Rating: 
Summary: am i the only one who did not "get" this?
Review: a disappointment. while the descriptions of place and food were wonderful, as always with mayle, the plot involving a real Cezanne painting and not one, but two, copies, never made sense to me. if someone else can explain the plot to me, i'd appreciate it. the owner of the Cezanne arranges to have it removed from his house and copied. Holtz was going to arrange to sell the copy as the original? and return the original to the owner along with some of the money? was Pine also going to arrange to sell a copy? or the original? was there ever a second copy? what happened, or was going to happen, to it? what role did the magazine editor play in all this? in addition to not being able to understand people's motives, i too thought that many of the plot developments were improbable. the characters repeatedly failed to recognize the obvious and they kept secrets from one another for no apparent reason. in retrospect, a most unsatisfying read.
Rating: 
Summary: As hard-boiled as a souffle de jour...
Review: An enjoyable book, despite its limitations. Its a raconteur's culinary romp only thinly disguised as a mystery, too busy having fun restaurant-hopping and people-watching to make much effort at anything deeper. The characters are likeable, if somewhat two-dimensional, the story line is plausible, the satire palpable. The book pokes fun at the effette artistic pretenses and materialistic snobbery of the rich and famous, while drooling over the culinary escapades their incomes allow. What it lacks in plot-layering and tension-building, it makes up for in the upbeat tempo of the bon vivant lifestyle. I could have done without the salacious innuendos and the veiled chauvenism, but it was mild enough, and in the end I just gave in to the gaiete de coeur.
Rating:
Summary: As hard-boiled as a souffle de jour...
Review: An enjoyable book, despite its limitations. Its a raconteur's culinary romp only thinly disguised as a mystery, too busy having fun restaurant-hopping and people-watching to make much effort at anything deeper. The characters are likeable, if somewhat two-dimensional, the story line is plausible, the satire palpable. The book pokes fun at the effette artistic pretenses and materialistic snobbery of the rich and famous, while drooling over the culinary escapades their incomes allow. What it lacks in plot-layering and tension-building, it makes up for in the upbeat tempo of the bon vivant lifestyle. I could have done without the salacious innuendos and the veiled chauvenism, but it was mild enough, and in the end I just gave in to the gaiete de coeur.
Rating: 
Summary: Fun novel, despite the weak ending
Review: Andre, a magazine photographer finds himself embroiled in an adventure that includes a forged C?zanne, an immaculately attired magazine editor, her ruthless boyfriend, a beautiful woman, a dashing art dealer, Paris and lots of good meals. The prose is warm and friendly, enveloping the reader instantly, the plot is well twisted, and the characters appealing. The book races from one funny and enjoyable event to the next. Sadly, instead of legging it past the finish line with a spectacular ending, Mayle shuffles and falls at the ending. It's almost as if he ran out of time and just ended the book. It doesn't match the pace and feel of the rest of the novel. But, regardless of the watery ending, the book is solid, meaty and well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Fun novel, despite the weak ending
Review: Andre, a magazine photographer finds himself embroiled in an adventure that includes a forged Cézanne, an immaculately attired magazine editor, her ruthless boyfriend, a beautiful woman, a dashing art dealer, Paris and lots of good meals. The prose is warm and friendly, enveloping the reader instantly, the plot is well twisted, and the characters appealing. The book races from one funny and enjoyable event to the next. Sadly, instead of legging it past the finish line with a spectacular ending, Mayle shuffles and falls at the ending. It's almost as if he ran out of time and just ended the book. It doesn't match the pace and feel of the rest of the novel. But, regardless of the watery ending, the book is solid, meaty and well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Fun novel, despite the weak ending
Review: Andre, a magazine photographer finds himself embroiled in an adventure that includes a forged Cézanne, an immaculately attired magazine editor, her ruthless boyfriend, a beautiful woman, a dashing art dealer, Paris and lots of good meals. The prose is warm and friendly, enveloping the reader instantly, the plot is well twisted, and the characters appealing. The book races from one funny and enjoyable event to the next. Sadly, instead of legging it past the finish line with a spectacular ending, Mayle shuffles and falls at the ending. It's almost as if he ran out of time and just ended the book. It doesn't match the pace and feel of the rest of the novel. But, regardless of the watery ending, the book is solid, meaty and well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: "Chasing A Plot" is More Like It
Review: As a fan of Peter Mayle, I can't tell you how let down I was by this extremely slight, jetsetting-but-going-nowhere novel. I enjoyed the lighthearted A Year in Provence and Hotel Pastis, so I wasn't expected War and Peace by a long shot. But this (perhaps mercifully) short novel does nothing to evoke the landscape, whet the reader's appetite for fine food and gracious living, or even hint at character development. Too many stock characters (the dashing photographer, the take-no-prisoners editor, the perfectly pressed art dealer, the starry-eyed first-time-in-Paris ingenue). And the quick pacing leads to a disappointing denouement, which is -- sacre bleu! -- even more lackluster than the author's description of the colorful art which is purportedly being "chased." The extra star is only for my fondness of Mayle's other books: Otherwise, I'd only give it one. Two dreary thumbs down.
Rating:
Summary: An action thriller straight out of Gault-Millau
Review: As far as detective stories go, Nancy Drew is still way ahead in the game. The descriptive mix of travel and culinary delights, set against a backdrop of the lifestyle of the rich and famous, makes readers forget at times the real objective of the novel, which was to track down the Cézanne. In the end, there is still one question lurking: what is everyone having for lunch to celebrate? Good, light fun, but Mr. Mayle has done much better.
Rating:
Summary: Light...Too Light
Review: Bears hints of the Mayle style, but fails to deliver - in character development, plot, and charm. A light, fun read, but pales in comparison to Mayle's other books. Sorry, but any reviewer who rated this book highly either is not familiar with other Mayle options, or took the book far too seriously.
Rating: 
Summary: I Adored this Book!!!!!
Review: Camilla is a posh British editor of the american Mag DQ. Andre is usally her favorite photographer,But something happens that he gets to involved in something someone she knows is carrying out...It is a novel about love, life, and everything in between. This is probably one of the most fun books I have read in a long time. The thing that adds the most to it is that I was on the French Riveira at the time I had read it. I stayed at La Reserve in Beaulieu, I had lunch at a friends house in Cap Ferrat. It was just so more real reading it in the process of being in all the places Andre was going, St. Paul in Vence, Nice, Cap Ferrat.. it was heavenly!! One of the main things Peter Mayle focuses on is the relaxed life in The south of france, and if you are not into that kind of lifestyle, then there is no way you will enjoy this book.
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