The Chardonnay Charade begins with a daring helicopter
flight in the middle of the night. Facing a freak spring
frost that threatens to kill the grapes in her vineyard,
Lucie Montgomery hires a chopper to fly over the vines in
order to blow warm air on them. But her thoughts soon turn
from grapes to murder when she discovers the body of
Georgia Greenwood, a controversial political candidate,
lying near the fields. Georgia's husband, Ross, Lucie's
friend and doctor, immediately falls under suspicion. To
make matters worse, Ross, a renowned collector of Civil
War documents, has just discovered a letter that seems to
prove that Confederate president Jefferson Davis had prior
knowledge of the plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. In
the small town of Atoka, Virginia -- proud home to
the "Gray Ghost," the Confederacy's legendary guerrilla
commander -- the letter is a bombshell.
Three years ago Ross saved Lucie's life after she was
involved in a near-fatal car crash. Now she intends to
return the favor and prove Ross's innocence. As the search
for Georgia's killer escalates, Lucie crosses swords with
her attractive but cantankerous winemaker, Quinn Santori,
and confronts her own unwelcome feelings of jealousy over
his new romance and job prospects. Her worries about her
kid sister's out-of-control drinking and a second vineyard-
related death further ratchet up the tension. Even though
Lucie believes that in vino veritas -- in wine there is
truth -- she finds that the path to uncovering a murderer
involves making a heartbreaking decision that will alter
the lives of those she loves.