BORDEAUX: The Bitter Finish, is set in a region in France where some of the most famous wines in the world are produced, and New York City, where wealthy collectors go to acquire the rarest vintages. Intrepid NYPD detective Max (Maxine) Maguire is assigned to protect American wine critic Ellen Jordan, who has received a death threat en route to Bordeaux to reveal her latest rankings.  Within twenty-four hours Ellen Jordan is dead, and Max  has to work with the French official she fell for a year ago—and has been trying to forget ever since they  teamed up to solve a murder in Champagne.

Readers are introduced to the dark side of the international wine trade, which includes counterfeiting —a practice that costs the industry millions each year. When a  $30,000 bottle  goes missing, Max and Chaumont play a dangerous game of hide-and-seek with exporters, distributors, and collectors that takes them into the homes of the French wine aristocracy, to a bustling warehouse district ten miles from Manhattan, and to a Madison Avenue auction house,.

In this novel, the second in her Vengeance in the Vineyards series, Hubbard immerses the reader in wine and food, from an elegant dinner at Veritas in Manhattan to a seduction dinner of lamb shanks cooked by Max’s crime-solving partner, Olivier Chaumont (despite Max’s own penchant for snacking on French fries and beer. )

Hubbard writes about the three things she loves: France, wine, and food. But she also gives us a quirky, stubborn and irrepressible heroine, from a new generation of female sleuths.  Max, a classic millennial who can’t follow orders, must balance her wild attraction to Chaumont with her desire to become the consummate detective---capable of following in the footsteps of her famous father.

BORDEAUX: The Bitter Finish was published April 1, 2014. 

"GREAT SENSE OF PLACE, CLEVER ARRAY OF CHARACTERS, AND TERRIFIC PLOTTING THAT KEPT ME TURNING PAGES."
-NY TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR LINDA FAIRSTEIN

Mystery Scene Magazine: "BORDEAUX: The Bitter Finish" will appeal to foodies, Francophiles, oenophiles, and fans of whodunnits. It is a delicous and intoxicating read."

Powell's Bookstore: "Hubbard has done it again: created a spine-tingling mystery that offers adventure, travel, romance, gastronomic delights--and, oh, yes, a murder or two. A perfect summer read."

Publishers Weekly: "In the course of interviews with suspects on both sides of the Atlantic, readers will have gret fun learning about the wine industry."

Blog book reviewer cayocosta72 wrote:
"The beauty of the French countryside, lush vineyards, posh restaurants, a smart independent heroine, a sexy hero, all add up to make this a must-read book."