to Burgundy levels, leaving us no escape from maddeningly expensive yet somehow irresistible French wines...