Charlie, Rex and forensics must team up with French detective Valerie 'Val' Bertrand to investigate the murder by drowning of a French food critic whose corpse was found in a gin barrel on St.Pieree and Miquelon, but killed in Canada. The barrel came from the main east coast gin distillery, run by Basil Thomas and his marketing-responsible wife, who fails to hide her affair with the critic, which actually was a ploy. The critic also dined in Galen Wheatcroft's substandard seafood restaurant, served by the frustrated former owner Sophie Doucette, all looking for 'Hank', traced by Jesse, which turns out a nickname for the most exclusive 17th century royal cognac Henry V, focus of an elaborate counterfeit scam, rich enough to kidnap the detectives for and to provide a clever way out.
—KGF Vissers