The Riddle of the Vines

Fiction

Pages: 212 Ratings:

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Blackmail, kidnapping, and murder were the tools used by gentlemanly villains to cover the tracks of a crime that netted millions of pounds annually for almost two decades. The story unfolds through the eyes of Johnny Cobbold, a City of London wine shipper who is under continuous threat and perceived to hold the key that could reveal the crime and the identity of its perpetrators. Gripping and tantalising to the last, the narrative also reveals fascinating, little-known facts about wine and London itself.

Born in London in 1947 into an artistic family and educated at Downside, Simon Ardizzone’s father, David, and Uncle, Edward Ardizzone RA, showed a keen interest in wine, leading Simon into the wine trade. The cover picture, The Delicate Nose by Edward depicts the two brothers tasting wine. Simon worked in Jerez, Bordeaux and Burgundy where the story begins. Member of Academie de Champagne, he appeared on the BBC Horizon Programme on Taste as a City of London Wine Shipper. A publisher of a country magazine for Wales and was the owner of a busy Spanish restaurant. Now retired and writing in the mountains of Spain.