NetGalley ARC | WWII historical fiction based on a true story and WINE?  Sign me up!  If you are looking for a thrilling, suspenseful, and well-written new book set during WW2 and across Europe, I wouldn't skip Pinot Noir.  This one is especially great if you enjoy detective stories paired with a little romance.

Mads Molnar III creates a captivating and fast-paced WW2 thriller plumped with twists, turns, lies, and deceit. Every well-rounded person we meet has a significant story and personality. No character is too small. 

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.

You can find my full review on The Uncorked Librarian here: https://www.theuncorkedlibrarian.com/november-2020-book-releases/

Thank you to the publisher and author for providing me with a free advanced copy in exchange for a fair and honest review.

A brilliant storyline that was very well written, would have liked a bit more historical information to give the book full context.

I loved this.  As I expected, it was a bit of a romp, but this is exactly what I wanted for the current moment. It's a clever premise and one that had my rooting for the characters through every page. A great read.

i really enjoyed reading this mystery, it had what I enjoyed from the World War 2 era mystery and I enjoyed the characters. I hope there is more in this series.

This was a strange little book. It had a lot of action, it had a lot going on. There’s a whole bunch of characters flitting through the book. At times I wondered who was good and bad. Parts of the book were good and some parts a bit too wordy.
I think historical fiction fans will enjoy this book 
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the early copy

I quite liked this story. The idea alone was intriguing, chasing down 12 bottles of wine that contain poison. Mads Molnar has executed the idea well, I found a lot of the questions I had about the motives behind certain aspects were addressed which helped create a well formed story. Different take on the world war 2 setting, it was interesting to watch the characters struggle between what was right and doing what they need to survive. Would recommend for anyone who likes a world war 2 story and for any Pinot fans!

Pinot Noir review
In 1940 the Nazis had invaded France and were occupying it.  One of the Nazi tactics was to loot anything valuable in the occupied countries. A French winemaker decided to get his revenge by putting poison in 12 bottles of his highly rated Pinot Noir knowing that the wine would be confiscated by the Gestapo. The 12 bottles were sent to influential Germans by an ambitious German colonel. Soon two of the recipients died after drinking the wine. The colonel called Mads Molnar, a psychologist turned private detective, and asked Molnar to retrieve the other bottles before the recipients could drink them. Molnar was offered an exit visa out of Nazi occupied territories if he completed the task. He also was wanted by the Arrow Cross, the Hungarian racist party and hoped to avert capture by fleeing to Sweden. 

As Mads began the search for the bottles,  he witnessed some of the atrocities that the Nazis were accused of committing. The book is a fast paced Historical novel based on a true incident.  The author uses the pseudonym Mads  Molnar III and claims to be the grandson of the first Mads. Readers interested in WW II novels as well as vintage detective stories, will enjoy this book.

This ARC was provided by Net Galley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

A good read overall. I would have liked some more historical detail and context. I would also have liked to know some more about the characters as well. 

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Pinot Noir by Mads Molnar III
Publication Date: November 1, 2020
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Description from NetGalley...
“In 1940, the night before Nazis raid his cellar, a French winemaker poisons a case of his best pinot noir to spite the invaders. The Nazis take the bait and the adventure begins. Every chapter of Pinot Noir tells the story of one of the 12 poisoned bottles in that case 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.”
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Thank you to @NetGalley @ibpalovesindies and ATS Press for the digital ARC in return for my honest review.
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My thoughts...
This book was  based on true events that involved the author’s grandfather, Mads Molnar. The author shared that his grandfather was a psychologist before and during WWI. After serving in the front lines, his grandfather became a detective. This book was based on one of the stories his grandfather told him. The book was easy to read and written simply and straightforward. Don’t expect an intellectual type of detective story, as it was more tough guys and violent type of “investigating.” Don’t expect it to be the dour historical fiction, although it had a touch of that, it was not too serious. It started slow, then the actions started a quarter of the way and an ending I found satisfactory. It’s kinda like Sam Spade, Dick Tracy and Indiana Jones all blended together. It made for a funny and theatrical read with a bit of noir fiction. See what I did there? 🤣

What an intriguing premise!  During the Nazi occupation of France, a famed French winemaker poisons 12 bottles of his best pinot noir to spite his country's invaders.  The Nazi officer who takes the case of wine distributes the bottles to others he wishes to impress, but when he begins hearing that a couple of these men have died, presumably poisoned, he begins the quest to recover the remaining bottles.  Each chapter of this novel then details the search for one of these bottles, with the search being led by the detective Mads Molnar.

Overall, this was an intriguing story, one which reminded me of detective novels written in what some consider the golden age of detective fiction:  the 1940s and 50s.  I did, however, find parts of the plot line somewhat unbelievable, and I wish the novel was a bit heavier on character development.  All in all, though, a decent read.

An action-adventure, romancy, historical fiction crime novel with bits of paranormal stuffs.
Ummmmmmm.
I enjoyed the basic premise, but there were a bit too many other pieces pulling focus.
I wish the author had spent more time on developing the main characters and root plot rather than adding all the other (mostly pointless) side dishes.
Thanks to NetGalley & ATS Press for my DRC.

Fatal Bottle of Wine

A winemaker raided by the Nazi's poisoned twelve bottles of wine and sent them with gift wrap ribbons and a kiss on the seal to a Nazi commander. The Nazi Commander sends them out to influential Nazi's and the story begins. This is the tale of every one of the twelve bottles of Poisoned wine.

Mads Molinar is a Psychiatrist turned detective. After serving as a psychiatrist to soldiers during the war he changed his career and became a Private Investigator. He is being hunted by the Arrow Cross a Hungarian branch of the Nazi's. The Commander that sent the bottles out finds out they are poisoned and hires Mads to find all the bottles and destroy them, if he does this he is to be given safe passage to Sweden. He should have known better than to trust a Nazi. He is pursued by Wolfram Bastick whose father was poisoned by the first bottle of wine. Bastick also has a fiancée that Mads takes a liking to named Marilyn who is secretly looking to murder Wolfram to avenge her brother.

So as the story unfolds, across Germany, and into Denmark Mads goes searching for the bottles of wine, figuring out how to get them from the Nazi's and stay alive while evading the Yellow Cross and Wolfram Bastick.

The story was very slow to begin and about half way through the book it started getting good. It had good characters, and some action in the second part of the book. I did have a hard time getting into the book without falling asleep when I first started reading it.

Thanks to Mads Molinar III, Ats Press, and NetGalley for allowing me to read a copy for an honest review.

This is very enjoyable. A great mix of history and mystery with interesting characters and a great premise. The author obviously had fun writing this. The plot is engaging and fast-paced, and the story is told in an interesting way.

I really appreciate the ARC for review!!

Murder Uncorked!

The plan was hatched out of desperation and fear and the Alsatian vintner couldn’t believe it one warm summer night in June when it all fell into place! He watched as the greedy German officers left with one case of poisoned Pinot Noir. Owning a vineyard in war-torn Alsace, France in 1940 meant that the enemy was likely to barge into your cellar and take what they believed was rightfully theirs and Rene Neuf wasn’t going to have any of that. Over his dead body. He nervously watched as the 12 bottles of his best vintage left with the Nazis. How ironic that it bore the black kiss mark branded into the wooden case!

The Gestapo, becoming aware of the deadly contents, hired detective Mads Molnar to track down the bottles and discretely dispose of them. If he succeeded, Mads would be pardoned for murder and given exit papers allowing him to leave for Sweden. You see, the 12 bottles were gifted to top Nazi officers and it is imperative they are returned. Each chapter is dedicated to one of the dozen bottles and the life it taints. You’ll find yourself whisked through Nazi-occupied Europe as the detective dodges bullets and races against time. Those bottles can’t be uncorked! To make matters worse, there is another detective who’s hot on his heels; the son of victim number one. I enjoyed this novel concept and was flipping the pages as my heart pounded and my body tensed; however, to my palate, bottle 7 and 8 were corked. I found it difficult to read about the psychological horrors of the regime. Regardless, after I quickly scanned over the atrocities, the mystery picked up again and I had to keep reading to see if all the bottles were recovered. This was a fantastic novel and I have no doubt it would make an excellent movie.  

Pinot Noir by Mads Molnar III is a delightfully unique blend of historical fiction and mystery with subtle notes of noir fiction. Look for this vintage on the shelves come November 1st, 2020.

This book was very interesting kept me in the story and it’s brought to life the struggles of world war 2.  It actually had made me want to look into more information about Pinot noir. In those times people couldn’t get wine so easily and some were poisoned and such to keep people from it and such.

If Sam Spade was a psychologist and famous Hungarian-Swedish detective working in Nazi Europe instead of California, this will give you an idea of the setting for this creative and violent detective story.  When the Nazis took over France they pillaged the wineries.  One vintner puts one over on them by poisoning a case of 1934 Pinot Noir wine, knowing that Nazi Colonel Riffel will not share this fantastic plunder.  The Colonel sends the 12 tainted bottles to high ranking party officers, thinking this will be a great way to gain power.  Instead he learns that they have been poisoned, the first victim is Troy Bastick, and he will be held responsible unless he can recover the other bottles before they can be opened and consumed.  He recruits Dr. Mads Molnar, a wise-cracking, heavy drinking Hungarian-Swedish detective, on the run from the Arrow Cross (Hungarian version of the Gestapo) for his resistance work.  Molnar agrees to find the poisoned wine in exchange for a visa to Sweden, so he can escape to a neutral country.  Detective Wolfram Bastick (son of the first victim) and a psychopath is determined to find his father's murderer, no matter how many people he hurts or kills.  He enjoys inflicting pain and suffering, torture is his drug.  As Molnar dashes around Europe tracking down the wine bottles, he meets Marilyn Ghetz, secretary to General Hiedleburg, one of the recipients.  Marilyn is an Aryan goddess, the perfect vision of German femininity, and she is also the fiancé of Wolfram Bastick.  As the bottle s of wine get recovered, Bastick and the Arrow Cross close in on Molnar, who sort-of kidnaps Marilyn the night before her wedding and there's a action-packed escape from a Danish castle.  Molnar's secretary Eva is rescued from prison after she's taken into custody and the slimy Colonel Riffel receives poetic  justice from Bastick in a very satisfying ending.  I'm sure there will be more adventures and Mad Molnar will get into more hot water, drink champagne and have massages, all while wise-cracking and saving the damsels in distress.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

Very unique story. It was enjoyable read and did keep me interested. I will be on the look out for more by this author.

One of the strangest books I’ve ever read. Allegedly based on a true story set during WWII, a French vintner decides to wreak revenge on the German invaders by poisoning a case of Pinot Noir. The German officer who receives the case decides to send a bottle to twelve other officers he wishes to impress. When reports start coming in that people he sent the wine to have died by poisoning, he realises that he needs to get the bottles back and destroy any evidence linking them to himself. Thus, he hires the detective Mads Milner to retrieve the bottles.

This book appealed to me as it appears to be a war story with a difference. However, the plot is simply to ‘easy’ to be believable. Molner merrily skips from one encounter to the next while the characters are cartoon like in their simplicity. Perhaps this was deliberate but it therefore lacks the necessary gravitas to be viewed as a historical novel. It was touch and go whether I finished it or not, but it was the desire to see how far fetched the next stage of the plot could be that kept me going.

Great characters in a unique story.  The book was full of action and surprises.  Thevwriting is descriptive snd it was easy to picture each character snd each location.

I am very picky about the historical fiction books I read especially when the plot is centered in WWII. Too many books both fiction and nonfiction written ad nauseum about the same thing just with different points of view. ENOUGH ALREADY!!!! However, I make an exception with this one because there is a story involving wine. Nazis storm a French winemaker's seller and take his wine. Somehow he is able to poison twelve bottles and each Nazi who drinks from them dies. What happens after? You will have to read!

I love how this book was organized. Once the poison bottles of wine were consumed. Each chapter has a story of one of the twelve poisoned bottles and its victim. This was quite unique. I liked this book so much, I will get it after it is published. Highly recommended!

Thanks to Netgalley, Mads Molnar III and ATS Press: Independent Books Publisher's Association (IBPA) Member's Titles for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Available: 11/1/20