Tag: Amateur Sleuth

Death and Fromage: A Novel (Follet Valley Mystery)
Humorous Literary Fiction/Amateur Sleuth
2nd in Series
Setting – France
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Poisoned Pen Press (March 5, 2024)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 320 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1728270588
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1728270586
Kindle ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0CCBHGFC4

Middle-aged B&B owner Richard Ainsworth is enjoying his quiet life in the Val de Follet—that is, until the local cheese supplier is found dead in one of his own pasteurization tanks…

Running a B&B in the Val de Follet means nothing exciting ever happens to Richard, and really that’s the way he likes it. Until scandal erupts in the nearby town of Saint-Sauver, when its famous restaurant is downgraded from three Michelin stars to two. The restaurant is shamed, the town is in shock, and the leading goat cheese supplier drowns himself in one of his own pasteurization tanks.

Or does he?

Valérie d’Orçay, who is staying at the B&B while house-hunting in the area, isn’t convinced that it’s a suicide. Despite his misgivings, Richard is drawn into Valérie’s investigation and finds himself becoming a major player in solving the crime. After all, the French do take their cheese quite seriously and it’s quite clear there’s nothing gouda happening in the close-knit, small village that Richard calls home.

Dollycas’s Thoughts

The French take their cheese very seriously and Richard Ainsworth takes his quiet life seriously too. When he becomes involved in a cheese scandal in the nearby town of Saint-Sauver and a local cheese supplier is murdered or was it suicide, he is not happy. Then his wife comes to town with some plans of her own. Richard just wants to relax and spend a little time with his chickens but the murders keep stacking up. Can he cheese out what the heck is going on and get back to his quiet life? or will the murders and mayhem continue?

I really enjoyed the 1st book in this series, Death and Croissants. It was laugh-out-loud funny with crazy situations. But Death and Fromage missed the mark for me.

Femme fatale Valérie d’Orçay returns and pulls Richard into another strange case. Richard’s wife, daughter, and son-in-law arrive for a visit in the middle of all the drama with some interesting plans to shake up Richard’s life. Plus we are introduced to way too many people connected to the cheese world. Sadly, all the characters felt flat and like they were just going through the motions. No one stood out to get me engaged in the story. Genie and Martin, the unique couple that brought laughs in the last book when Richard met them added nothing to the story this time. Their proclivities are no longer surprising or humorous.

The mystery has multiple deaths in a small town but no one seems to be put out about them, it is all about the dreaded vegan cheese, male egos, other “investments”, and someone who felt wronged. I feel this could have been an interesting mystery but the author kept trying to insert humor in the wrong places and he brought way too many characters into the story that weren’t developed.

I do like the premise of Richard and his B&B in Val de Follet. I love that he loves old movies that he escapes to watch several times throughout the story and that he names his chickens after legendary ladies of Hollywood. He and Valerie working together has worked so it should be able to work again.

Death and Fromage was cheesy and not in a good way. I kept reading hoping that the qualities I enjoyed in the first book would appear, but sadly, they did not. In the last line of my review of Death and Croissants, I wrote “I don’t know how the author would top this story”. He sure didn’t do it in Death and Fromage. I know there are more books in this series so I hope this book was just a fluke.

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About the Author 

Best-selling author Ian Moore is also a stand-up comedian and conference host in the UK, and husband, father of three boys, farmhand, chutney-maker, and Basil Fawlty impersonator in France. Since doing less stand-up, he’s stopped taking himself so seriously. Death and Croissants is the first book in the Follett Valley Mystery Series.

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 Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Receiving a complimentary copy in no way reflected my review of this book. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”