What do readers think of The Critic by Peter May? Write your own review.

I am not a wine aficionado and could care less about the wine-making process or the nuances of wine tasting. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed this well crafted mystery. Enzo MacLeod is one of the most unusual crime solvers I have ever met; sort of a cross between James Bond and Inspector Clouseau. The characters are well developed and the plot moves along at a rapid pace. Despite the seriousness of the story there are even a few moments of falling down laughing humor. For wine lovers a 5; and a 4 for the rest of us.

This is a good read: the sleuth is appealingly lame with women, deft at crime-solving, and just slow enough apprehending danger to keep the reader engaged. He's also dealing with the intrinsically fascinating wine industry and a relatively unfamiliar region of France. The action is fast enough--slowed only by inviting descriptions of Gaillac*--and the ending is scary enough to accelerate the page turning. The action develops well from hints of foreboding to believable outcomes. Characters are well-drawn--some some as likable as sleuth Macleod--with the notable exception of the murderer, who stays hidden until the end.