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

The Critic will be enjoyed especially by those who know wines and are interested in their production. The setting is splendid. The plot and the characters could be introduced sooner and I think the characters need more development. Once the plot begins, giving shorter descriptions of the surroundings would help to keep it moving. The Critic will delight readers who love wine. A very enjoyable novel.

I really enjoyed this mystery despite being somewhat annoyed by the way the women characters were described. It imparts really interesting information about wines, wineries, wine-tasting and a completely different region of France than usually written about without taking away from the mystery and the plot.

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.

The Critic is a good read. the plot keeps you turning the pages and the characters keep you interested in the resolution. There is a lot of information about the French wine industry, which I enjoyed. This may not be for book clubs but would be enjoyed by mystery readers.

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.

It was an interesting enough story and I did finish the book, but I didn't find myself compelled to keep reading it. I wasn't really attached to any of the characters – as a matter of fact Enzo actually turned me off at times and Nicole irritated me with her naivete and talking about things she shouldn't. Maybe if I had started with the first one in the series I would have been more interested in the characters. Instead I felt like I was missing out on part of the storyline. Or maybe it was a matter of being written by a man with a male main character and it would appeal to men more?

I can't put my finger on why I didn't love this book - it had all the right ingredients: murder, intrigue great setting. I certainly didn't hate it, but it didn't grab my attention the way a good mystery should. The writing was very good, and the ending was terrific. Maybe it was the characters: I just couldn't get emotional about any of them except the main character's student assistant. The story had some intersting twists - I think that's what kept me reading to the very end.

Peter May's novel, The Critic, involves the investigation into the mysterious death of a wine critic in France. Ironically enough, the body of the wine critic is found drowned in a cask of wine. Investigator Enzo MacLeod, Scottish exile, delves into this case and finds himself literally immersed in the winemaking trade of France and all the jealousies & competition involved in that business.

While not a wine expert myself, I found myself intrigued by the settings of this novel - many vineyards in the French countryside. I found May's style similar to that of Donna Leon's descriptions of Venice. However, I found the pace of this novel somewhat slow and it took too long to get to the climax. Overall, a good read for oenophiles and fans of European mysteries.