The charm of the book enhances the detective, making it juicier

A group of adventurous vintners from around the world embarks on a wine- infused journey to revive the 6,000-year-old wine industry in Armenia after the country gains its independence from the Soviet Union. Haig Koleyan, a veteran winemaker, arrives from Tuscany with little more than a dream to modernize a wine industry nearly moribund under 70 years of Soviet rule. Aram Almayan sells several of his casinos in Moscow and moves to Armenia to plant a vineyard and build a major winery with his charming daughter, Carla. Van Dorian, the philosopher/vintner, sells much of his Los Angeles company and moves to Armenia with the same passion. He develops an elaborate theory and practice about how wines can and should be paired with the deepest and most nuanced human emotions. Henry Cobb, a famous American winemaker from Sonoma, California soon joins the group to satisfy his constant quest for new terroir. As they start transforming the wine industry in Armenia, a major scam is underway in Moscow where cheap blends of one of Haig’s top wines, the Korah, are being sold to unsuspecting collectors for 100 times their market value. At the same time, personal and professional peeves start clouding the atmosphere among the winemakers within Armenia. When the scam in Moscow leads to the murder of one of the employees of the largest wine merchant in Russia and endangers the life of an employee of the Almayan winery, it falls upon Aram Almayan, with his close contacts in the Moscow police department, to solve the murder and diffuse tensions in Armenia.