Complicated…but with its own charm!
Death and Croissants (Follet Valley Mystery #1) by Ian Moore
⭐️⭐️⭐️
I must admit Moore’s opening salvo on muesli was a hoot. One I all to readily concur with.
“Muesli…rejected budgie food!”
Richard Ainsworth is a middle aged, fractious man who’s all charm on the outside and seemingly a curmudgeon on the inside. (Or does he just go through life on a slightly different plane to others?) He’s a film historian which probably answers all questions about his jaded, ennui bordering on mécontent attitude.
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.
When his cleaner finds a man’s handprint in blood on the wall of one of the guest bedrooms Richard tries to explain it away as a child’s painting. He wants to immeadiately eradicate it. His cleaner (eye roll please) Madame Tablier and his new guest, Valérie d’Orçay,an elegant and seemingly languid woman won’t hear of it.
All Richard wants to do is hide in plain sight and be left alone. Mais non, he has “blood on the walls and a missing guest.”
Along with Richard, I’m thinking what fresh hell is this, and have a lingering suspicion I’ve wandered into Fawlty Tower’s sister establishment.
I rather liked Richard’s attempts at stoicism, with his overblown yet understated (can you do both?) approach to all things.
Anyway it seems a murder might have taken place but, as the tale gathers steam, it also gathers quite a cast. What happened becomes complicated by the what might have been, being trumped by the what actually did. The pace picks up as does the danger.
Well written, with some gems. Not quite my cup of tea, although for cozy mystery fans, surprising and a bit of a hoot.
A Poisoned Pen Press ARC via NetGalley.
Please note: Quotes taken from an advanced reading copy maybe subject to change
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