The Work
The Sommelier - Daniel Shaw
The Sommelier is a thriller about fake wine and treacherous love. Zachary Taylor is a prominent sommelier in San Francisco whose wine consulting business is thriving. Everything is going smoothly until he meets Vanessa, a wealthy socialite in the throes of a stressful divorce. She engages him to value her extensive wine collection as community property, but as she methodically draws him into her web of romance and deceit, it soon becomes clear she wants more from Zach than he’s willing to give. Still worse, her estranged husband is busy creating and selling bogus wine with a mysterious man from Hong Kong who ultimately upends their world. When bad guys succeed and good guys finish last, fate has a way of evening the odds. The swindle rapidly unravels to ensnare members of a respected private men’s club and a notorious crime family, as well as the ABC, FBI, DOJ, judges and a high-profile criminal lawyer. This intricate drama unfolds on three continents, skittering from California to France, Hong Kong, Thailand and the Laotian jungle. A binge-worthy thriller wrapped in a primer about wine.
"From the paneled retreats of San Francisco's monied elite through old Hong Kong's gaudy sprawl, D.L. Shaw deftly brings to life professional sommelier Zachary Taylor's thrilling pursuit of a devilishly clever fine wine swindle. Shaw's plot whips us at breakneck speed through story twists both chilling and unexpected, but always on display is the author's gift for creating vivid characters who remain in mind long after the final exciting page is turned."
- Frederick Ayeroff, author/screenwriter
The Art Thief - Daniel Shaw
The Art Thief is a high-stakes thriller about Sophie Taylor—UC Berkeley art historian by day, master thief by night. California-born and Paris-raised, she flies often to the City of Light to lecture… and to steal. Her husband, Zach, a celebrated San Francisco sommelier, knows nothing about her double life. For eight years she’s stolen priceless paintings from Paris’s finest homes with her partner, the charmingly larcenous dealer Gabriel Martel. Their scheme is Sophie steals the originals, Gabriel commissions flawless forgeries, then sells the fakes to unscrupulous black-market buyers and quietly returns the real works. They split the profits and send them to offshore accounts. No complaints, no victims—or so Sophie tells herself. But Gabriel has ambitions of his own—and blind spots big enough to attract the French police, as well as others with deadlier motives. Soon the con spirals beyond Sophie’s control, and the race is for the money, the paintings, and the truth behind a betrayal worth millions to the winner.
“A cunning tale of art, deception, and betrayal that keeps you guessing until the final brushstroke. The Art Thief delivers high-stakes intrigue with an unforgettable twist.” - goodreads
The Artful Spies - Daniel Shaw
The Artful Spies is a thriller about Zach and Sophie Taylors’ first operation as novice agents with the CIA. He is an established sommelier in San Francisco versed in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu who worked undercover for the California alcohol police. She is a professor of art history at UC Berkeley, Krav Maga martial arts expert, and reformed art thief. They were recruited by the CIA to combat art theft and terrorism, one of the world’s most significant and complex crimes, now seen as a national security threat. From the deserts of Egypt to the canals of Venice and the Congolese jungle, they find themselves in a race against time with an African terrorist group bent on detonating weapons of mass destruction in Europe. Starting with the severed hand of a Saudi arms dealer, Sophie wants to “Follow the art,” not knowing her words will lead them on a trail of crumbs to a blazing gun battle in the Venetian Arsenal, the daring rescue of a hostage, sinking a freighter in the Venetian Lagoon, a lovers’ tryst in the wine cellar of a mansion on Lido Island, and the unmasking of a saint.
Coming June 1, 2026
