In the fifth installment of the Aliette Nouvelle Mysteries, Aliette is now, officially, Chief Inspector Nouvelle. After a difficult breakup with former boss and boyfriend Claude Neon amid the messy resolution of the Unknown Masterpiece affair, the inspector is transferred from an urban beat in Alsace to the Midi. She is given command of a small brigade at St-Brin, a sleepy town in a beautiful valley where wine is the primary industry and source of identity. It's a lovely place to work--but perhaps too quiet for a city-hardened cop. After six months on the job, a murder finally comes her way. Jol Guatto, scion of an old wine producing family, is shot dead on the beach. It appears to be a politically motivated murder: five weeks before his murder, Guatto stood for the CPNT party in the regional election, opposing the import of cheap Spanish wine into the community. But Guatto proved a political amateur, not only losing the vote, but his campaign manager turned lover, Stephanie McLeod. She soon becomes involved with a shadowy man called Prince, leader of a Euro-wide anarchist network with machinations that span far beyond the cozy hamlet of St-Brin.