The Vintage Caper (19 page)

Acknowledgments

I am most grateful to Anthony Barton, of Château Léoville Barton, for selecting the wines that I arranged to have stolen. Seldom has an author received such prompt, expert, and delicious advice.

My thanks also to David Charlton, my fingerprint mentor, who was kind enough to fill in some of the many gaps in my forensic education.

And finally,
mille mercis
to Ailie Collins, whose efficiency and constant good humor have been such an enormous help over the years.

A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Peter Mayle has lived in Provence, with his wife and their two dogs, for many years. He is a Chevalier in the Légion d’Honneur.

THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK
PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

Copyright © 2009 by Escargot Productions Ltd.

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
www.aaknopf.com

Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Mayle, Peter.
The vintage caper / Peter Mayle.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-307-27320-8
1. Theft—Fiction. 2. Wine and wine making—Fiction.
3. Provence (France)—Fiction. 4. Country life—Fiction.
I. Title.
PR6063.A8875V56 2009
823′.914—dc22
2009016014

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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