with Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noël Balen
We are delighted to welcome mystery authors Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noël Balen to Omnimystery News today.
Jean-Pierre and Noël write the Benjamin Cooker, Winemaker Detective series of mysteries, the second of which, Grand Cru Heist (Le French Book; January 2014 ebook formats; June 2014 trade paperback), is now available in English.
We recently had the opportunity to talk to the authors about their books.
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Omnimystery News: How did the Winemaker Detective series come about?
Photo provided courtesy of
Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noël Balen
Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noël Balen: The idea of writing a series stemmed from wanting to explore a specific theme — in our case, wine and winemaking — from a variety of different perspectives. In the Winemaker Detective series, it is clear that each wine region deserves a different approach. By having a recurring character that sees and observes the different regions and wine estates, we create consistency and a link between the different whodunit stories.
But, no matter what you do, characters often take over and do what they want. They evolve with the series because they reflect life. Everybody changes because life makes you change, even when you keep your initial values and character traits. So like anybody, our characters mature, become wiser in some areas, more experienced, or let themselves go, or cannot overcome their pain or refuse to face life head on.
Over the past ten years, our central character, the winemaker detective Benjamin Cooker, has grown, become more complex and taken on a life of his own, thanks in part to the television series in which actor Pierre Arditi embodies him remarkably. So now, our hero is a public figure.
OMN: Tell us about your writing environments.
JPA/NB: Noël prefers half-light, shutters closed, a lamp, and, above all, silence. Jean-Pierre's ideal writing environment is a fire in the fireplace and a view overlooking the vineyards in Cahors.
OMN: How do you go about researching the plot points of your stories?
JPA/NB: We do a lot of reading, using specialized books, and online research. We call on experts (winemakers, toxicologists, police officers, ballistics specialists, historians). Experience helps, making it easier and quicker to do the research. We also know many winemakers and winegrowers, with whom we check details. Both of us are careful about verifying our sources.
OMN: Your books are set in the vineyards of France. How true are you to these settings?
JPA/NB: Generally speaking, we do our best to respect the reality of our settings. We go to the various wine regions, take pictures, get a feel for the place, and use local and historical documents. But sometimes the plot requires that we invent places where crimes have occurred, so that we don't ruin the reputations of real places.
OMN: How do you weigh fact versus fiction in your books?
JPA/NB: The key is finding a rather subtle balance between what is real, what seems real, and what is invented and improbably. But, you must also be wary of reality, as it is often much tougher, crueler and more sordid than anything you could imagine. Curiously, you sometimes need to lighten up reality for it to remain credible in a story.
OMN: Complete this sentence for us: "I write mysteries, which means …".
NB: … I can lie. I can cheat the police or help them if they deserve it; I can uphold the law or break it. I am free. And as the author Jules Renard said, "Writing is a way of speaking without being interrupted."
JPA: … I'm insatiable. The more I write, the more I have the impression that the topic of my novels is limitless.
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Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noël Balen, wine lover and music lover respectively, came up with the idea for the Winemaker Detective mystery series while sharing a meal, with a bottle of Château Gaudou 1996, a red wine from Cahors with smooth tannins and a balanced nose.
Jean-Pierre Alaux is a magazine, radio and television journalist when he is not writing novels in southwestern France. He is a genuine wine and food lover and recently won the Antonin Carême prize for his cookbook La Truffe sur le Soufflé, which he wrote with the chef Alexis Pélissou. He is the grandson of a winemaker and exhibits a real passion for wine and winemaking. For him, there is no greater common denominator than wine.
Noël Balen in Paris, where he shares his time between writing, making records, and lecturing on music. He plays bass, is a music critic and has authored a number of books about musicians in addition to his novel and short-story writing.
For more information about the authors, please visit their biography page on the Le French Book website.
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Grand Cru Heist
Jean-Pierre Alaux and Noël Balen
A Benjamin Cooker, Winemaker Detective Mystery
One winter day in Paris, renowned wine critic Benjamin Cooker’s world gets turned upside down when his car gets highjacked. He loses his treasured tasting notebook and his feeling of safety. To recover, he retreats to the region around Tours, sure that the wine and off-season calm will restore is sense of self.
There a flamboyant British dandy, a spectacular blue-eyed blond, a zealous concierge and touchy local police disturb his well-deserved rest. From the Loire Valley to Bordeaux, in between a glass of Vouvray and a bottle of Saint-Émilion, the Winemaker Detective and his assistant Virgile turn PI to solve two murders and very peculiar heist. Who stole those bottles of grand cru classé?
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