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Super cute Romcom set in a Loire Valley B&B, run by Richard Ainsworth, a very British man of a certain age, separated with his wife, and barely sustained by a nerdy love of filmdom. Gliding elegantly into his ho-hum humdrum-ness sails chic and glamorous inn guest Valérie d'Orçay, followed by a mystery involving elderly twins known as the Monsieurs Grandchamps, one a judge and the other a criminal with mafia ties. cleaner, and critic of the guests, and life in general. Those of you who have been to France, know this type intimately.!! French is my favourite language and I studied it extensively for most of my life, including the culture, cuisine, history and geography of France, for a complete and complex understanding of the subtilities of the language. But, life goes on for him, and most days are the same........Pretty boring and only has his cleaning lady, Madame Tablier for company. OHHHHHHH, until one morning Richard's life goes Bang and turns upside down, when one guest at his B&B goes missing a old Grand chaps, who has left a bloody handprint on his rooms wall - Christ thats gonna be a pain to clean!!! Richard want to do something about this and get to the bottom of where Grand chaps has gone? Death and Croissants is the first in a new series of Follet Valley mysteries written by the comedian @monsieurlemoore. Whilst cosy murder mystery is not a genre I read very often, like many people I read and enjoyed The Thursday Murder Club so this seemed like the perfect book when I was looking for a fun, light read - and it proved to be exactly that.
His hen’s have movie star names, Lana Turner, Joan Crawford, and Ava Gardner. He’s bullied it seems, by his staff he more or less inherited from his former or not? wife Clare. What do you read when you have read all of the books in the Thursday Murder Club series but you are still craving something with humor, European flair, and, yes, murder? There is humour throughout, with Richard bearing the brunt of the jokes. He does seem to get himself in scrapes, if you can call hunting for an old man who may have been murdered a scrape. He finds he’s caught up before he knows it but soon realises he’s having more fun than he has in years and that Valérie and her unorthodox ways have given him a new lease of life. Richard remains a dazed passenger in the case until things become really serious and someone murders Ava Gardner, one of his beloved hens ... and you don’t mess with a fellow’s hens! Death and Croissants by Ian Moore is the first in a series featuring Bed and Breakfast owner Richard Ainsworth and is set in the fictional Val de Follet in the Loire Valley.
Advance Praise
Oh, you have. You and everyone else I know.' He sighed wearily. 'All I want is a quiet life, but what happens is you end up just being dragged along by other people's whims. I don't blame you as such, but in a very short space of time, I've lost a guest, very possibly murdered - in your opinion - possibly more than once, if what the Thompsons told you is correct. And two Italian killers - in your opinion - are sending me hen-based mafia death warnings.' I have read a lot of this genre lately and unreservedly enjoyed them, but I am afraid that Death and Croissants fell a little short of the mark in comparison. I have to disagree with its description as an unputdownable mystery. I put it down several times, sometimes for days on end. I love main character Richard's vulnerability, it lent his character a depth and completeness that really resonated. Richard's feeling unseen and under-appreciated and having opted for so long to do things he must do rather than what he wanted to, made me appreciate author Ian Moore attributing all that to a male character. Much of the humor here stems from cultural stereotypes, British, French and Italian; done artfully, without offense or exploitation, as perhaps only a professional comedian can pull off best.
Richard remains a dazed passenger in the case until things become really serious and someone murders Ava Gardner, one of his beloved hens... and you don't mess with a fellow's hens! This book is described as an "Unputdownable mystery...", but I put it down many times. It has lots of quirky characters, which I love, but I didn't connect with any of them. I tend to lose interest if I don't care about the characters. The highlight of Richard's day is feeding his hens, Lana Turner, Joan Crawford and Ava Gardner. He also enjoys watching old movies and drinking whiskey. This man loves his whiskey! And, the quiet life!Richard remains a dazed passenger in the case until things become really serious and someone murders Ava Gardner, one of his beloved hens ... and you don't mess with a fellow's hens! Death and Croissants is the first of the Follet Valley Mysteries and is a crazy, quirky, comic, and slightly over the top cosy mystery. In the book, we meet Richard Ainsworth, a middle-aged Englishman who has moved to the bucolic Loire Valley where he runs a Bed and Breakfast or rather a chambre d’hote. Richard is dejected, slightly boring even, and his only interest in life is old movies, so much so that the hens in his establishment are named after actresses—Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth and Lana Turner. He is estranged from his stylish wife Clare who found nothing to keep her in France and has returned to England. Life goes on monotonously for him, most days being pretty much the same, only his cantankerous (but observant) cleaning lady, Madame Tablier for company. Like Richard Osman in his Thursday murder club series, the main reason to read this book is for the sparkling, hilarious dialogue and inner thoughts of its characters. Disclaimer: Please note I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.
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