Mastering the Art of French Murder

Mastering the Art of French Murder (Book 1 American in Paris series) by Colleen Cambridge   283 pages

When I first read the title of this new mystery series, I swear I could hear Julia Child’s real-life voice. I had no idea that the kitchen magician herself was going to be a secondary character in this new series. I was so delighted!

Set in the Paris of 1949, Tabitha Knight has come to the City of Lights from Detroit to find herself. She’s twenty-nine years old, recently broken her four-year engagement to Henry and has lost her job at the Willow Run Bomber Plant where she helped to build B-24 Liberator planes. She was a real Rosie the Riveter! And on top of all the that, the woman---her grandmother-- who helped raise her has died. She is lost and decides to go spend some time with her grandfather, who still lives in Pari with his best friend.

Tabitha made friends with Julia, who happens to live across the street and down the block. They became fast friends although Tabitha can barely boil an egg. Julia’s sister, Dort lives with the Childs’. Dort works for the American Club Theater, which performs at Theater Monceau. The cast and crew are often at Julia’s apartment after shows or rehearsals.

After one such evening, the body of one of the other theater employees, Therese, turns up brutally murdered----in the basement of the Childs’ apartment building. Tabitha was the last person to see her alive and is immediately a suspect.

Concerned that she will be arrested and impatient with police procedures, Tabitha begins her own investigation. And the bodies begin to pile up. I was surprised by so many bodies that dot the pages.

This first book in the series is simultaneously funny and creepy. The opening scene about the mayonnaise was a delight! I could hear Julia’s real-life voice booming from the pages. I also liked that she was the sidekick and not the main character. I did wonder if there were some gay undertones between Tabitha’s grandfather and his best friend, Oncle Rafe (Tabitha’s honorary uncle), but it doesn’t matter.

The descriptions of the food and wine were spot-on…not too much nor too little. I was salivating through the entire book. However, there is only one thing, no two things, missing: The recipes for the perfect roasted chicken and mayonnaise! “Mastering the Art of French Murder” receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.

Publishing date April 2023

Life for a Life

Life for a Life by Lynda McDaniel    339 pages

 

In this first book in the Appalachian Mountain mystery series, readers are introduced to Della Kincaid and Abit.

 

Della has left Washington, D.C., looking for a new start. She spotted a for sale sign on a boarded up store as she took the long way back to D.C. after a week’s vacation in the Black Mountains. A former investigative reporter and newly divorced, Della was looking for a quiet, more predictable life.

 

At first, the local townspeople weren’t too keen on the new arrival, with the exception of Abit, a fifteen-year-old boy with an unspecified mental deficiency. His dad had taken him out of school because he was “a bit slow.” Now he just hangs around the house.

 

But when Della reopens the small grocery store, Abit begins to hang around, sitting in a rickety chair on the porch. Slowly, Della and Abit become friends. Della begins to offer him odd jobs around the store.

 

One afternoon, Della and her dog, Jake, go on a picnic where they discover a dead girl. Enter the sheriff who is stereotypical of all small town sheriffs. When a suicide note is found in the girl’s purse, the sheriff considers it an open-and-closed case of suicide.

 

Della’s reporter’s instinct kicks in, and she begins her own investigation. She calls on old friends back in D. C. and even enlists the help of her now-unemployed ex-husband.

 

The story takes place in the late 1980s, making it a combination historical mystery and cozy-bordering-on procedural mystery. Della and Abit take turns narrating the story. At first, I didn’t think I was going to like the story. The cover isn’t appealing; I would not have picked it up if I saw it on a bookstore shelf. (The author invited me to review the book, in case you’re wondering.) It took a while to get into Abit’s dialect, but McDaniel pulls it off. Still it got old fluctuating between Della’s correct grammar and Abit’s vocabulary and punctuation. That is the main reason  “Life for a Life” receives 4 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.