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Summary
Summary
"Shea launches a cozy series that richly details life in a small French village. The outlandish antics of the eccentric locals add to the humor. Suggest to fans of Rhys Bowen's early "Evan Evans" series for the humor, the characters, and the charming setting." - Library Journal
From critically acclaimed author, Susan C. Shea, comes Love & Death in Burgundy , an atmospheric mystery novel filled with good Chablis, french cheese, and, of course, murder.
After three years of living in the small town of Reigny-sur-Canne, all Katherine Goff really wants is to be accepted by her neighbors into their little community. But as an American expat living in the proud region of Burgundy, that's no easy task.
When the elderly Frenchman who lives in the village chateau is found dead at the bottom of a staircase, the town is turned into a hot bed of gossip and suspicion, and Katherine suddenly finds herself drawn deeper and deeper into the small town's secrets. A motherless teenager, a malicious French widow, a brash music producer, and a would-be Agatha Christie are among those caught up in a storm that threatens to turn Katherine's quiet life upside down. As more and more of the villagers' secrets are brought to light, Katherine must try to figure out who, if anyone, in the town she can trust, and which one of her neighbors just might be a killer.
Author Notes
SUSAN C. SHEA spent more than two decades as a non-profit executive before beginning her career as a mystery author. Susan is past-president of the northern California chapter of Sisters in Crime and secretary of the national SinC board, a member of MWA, and blogs on CriminalMinds. In addition to Love & Death in Burgundy , she is also the author of the Dani O'Rourke mystery series. Susan lives in Marin County, California and travels to France as often as she can.
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Francophiles will welcome this cozy series launch from Shea (Mixed Up with Murder). Artist Katherine Goff and her failed rock-star husband, Michael, have bought an old farmhouse in Reigny-sur-Canne, which is "hardly more than a crossroads in Burgundy's famous landscape of pastures and grapevine-planted terroirs on rolling hills." One of their neighbors is a record producer, and Michael hopes for a second chance at a platinum record and concert tour. Meanwhile, Albert Bellegarde, the German-born husband of the local chateau's owner, dies in a fall down the chateau's back stairs. Everyone assumes it was an accident, but the French police aren't forthcoming, and acrimony between one of Katherine's best French friends and the dead man makes her wonder. Her role as organizer of the village fête in honor of the Feast of the Assumption and the upcoming show of her paintings in a nearby town leave little time for sleuthing. Nonetheless, Katherine uncovers important information that helps to resolve the mystery in the surprising and satisfactory denouement. Agent: Kimberley Cameron, Kimberley Cameron & Associates. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A woman desperate to fit into her community is given her chance by the death of a man with a past.Michael Goff lost his shot to become a rock star when his band members dumped him while stealing his songs. Now he lives with his wife, Katherine, in the insular Burgundy town of Reigny-sur-Canne. A lump-sum payment from the band has barely given the couple enough to live on, and after three years Katherine still lacks any real local friends. So she hopes her plan to run the town's annual festival will help her overcome the long memories and suspicions of local doyen Madame Pomfort and her followers. Unfortunately, the luncheon Katherine gives for local ladies is spoiled when the wealthy Albert Bellegarde smashes a plate over the head of Yves, a local bookseller who'd recently dumped his daughter. When Albert is found dead at the foot of a steep flight of stairs, his wife, Adele, calls Katherine, asking for help until her daughter arrives from Paris. The police investigation, much longer than it might be for a simple accident, sets tongues wagging. Meanwhile, Michael wonders whether he should try reviving his career by making an album and touring with Betty Lou Holliday, a famous American country singer whose own career could use a jump start. J.B., Betty Lou's husband and manager, is set on having Michael record with her. Katherine is a mother figure to Jeannette, a young local woman, whose father is a known thief. Jeannette is adept at snooping around the neighborhood and is not above stealing Katherine's silver spoons herself. Although solving the death is at the top of Katherine's agenda, she must do so to protect Jeannette and perhaps gain the village's acceptance. Shea (The King's Jar, 2013, etc.) kicks off a new character-driven series with an amusing portrait of life in a tiny French town that turns out to be integral to solving what may or may not be a murder. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Expat artist Katherine Goff is desperate to be accepted by the residents of Reigny-sur-Canne, located in the Burgundy region of France. Her husband, Michael, still nursing an old grudge against his former bandmates, is now working with an American singing star and her producer husband, which may lead to the success he craves. The quiet town is thrown into an uproar when the unlikable Albert Bellegarde is found dead on a steep staircase in his chateau. Was it an accident or murder? If the latter, there is no shortage of suspects: men from his checkered past, his daughter's former suitor, an American record producer, and even Nazis or gypsies. Listening to the village gossips, Katherine forms her theory, while also trying to save her young friend, Jeannette, a sly teen, from a thieving family. This leisurely paced story channels a Miss Marple-like investigation and immerses the reader in the life of an American woman trying to fit into an insular French village.--O'Brien, Sue Copyright 2017 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
THERE'S NO POINT WAITING for Denise Mina's two dependable series sleuths, Alex Morrow and Paddy Meehan, to appear in THE LONG DROP (Little, Brown, $26), which is a drastic departure from her brilliant contemporary studies of criminals who prey on Glasgow's social underclass. This new novel takes its story from the Burnside murders, a true crime spree that horrified the city in the late 1950s. William Watt, the owner of a string of bakery shops, is innocent of the murder of his wife, his sister-in-law and his daughter, but although the police can't prove otherwise, they're convinced of his guilt. So Watt sets out to convince them that the real killer is Peter Manuel by - wait for it! - taking him out on a bender and jollying him into a confession. Mina has always been a close observer of the brutality drunkards can inflict on their wives and children ("Between lunchtime closing and the pubs reopening for the evening, Glasgow is carpeted with drunk men. They loll on pavements," wet themselves at bus stops, "fight invisible foes in the streets"). But she also feels for women like Manuel's mother, Brigit ("My knees are broken with praying for you"), and the father of a murdered girl who describes her in the blandest of terms on the witness stand because he can't bring himself to share his memories of the "real daughter" the public knows only as a mangled corpse. Mina even holds out her hand to those inarticulate thugs whose violent acts are a perverse way of validating their own lives. " 'You can't tell a story,'" Watt says, dismissing his companion's veiled threat over the course of their wild night, "not knowing that this is cutting Manuel to the bone." With one plotline continually hopscotching over the other, Mina manages to keep two narratives going at once: the farcical account of Watt and Manuel's binge and the sober courtroom drama of dueling life-or-death stories when Manuel faces a jury. Despite the novel's final reassurance that it's "just a story. Just a creepy story about a serial killer," this one feels painfully real. JO NESBO CERTAINLY has the magic touch when it comes to psycho serial killers. In THE THIRST (Knopf, $26.95), breathlessly translated by Neil Smith, the gloomy Norwegian novelist introduces a monster who stalks his victims on Tinder, rips out their throats with lethal dentures made of metal spikes and drinks their blood. When the killing starts, summer is over, with all its "hysterical, cheerful, stupid selfexpression," and Oslo has resumed its true character, "melancholic, reserved, efficient." That also describes Nesbo's protagonist, Harry Hole, "possibly the best, possibly the worst, but certainly the most mythologized murder detective" on the city's police force. Something about the killer's bizarre M.O. strikes a memory chord with Harry, and at the scene of the second killing he gets down to work, scrutinizing the bloody evidence, reading the clues the madman has leftfor the police and coming to the unnerving conclusion that "he wants to play." At this chilling point, teams of investigators are dispatched and the good citizens of Oslo are paralyzed with fear. But much of this melodrama is only a distraction from the intricate plotting that keeps the story shifting under our feet. Nesbo is a master at this narrative sleight of hand, and if you can stand the gory details and hang on during the switchback turns, the payoffis its own reward. ONE WAY TO DELIVER a message in the unsettled political climate of 1919 Calcutta is to stuffit in the mouth of a murdered man. "English blood will run in the streets," warns the note in Abir Mukherjee's enthralling debut novel, A RISING MAN (Pegasus, $25.95). "Quit India!" Lord Charles Taggart, the police commissioner, assigns the case to Capt. Sam Wyndham, newly arrived from England with lingering war wounds and a morphine habit but a keen appreciation for the "vibrant, wretched beauty" of the slums of Calcutta. The investigation sends Wyndham and his Bengali assistant on a whirlwind circuit of the city. On his way to uncovering "a fully fledged terrorist campaign" against the Raj, Capt. Wyndham is educated in the ways that 150,000 Britons have managed to maintain mastery over millions of Indians. LOVE AND DEATH IN BURGUNDY (Minotaur, $24.99), Susan C. Shea's novel set in the French countryside, offers a pleasant getaway from hard-core killers. Reignysur- Canne is an unspoiled village with only a crumbling castle to recommend it to tourists. Katherine Goff, an American artist of modest reputation and a likable enough amateur sleuth, has acquired an eclectic group of friends and potential murder victims (including a rich, rude American I'd like to murder myself). There are local fetes, excursions to colorful flea markets and the odd interesting character like Jeannette, a 14-year-old thief with personality. That might be enough for a respectable cozy mystery. Even so, this feels like something you've read before - the same characters, the same fetes, even the same recycled scenery. MARILYN STASIO has covered crime fiction for the Book Review since 1988. Her column appears twice a month.
Library Journal Review
Katherine Goff is an insecure American expat living in Reigny-sur-Canne, a small village in France's Burgundy region. Desperate to be accepted by her neighbors, she tirelessly inserts herself into local activities. But, it's the death of the aged chateau owner that stirs up conversation. The official line is that the old man just slipped on the stairs, but as the investigation goes on, rumors fly: Albert was killed by Nazi assassins, tourists, or vagabonds. While Katherine wants to quash the gossip, the teen daughter of the town thief not only spies on everyone, she also holds the key to the secrets behind the old man's death. VERDICT Shea (Mixed Up with Murder) launches a cozy series that richly details life in a small French village. The outlandish antics of the eccentric locals add to the humor. Suggest to fans of Rhys Bowen's early "Evan Evans" series for the humor, the characters, and the charming setting.-LH © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.