"Avonna's Reviews > Mastering the Art of French Murder
Mastering the Art of French Murder (An American In Paris, #1)
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MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH MURDER (An American in Paris Book #1) by Colleen Cambridge is the entertaining first book in this new historical mystery series set in Paris post WWII featuring a young American transplant in Paris who is the best friend of Julia Child. After reading and loving Ms. Cambridge’s historical mystery series set at Mallowan Hall with Agatha Christie as the best friend of the protagonist, I was excited to try this new protagonist and series.
Tabitha Knight grew up in Detroit, but her Grandmere was French and Tabitha grew up bilingual. With the passing of her Grandmere, she travels to post WWII Paris to stay with her Grandpere and Oncle Rafe. She is tutoring French to Americans in Paris after the war and has become friends with Julia Child. When returning from the market, Tabitha and Julia learn of a murdered girl in the cellar of Julia’s apartment building. Tabitha recognizes the victim from a party the night before and the murder weapon discovered by Inspector Merveille is one of Julia’s expensive chef knives from her kitchen.
The suspects are all from the English-speaking theater troupe Julia’s sister, Dort works for that were at the late-night party, Tabitha is determined to clear her friend’s names even with the Inspector telling her to stay out of the investigation. With some aide from her Grandpere and Oncle, Tabitha hopes to find the real killer before any of her friends are jailed or even worse.
This is an exciting amateur sleuth mystery set in an interesting time and location. Tabitha is a resourceful and brave protagonist, who also gets herself into a few dangerous situations due to her excessive curiosity. The friendship with Julia Child is a perfect setup for fun dialogue as Julia tries to teach Tabitha how to cook and shop at the local market so she can prepare dinners for her Grandpere and Oncle. I look forward to discovering more about these gentlemen, because there is definitely more than what has been yet revealed about their lives prior to Tabitha coming to live with them. The plot has plenty of red herrings and twists that kept me reading through all of Tabitha’s adventures and discoveries, but it does start out a bit slow. All plot threads come together and are satisfactorily revealed at the conclusion. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series and learning more about all these characters.
I recommend this historical mystery with memorable characters and 1950’s Paris.
MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH MURDER (An American in Paris Book #1) by Colleen Cambridge is the entertaining first book in this new historical mystery series set in Paris post WWII featuring a young American transplant in Paris who is the best friend of Julia Child. After reading and loving Ms. Cambridge’s historical mystery series set at Mallowan Hall with Agatha Christie as the best friend of the protagonist, I was excited to try this new protagonist and series.
Tabitha Knight grew up in Detroit, but her Grandmere was French and Tabitha grew up bilingual. With the passing of her Grandmere, she travels to post WWII Paris to stay with her Grandpere and Oncle Rafe. She is tutoring French to Americans in Paris after the war and has become friends with Julia Child. When returning from the market, Tabitha and Julia learn of a murdered girl in the cellar of Julia’s apartment building. Tabitha recognizes the victim from a party the night before and the murder weapon discovered by Inspector Merveille is one of Julia’s expensive chef knives from her kitchen.
The suspects are all from the English-speaking theater troupe Julia’s sister, Dort works for that were at the late-night party, Tabitha is determined to clear her friend’s names even with the Inspector telling her to stay out of the investigation. With some aide from her Grandpere and Oncle, Tabitha hopes to find the real killer before any of her friends are jailed or even worse.
This is an exciting amateur sleuth mystery set in an interesting time and location. Tabitha is a resourceful and brave protagonist, who also gets herself into a few dangerous situations due to her excessive curiosity. The friendship with Julia Child is a perfect setup for fun dialogue as Julia tries to teach Tabitha how to cook and shop at the local market so she can prepare dinners for her Grandpere and Oncle. I look forward to discovering more about these gentlemen, because there is definitely more than what has been yet revealed about their lives prior to Tabitha coming to live with them. The plot has plenty of red herrings and twists that kept me reading through all of Tabitha’s adventures and discoveries, but it does start out a bit slow. All plot threads come together and are satisfactorily revealed at the conclusion. I am looking forward to reading the next book in this series and learning more about all these characters.
I recommend this historical mystery with memorable characters and 1950’s Paris.
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Reading Progress
November 15, 2022
– Shelved as:
to-read
November 15, 2022
– Shelved
January 2, 2023
–
Started Reading
January 2, 2023
– Shelved as:
gifted-from-publisher
January 2, 2023
– Shelved as:
net-galley
January 7, 2023
–
Finished Reading