Reptile wines
by John Hewitt
"Wine country tour guide Miles Trout vows to find the truth behind the suspicious public death of his cousin, Reptile Wines co-owner Lucky Tarpitz. When the corpse disappears, Miles is pulled into a dark world of loan sharks, money launderers and obsessed federal agents. Lucky's scheming mother Angelina, the high-voltage spark behind Reptile Wines, continually leads him astray while Lucky's distraught relatives mount a non-stop campaign of booby-traps and ambushes. In his crazed search, Miles spends extravagantly on his lazy racehorse Love Blisters, dances with a witch, and carries on a stumbling love affair with a former exotic dancer. Then he finally strikes pay dirt by unearthing a long dead winemaker astronomer who is busy inviting outer space aliens to visit the Napa Valley"--Amazon.com