Book Review: Death and Croissants, by Ian Moore

“He was aware of how ridiculous they both looked and he was also aware of how little it actually bothered him if he was right or wrong, but he was drawing lines in the sand here, and so not backing down. If he was going to take part in this ‘adventure’ — an innocent word, he reckoned, more reminiscent of Enid Blyton than old blokes being possibly done in — then he was going to make damn sure that Valérie d’Orçay didn’t just take him for granted.”

“Death and Croissants”, by Ian Moore

The story:

When Richard Ainsworth moved to run a B&B in the Val de Follet in the Loire Valley, he had hoped for a quiet, peaceful existence. However, things haven’t quite turned out the way he’d hoped… His wife has left him, and his life isn’t so much peaceful as dull…

That is until a series of unlikely events — starting with the appearance of a bloody handprint in one of his guest rooms — casts him in the role of reluctant sidekick to the magnetic and mysterious Valérie d’Orçay. Ostensibly a guest in his B&B, why is she so interested in the disappearance of an elderly guest? And more importantly, who is responsible for the death of Richard’s beloved hen, Ava Gardner?

My thoughts:

If at all possible, I like to start book series at the beginning, and read them in order! So ahead of my spot on the blog tour for the second book in the Follet Valley Mystery series (“Death and Fromage”), I wanted to see where things began.

I found this to be an extremely enjoyable book. Richard and Valérie couldn’t be more different, but by the end I was pretty sure Richard wasn’t quite so reluctant an adventurer as he made out! The setting in France sounds idyllic, and made me wish I was reading the book on a lovely holiday somewhere. The plot progresses nicely, with intrigue and unexpected twists and turns along the way. And as with every good cosy mystery, although there are bodies, guns and mysterious blood stains aplenty, at no point did I feel our heroes were in any real peril.

The plot is satisfactorily resolved (after a Christie-style gathering of all the main suspects), and things are also set up nicely for future adventures in Follet Valley. I look forward to sharing my thoughts on book 2 tomorrow!

Pages: 278
Published: 1st July 2021
Rating: 🐈🐈🐈🐈/5