I did not expect to see the word “stalagmite” in this book.

34. The Secret of the Chateau – Caroline Farr

Denise has lost her grandfather in New Orleans and suddenly, she hears from her Uncle Gerard in France and he wants her to come visit and first she should vacation in Paris! Whee!

Uncle Gerard is a World War II hero and at great cost because his face was burned, his arm and hand were burned, and he lost his right hand, all being tortured by the Nazis to the point where he wears a mask and gets super upset when anyone sees him and screams…and yet, now he likes German wine. Very not French. He has a housekeeper who doesn’t seem to have any idea how to keep a house and does nothing but be suspicious and insulting towards Denise.

When Denise takes a day trip from the Chateau of the Vultures her uncle now owns to see the village their whole family grew up in, she meets a French secret agent/painter (yep) who is trying to track down a notorious war criminal and believes he may be in the area. I dare you to guess where this ends up.

Yes, she’s going to fall in love with the painter, but she does almost fall in a cave where the war criminals hid some bodies, that was a twist.

 

Thorfy’s not in the French countryside hunting war criminals, but he is in paintings.