Anne Trager's Blog, page 4

Revealed: The Winemaker Detective and Winemaking

When you sip a glass of wine, how often do you think about the lives, tradition, craftsmanship, and dumb luck involved in getting that beverage into your glass? Every year Mother Nature holds a new adventure for winemakers who, like goldsmiths, craft each harvest into a moment of pleasure captured in a glass.

The tough life of a writer of wine mysteries: Induction ceremony to become members of the Gaillac Wine Brotherhood of the Dive Bouteille.

Readers of the Winemaker Detective series disco...

What everyone ought to know about translation

I’ve been in the translation business for over thirty years and translated just about every kind of document you can name. I can assure that translating fiction is different from other kinds of translation, and that every book is an adventure in and of itself. I can also state with certainty that translation is rooted in something deeper and broader than foreign rights acquisitions and the mechanics of getting a work from one language into another.

According to David Bellos, the author of Is T...

The perfect wine, the perfect harvest… and the perfect murder?

Are you ready for another fun read set in French countryside with lots of great food, wine along with an enjoyable mystery? This time we get the scenic beauty of Burgundy, the sweet taste of ripe grapes, and a murder mystery to solve.

In another satisfying wine novel with a French flair, authors Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noël Balen give readers a perfectly intoxicating combination French wine, gourmet meals, and mystery in the gloriously described Burgundy wine region with all the scenery, scents,...

Finding the Perfect Mystery

Behind the scenes of a literary award

Imagine piles of books to read, a long tradition to uphold, and the responsibility of choosing a winner whose writing career will skyrocket. I never really thought about what happens behind the scenes of a literary prize, until the day I had the opportunity to interview someone who for ten years chaired on the jury of one of France’s top crime fiction awards: the Prix du Quai des Orfèvres.

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Judge Bruno Cotte has had a long career as a j...

Twenty-four, twenty-five… A series that just keeps giving

Twenty-four, twenty-five… authors Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noël Balen are working on the twenty-fifth book in the Winemaker Detective series in French. In English, we’re just about halfway there, with the twelfth scheduled for release in November:Red-handed in Romanée-Conti.

Not so long ago, I was driving through the Lot, a region right in the middle of southwestern France. We were on the highway, so didn’t stop, but we could have gone to the birthplace of the Winemaker Detective series. It all b...

This Month on Goodreads

This month we have four Goodreads giveaways running. Don't miss out.

Goodreads Book Giveaway White Leopard by Laurent Guillaume

Giveaway ends September 28, 2016.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway Goodreads Book Giveaway The Lafayette Sword by Eric Giacometti

Giveaway ends September 28, 2016.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway Goodreads Book Giveaway The Rare Earth Exchange by Bernard Besson

Giveaway ends September 28, 2016....

Story Inspiration: Wine Country Chainsaw Massacre

I recently found these comments from Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noël Balen about their inspiration for Late Harvest Havoc.

There is a story behind this particular Benjamin Cooker adventure. We were in Alsace researching and already had a specific plot in mind. However, when we arrived in Colmar, a story was plastered all over the front page of the local papers. The backdrop was the Alsatian vineyard, and some madman was attacking the vinestock at night, destroying the best vines. It was a local cha...

Wine Country — Conveying a Sense of Place

Not Champagne, not Bordeaux, but Burgundy.

This summer I'm working on two new translations:Champagne Widowsfrom the Winemaker Detective series by Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noël Balen, and Minced, Marinated and Murderedfrom a new Gourmet Crimes series, by Noël Balen and Vanessa Barrot.Both of these mystery series are all about setting—the region, the food, the wine, the traditions. In the former, the setting is Champagne, and in the latter it is France's gourmet capital of Lyon.

I was reminded of...

The Rare Earth Exchange audiobook now available

Bernard Besson's Rare Earth Exchange is now available in audiobook.

Check it out here

If you buy the ebook, you can get the audiobook at a very low price and read and listen.

New Release: Another Exciting Antoine Marcas Thriller is Available

It’s “absolutely riveting,” according to one early reviewer. It has gold fever, freemasonry, murder and a search for the Lafayette sword. What more could you want for a late-summer read?

Eric Giacometti and Jacques Ravenne rank at the top of France’s best-selling thriller writers list. They owe their international renown to their series about the Freemason Inspector Antoine Marcas, which made its U.S. debut last year with Shadow Ritual. Now, The Lafayette Sword is available in English.

Followi...