Pinot Noir: A WWII Novel

Fans of fast-paced adventure, thought-provoking storytelling and hard-boiled detectives like Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe, will love Pinot Noir: A WWII Novel, inspired by true events.

In 1940, German forces churn bucolic Alsace, France into a shattered landscape. Against that unsettled backdrop, Nazis raid the cellar of a winemaker who had poisoned a case of his best pinot noir to spite the invaders. The wine leaves with the Nazis and the adventure begins. Every chapter of Pinot Noir tells the story of one of those 12 poisoned bottles and the lives they change forever.

When Mads Molnar, a psychologist-turned detective, gets a call from the Gestapo, they make it clear that his own life depends on his recovering the bottles. He’s already been given the death penalty by the Arrow Cross-Hungary’s fascist party-but the Gestapo will grant a pardon and exit papers to neutral Sweden if he succeeds.

But Molnar has a 300-pound problem. Wolfram Bastick, a brutal Nazi detective whose father was killed by the wine, is also on the case. As Bastick races to find his father’s killer, Molnar scrambles to foil him. Meanwhile, Bastick’s mesmerizing fiancé, Marilyn Ghetz, is plotting to murder him for reasons of her own. Molnar must recover the wine, win over Bastick’s fiancé, escape the Nazis and make it out of Germany without getting killed.

Praise for Pinot Noir

"Plane chases, car chases, Nazis, an insane detective, bottles of toxic Pinot Noir, distracting damsels, and a battered detective make for one heck of a fun ride ... I spun through the pages so quickly that I finished in one afternoon. If you love to hate Nazis, like a bit of wine in your mysteries, adore beautiful, resourceful women and men who know how to take a punch, then you will thoroughly enjoy riding along with Mads and Marilyn as they do their best to outwit the ruthless forces arrayed against them."

- Jeffrey Keeten (Top Goodreads Reviewer)

"A captivating and fast-paced WW2 thriller pumped with twists, turns, lies, and deceit. Uncover enthralling romance, massive egos, corruption, and of course, wine sealed with a deadly kiss. Unique to this WWII novel, Mads Molnar III examines life, death, greed, anger, and loss from a psychological standpoint."

- Christine (Librarian & Book Blogger, The Uncorked Librarian)