Death in a Wine Dark Sea by Lisa King

Author: Lisa King
Publisher: The Permanent Press
Date of Publication: June 2012
Audiobook: Blackstone Audio

Though she despises the groom, Jean Applequist boards an elegant yacht in San Francisco Bay for the wedding of her good friend Diane and wealthy real estate developer Martin Wingo. But things go terribly wrong: the evening ends in tragedy, not celebration when, after exchanging vows, Wingo disappears into the bay.

I have very mixed feelings about this book. I enjoyed the overall mystery of Death in a Wine Dark Sea.  There are several suspects, more than one bad guy and a few twists that kept me guessing.   The book is well written and the plot was well thought out.  There is a lot of action and suspense.

While the book has some great characters, I didn't care too much for the main character.  Jean is a writer for a wine magazine as she is an expert in all things relating to wine.  I wanted to like her.  She seemed to be likable in the beginning.  However, I hated her lack of scruples and her promiscuous nature.  I don't deny anyone their love of sex, but please, one person at a time.  It's clear that she sleeps around, a lot.  Often having more than one lover at a time.  While most of her lovers know this going in, it really just left a bad taste in my mouth and knocked my opinion of her down quite a few notches. I'm not sure if this will be a new series or not.  I liked this one enough to continue on if it does have a sequel.  I can only hope that Jean changes her tune in further books as her callous attitude toward fidelity could become tiresome.


The audioversion was just OK for me this time around. Normally, I have no issues with Blackstone Audio books.  I wasn't sure if it was the recording that I had or if it was the narrator that made me frustrated with the book.  There were odd pauses during dialogue that made the flow of the book awkward and slow.  I haven't heard this narrator before, so I hope it was just the recording.