Toujours Dead

Rating:
Summary: A Great Whodunnit!!
Review: A great page-turner!!

Who would not give their eye teeth to be able to take an entire year off from their job - knowing that their job will be there when they return - to travel and live in the wine country in the south of France and be able to do their heart's desire? The excitement of being able to meet people, experience the French culture, eat in the sidewalk cafes, travel to Paris for the weekend, and, hopefully, pick up a new language, is tangible. Not to mention living with someone who excels in the art of French cooking.

Maggie Newberry does just that in Toujours Dead. The author's rich color palette of the small town in Provence is beautifully portrayed along with the dangerously entwined relationships that develop between Maggie and the local inhabitatns. Fortunately, Maggie is able to hook up with an independently wealthy American couple who, with one child, are experiencing infertility issues and happen to live in a lovely French chateau with the finest furnishings money can buy...

The ending - well, you'll just have to read the book. It's twisted!!

Rating:
Summary: Nice, but not necessarily enthralling
Review: I adore France and having spent extensive time there, I expected this book to be set in a town much like those I know. Instead, the environment seemed more secluded than I expected. Evening upon evening passed with friends while enjoying fine food and good wine embodies the French culture. I just didn't sense that warmth in the book. Not that it is a big deal since it is not a tourism guide, but a mystery novel. Which brings me to another thought, I didn't feel that the story was compelling. Usually, when I am reading a mystery, I stay up all night once I have read past halfway, but with this book, I set it down each evening after a few pages and easily went to sleep. Sadly, I set it down several months ago and forgot all about it, now I cannot even find the book. If you prefer slow-paced mysteries, this might be just the book for you, but in my experience it was not what I expected out of a mystery novel set in beautiful france.

Rating:
Summary: Read this book if you love mysteries and Provence
Review: I loved this book. I read a lot of mysteries, and this book was just as good as any I've read in the past couple of years. I'm pretty good as guessing the villain, but the author did a good job and I had no idea who really did it. I love Provence and this book made me feel like I was there every bit as much as Peter Mayle's books. I mostly read this book on a vacation at the beach, and I highly recommend it if you want to escape to the backwoods of France and if you enjoy French cooking and wine. I really felt like I was there. I also like the fact that there's World War II history as part of the plot of the novel, because my father fought in that war.

Rating:
Summary: Read this book if you love mysteries and Provence
Review: I loved this book. I read a lot of mysteries, and this book was just as good as any I've read in the past couple of years. I'm pretty good as guessing the villain, but the author did a good job and I had no idea who really did it. I love Provence and this book made me feel like I was there every bit as much as Peter Mayle's books. I mostly read this book on a vacation at the beach, and I highly recommend it if you want to escape to the backwoods of France and if you enjoy French cooking and wine. I really felt like I was there. I also like the fact that there's World War II history as part of the plot of the novel, because my father fought in that war.

Rating:
Summary: Pleasing mystery with a French twist
Review: Ooh la la! What could be more romantic than spending a carefree, rent-free year in the South of France with a tall, hunky Frenchman who loves to cook? If you're Maggie Newberry, you might be hard pressed to find an answer to that question, despite the few inconveniences she discovers upon arriving in Provence to help boyfriend Laurent settle affairs with an inherited vineyard.

It's not enough that several locals are breathing down Laurent's neck and pressuring him to sell his land, but Maggie appears to have her own collection of detractors. Sneering Gaston LaSalle, the spawn of gypsy stock, has made harrassing Maggie a top priority, while local tart Babette (who, appropriately, works in the bakery) is hell-bent on seducing Laurent. It's a sure bet Maggie would tell them what to do with themselves...if only she knew enough French.

Oh, and did I mention the dead body found in the basement of Maggie's house on Thanksgiving? That the house was also the scene of a brutal multiple homicide committed fifty years ago which continues to haunt the village and her residents? Come to think of it, maybe Maggie could think of more romantic things.

If you're looking for something mysterious, a mystery with a French twist, consider a stop in Provence with Susan Kiernan-Lewis's Toujours Dead. Toujours follows Maggie through her adjustment to country living, her friendship with expatriates Grace and Windsor Van Sant, and ultimately the murder of a brash American opportunist which she believes is connected to the half-century-old massacre that happened on her front steps. Lewis paints a desirable picture of Provence and creates in her townsfolk an array of interesting characters one would hope to meet on a European vacation.

Especially Laurent. A gorgeous Frenchman who cooks? If anyone needs me, I'll be at Priceline.com.

Rating:
Summary: Skip this book if you read French.
Review: This over-long book is strong on atmosphere and weak--very weak--on writing and character development. Anyone who reads French will be amused (and annoyed) by the frequent errors, the result of authorial or editorial sloppiness ("pastiches" for "pastis," "comme" for "comment," and many, many others). Verb tenses are mangled, and incorrect accents are common ("créme" instead of "crème brulée, for example). Correcting the errors might be a good final examination for someone wishing to earn a degree in French! It's a sad commentary on the book's characters that the most endearing is the poodle puppy Petit Four.