A Cultivated Death

Are the killing of a rare grapevine and the murder of the lab director who cared for them related? Virginia vineyard owner Lucie Montgomery must find answers to a mystery more tangled than the long, deep roots of her oldest vines.

When a rare American grapevine brought from France is poisoned at a party at Montgomery Estate Vineyard, Lucie is devastated. Years of hard work and thousands of dollars are down the drain in a single night. The next morning Wells Davis Faulkner, the scientist who cared for the vines, is found dead in his laboratory garden. With no shortage of suspects among the party guests, Lucie doesn’t know whether she is looking for one murderer . . . or two. 

As the evidence shifts Lucie is painfully aware that friends and neighbors had motives — especially financial — for murder. Then a bombshell explodes when she learns Wells himself might have had a reason to destroy the grapevines. If it’s true, there are even more suspects who might have wanted Wells dead, including people Lucie loves most. 

Finding the murderer threatens to not only tear apart a close-knit community but could also destroy Lucie’s vineyard as well.

Perfect for fans of Martin Walker, Ellery Adams and Kate Carlisle.

Ellen Crosby’s Wine Country novels are “compulsively readable” (Publishers Weekly) and “a treat for oenophile mystery fans” — if you haven’t met Lucie before, curl up with a glass of wine and jump right in!

A Cultivated Death is the fourteenth Wine Country Mystery. Every book can be read as a standalone