“Mastering the Art of French Murder: An American in Paris Mystery,” by Colleen Cambridge
(2023, 262 pages, Genre: Mystery)
Paris, December 1949. Tabitha Knight travels from Detroit to live with her French grandfather and Uncle Rafe in Paris. Her grandmother has passed away and the two older gentlemen enjoy having Tabitha around. And Tabitha loves helping them.
Tabitha worked at the Willow Run bomber plant helping to build B-24 Liberator planes during the war. She is quite handy with tools and good at solving problems. She is young, the war is over, and Paris is the City of Light, romance, and delicious food! Tabitha is friends with Julia Child and now that she is in Paris, Tabitha wants to learn how to cook. She and Julia go to the markets together to choose ingredients for meals. Julia has started taking lessons at Le Cordon Bleu. As the story begins, Julia has a mayonnaise problem.
But soon they have a much bigger problem! A maid finds a woman’s body in the cellar of Julia’s apartment building and the killer used one of Julia’s own knives to commit the murder! Tabitha was at a party with the victim and left at the same time the night of the murder. Now Tabitha and Julia are persons of interest to the police. Tabitha is determined to find the killer and clear their names. She is impulsive but quite brave, and that helps get her out of trouble. Tabitha and Julia make a great detective team! They are a lot of fun, and they work well together. They both speak French and Julia has met many people in the area. And as the hunt progresses, there are mouth-watering descriptions of wonderful dishes! I’m hoping that there are more mysteries with this spirited duo in the works! Visit Concord Public Library at http://www.concordpubliclibrary.net Robbin Bailey
