The Orchid Shroud

Death in the Dordogne #2

by Michelle Wan

A strange beast is killing both livestock and humans in the Dordogne . . .Business is booming for orchidologist Julian and interior designer Mara, but things take a horrifying turn when, in the wall of the sixteenth-century manor house she has been commissioned to restore, Mara’s workmen find a mummified baby. Forensic analysis reveals that the baby had been smothered more than a hundred years before.Julian discovers that the infant’s shawl is embroidered with an exact likeness of a rare orchid he has been researching. Meanwhile Mara falls under suspicion in another more recent murder, linked not only to the mummified child but, seemingly, to the spectre of a werewolf . . .As sinister revelations abound, so too do the legends and superstitions of the Dordogne. The breathtaking world of wild orchids and delectable Dordognais cookery provide atmosphere in equal part to the unraveling mystery. A superb and accomplished follow-up to Deadly Slipper.From the Trade Paperback edition.

Genres: Mystery, France, Fiction, Crime, Canada

Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Michelle Wan was born in Kunming, China, in the middle of an air raid. Her early years were spent in India, and she has subsequently lived in the USA, England, Paris, Harare, and Rio de Janeiro. Her passions include French food, Brazilian novellas, walking, and orchids. She and her husband, a botanist, visit the Dordogne annually to photograph and chart wild orchids. She speaks English, Portuguese, and French. She is a great-grand niece of Sun Yat-Sen. Her first Dordogne mystery, Deadly Slipper, which introduced Mara Dunn and Julian Wood, was published in 2005.

Series:
* Death in the Dordogne

Reviews

[Paul Weiss · Rating 3 out of 5]

A slightly less than cozy mystery from a leading Canadian mystery writer

Like Louise Penny’s Armand Gamache series in Three Pines, THE ORCHID SHROUD is a cozy mystery to be sure but it’s gone full 21st century. Her protagonists – interior decorator Mara Dunn and orchid fancier cum horticulturalist Julian Wood – are booty friends who just can’t seem to settle into the reality of their relationship. But unlike Agatha Christie’s calmer settings in the drawing rooms of Yorkshire, Devon and Cornwall, Wan has set her mystery in the lush, mellifluous, verdant setting of the Dordogne Valley in southwest France.

When Mara Dunn discovers the body of a murdered infant stuffed into a wall of a local manor house she has been hired to renovate, her hunt to identify the child and its murderer seems to lead through several generations of family hate and subterfuge and to be tied up with local legends of a werewolf who has haunted the valley for over 200 years.

As mystery plots go, THE ORCHID SHROUD, for my money, was just a little too twisted, too byzantine and too tortuous to unerringly grip a reader’s interest but what made the book for me was that setting. France and the Dordogne Valley – the culture, the language, the cuisine, the wine – are captured so vividly as to make it a third protagonist.

Consider, for example, the food:

" ‘Et pour monsieur, la truite au bleu garnie.’ Trout (that had been swimming in its tank minutes ago, before the chef had knocked it on the head), quickly cooked and simply served, dressed in butter and parsley. ‘Voilà, et bonne continuation!’ "

Or how about this mouth-watering example?

“There were side platters of baked endive and pommes de terre sarladaises. Mara felt a guilty twinge at the sight of the last. It was Julian’s favorite dish, garlicky potatoes lightly sautéed in goose fat and sprinkled with parsley. The main course was followed by salad, local cheeses, and a plum tart purchased from the Boulangerie Méliès in Brames, which turned out some of the best patisserie in the region.”

Then there is this rather voluptuous, over-the-top description of a local wine:

“A serious bouquet, underlain by a darker whiff of – what? – autumn leaves, the gardener in him decided. Wet ones. He took a mouthful, sucking in noisily to let the aeration do its thing and holding it long on his tongue. Very smooth, with a good balance of sweetness, bitterness, and astringency. A lengthy finish that made him think of chocolate and – to his surprise – a hint of well-aged manure.”

Are you serious?? If you’ve ever had the pleasure of touring the Dordogne Valley, these descriptions will bring it all back in a virtual flood of memories.

Paul Weiss

[Renée Mee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed book. You get a mix of everything. Mystery, gastronomy , orchids,history, the French countryside and imperfect coupling of a French Canadian and English lovers. Get tired of perfect lovers solving perfect crimes. These two fumble through the Dordogne with its wonderful cuisine,wine somehow despite themselves solving the crime. They are such opposite characters going in such opposite directions that their romance seems hopeless but you find yourself rooting for them.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very captivating and suspenseful, I can't wait to read the next book!

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book Title: The Orchid Shroud: A Novel of Death in the Dordogne
Author: Michelle Wan
Publisher: Doubleday (division of Random House)
Publication date: 2006
Review date: 2011
Stars: 3.5
(1-didn’t like it; 2-it was ok; 3-liked it; 4-really liked it; 5-it was amazing)

Interior designer, Mara Dunn, is renovating the manor house of Christophe de Bonfond, a wealthy and socially prominent resident of the Sigoulane Valley in France, when her workers discover the body of a baby wrapped in a blue shroud. Authorities believe the body has been concealed for more than a century, and the news of the discovery causes a stir in the valley. This occurs at a terrible time for Christophe who is about to publish a book on his family name and its illustrious history. Christophe hires genealogist Jean-Claude Fournier to exonerate the de Bonfond family name, but Jean-Claude uncovers suspicions about the family history instead. Mara and her boyfriend, orchidologist Julian Wood, pursue the truth behind the baby’s death—Mara to resolve the story of the child’s death and Julian to acquire an elusive and mysterious orchid that also happens to be embroidered on the child’s shroud. Christophe’s disappearance and a subsequent grisly death heighten the stakes as Mara is fingered for murder.

The book is quite fun to read. Wan weaves an intricate and sophisticated story that is populated with interesting characters. The reader is taken on a murder mystery that involves multiple victims in different eras of time. Complicating the mystery of the deaths are the stories that the locals tell of werewolves. These werewolves are blamed by the villagers for the deaths of many people over the years. The stories are dismissed by the main characters as mythology, but the effect of their telling lingers in the background and creates an additional layer of suspense for the reader. Mara pursues the origins of these stories and finds herself becoming more and more wrapped up in Christophe’s life history as she tries to clear her name of murder. Wan intersperses the present-day narrative with chapters that narrate segments of the de Bonfond family’s past through the eyes of Henriette de Bonfond, née Bertillon. The storyline is tied together with details of the characters’ relational ambiguities, jealousies, distrust, friendships, and loyalties.

The main character is Mara Dunn, a Canadian interior designer. She has been introduced to Christophe de Bonfond by her boyfriend, Julian Wood, who is good friends with him. Mara has a successful career but is willing to do almost anything to keep the de Bonfond project, which would take her to the next level in her career. She and Julian have a lukewarm relationship—she wants more commitment from him but is unable to express it while Julian is content with their informal arrangement and shies away from commitment. Julian is an orchidologist who believes himself to be in competition with fellow orchidologist Géraud Laval, whose methods he detests with a passion. Julian is obsessive about his work and so acutely focused on obtaining the mysterious orchid, which he has named Cypripedium incognitum, that he is unable to pursue Mara in a meaningful way. Christophe de Bonfond, though he does not get as much “screen time” as do Mara and Julian, is truly a third main character. When he and his activities are not present in the narrative, the other characters are talking about him, talking about his family, researching his family story or estate, or connected to each other because of him. I found him to be a quirky, neurotic, and somewhat silly character. Mara considers him to be immature in many respects. Surrounding characters are well-fleshed out and are notable for quirky characters or other distinctive personality traits. One of my favorites is Patsy Reicher, Mara’s best friend. We actually never meet her except in her e-mails with Mara. Patsy is the one who provides stability for Mara, and the reader, in the midst of the chaos in the valley, supporting her as a friend should and helping her to remain calm and practical in her choices.

Michelle Wan does a wonderful job of storytelling. She has a distinctive voice and is able to vividly populate the reader’s mind with images of the characters and the locations in which they are interacting. She interweaves French with English with such smooth transitions that, although no definitions are given for the French, the reader is able to discern the meanings based on the context. She is able both to put the reader in a serious mindset during dangerous or thrilling moments as well as to create humorous moments with lighthearted banter in the friendly conversations and gossip between friends. Throughout all this, she maintains a sophistication in her language and in the characters that nicely underscores the high society that Mara, Julian, and others inhabit in this story.

The Orchid Shroud explores doubts about what is believable and what is not, what is natural and what is engineered, and who is trustworthy and who is not. It also explores the effects of wealth and social status on how people choose to interact with others as well as the moral choices they make.

This story has no obvious spiritual layer in it and is absent any moral law that is higher than the one that humans set for themselves, such as not committing murder. The characters are free to interact carnally without repercussion. The language used throughout is inoffensive.

Overall, I found this to be an enjoyable read. It was great fun, as a non-French speaker, to have French words thrown my way for me to decipher via context. Speculation of werewolves and a rare orchid also kept the pages open for me. And I enjoyed peeking into the world of high society in the French Dordogne and the hunt for Cypripedium incognitum.

I recommend this to those who want a fun yet sophisticated read. I would caution against adolescents or younger from reading this due to the illicit interactions that take place and romance that is sexual in nature. Unfortunately, the story did not receive 4 stars because of the recurrent carnal scenarios.

[Marga Vr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why five stars ? Because, it's so well written, exciting reading from first to last page, funny at times, gruesome at times , case histories of lycanthropy running in the family since 18th century, love story, half eaten corpses, a baby hidden in a wall, and fascinating facts about orchids. Even an occasional ghost !

As to be expected,the author herself is a fascinating person, Chinese born, raised in the States, travelled all over with her husband who's a tropical horticulturist. The story takes place in Dordogne, France.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book I read in the Death in the Dordogne series. It's beautifully set in France and deals with orchids as a theme. This one has a bit of a historical fiction aspect to it, to give the storyline an authentic theme. We learn some much about orchids here and French culture and life in the vineyards. This has a paranormal feel to it a tiny bit. We do care much about Mara's relationship with Julian and how others treat her, since she's Canadian. There's plenty twists and turns in this storyline to keep you guessing, right to the surprising twist in the end.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written, great characters, a wonderful mystery.

[Livia · Rating 4 out of 5]

'The Orchid Shroud' is a page turner. The action is evenly spaced throughout the story. It's also meant for the orchid lover.

[Janneke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Een boek met een complexe misdaad. Je moet je aandacht er goed bij houden, zeker om te onthouden wie ook al weer wie was. Wel een boek dat nieuwsgierig maakt naar de afloop.

[Trishia · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Mara arrived at a little past four. Julian was waiting for her, a canoe, which he had rented from the concession there, already loaded in his van."

Fortunately, most of this mystery set in the Dordogne region of France is not written as atrociously as the above second sentence. However, I don't think I'm going to read any more books in this series.
The plot started out intriguing, identifying and solving the death of a baby found buried in a wall of a mansion.
Then the subject of werewolves came into the plot and I'm not into that subject. But mostly, there were several things that happened that I simply couldn't find believable or if they were believable, didn't make me think well of the characters. A woman is almost raped by a man and then returns ALONE to his house the next day to retrieve her phone? After a little spat, a man who is supposed to be in a relationship with a woman has a one-night stand with someone he doesn't even really like? Two people are stupid enough to go out in the dark in the woods armed only with a flashlight when several people have already been killed and/or maimed by some mystery beast?

There is some beautiful writing in this book and obviously lots of research. But there's just too many things I didn't like about the story. Overall, a disappointing read.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

One thing I definitely learned from this book is that one should not undertake the reading of a novel with a boring, poorly-written first three chapters while on pain medication. I was having the book read to me, and I couldn't keep myself awake amidst the descriptions of old architectural terms and silly descriptions of the recurrant characters.
That being said, when I got about a hundred pages in, the book began to occupy the space of what I guess is a "page-turner". It's not fantastic, but it made me interested, until the sort of dumb twist-ending, which made me wish I had stopped about twenty pages earlier.
A large part of what I found bad about this book is that it's a sequel, and therefore assumes I care about the characters when I do not. Maybe I would, had I read the first book, but I have my doubts.

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second book of the adventures of Mara, a canadian interior designer settled in Dordogne, France. In the first book she was investigating about her sister's unsolved death, starting from the discovery of some orchids photographs. Now she's back, after more than a year (but what happened during this time?). In the previous book I was anxious about the possible love story between Mara and Julian, an english man obsessed by orchids. In this book we don't have an explanation of what happened between them in the last year, just a couple of lines. They keep fighting for stupid arguments all over the book... I really don't like the way the author has choosen for them.
By the way, I enjoyed the story, even if in my opinion the search of the perfect orchid begins to be a little bit boring.

[Nancy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't give up on many books, but I just thought this was not worth pursuing. This book was on a "to share" shelf in my neighborhood and I was looking for something to read. . . often, it is a great way to stumble on a new author , or a genre you wouldn't select on your own. Not this time.

The concept was fine: a mystery set in The Dordogne with a horticutural twist. But, I just found the writing, the characters and the plot lacking. To call this a "literary mystery" (as the publisher did) is far, far too generous. Let's just say I'll pass on this series and leave it at that.

[Lisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book received some good reviews, but I thought the writing was too self-reverential. I kept losing the plot line in its look-at-me-I-can-write descriptive asides and the awkward inclusion of french sayings/translations. I kept trying to finish the book, but in the end decided it wasn't worth the effort.

[Cori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I didn't really like or really dislike this book. It was a mystery set in present day france, but part of the mystery was set in the past. It just didn't really draw me in and I wasn't a fan of the writing.

[Vionna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The plot was very flat. The mystery of the baby killed a couple of centuries ago was, realistically, never going to solved. To add to that,the world of werewolves reared it head. The characters were fairly interesting.

[H.L. Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good follow up to her initial book, the Orchid Shroud follows the relationship between Mara and Julian, amateur sleuths, as they solve murders and continue looking for Julian's elusive mystery orchid.

[Wendy Hearder-moan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The orchid stuff was quite interesting, especially as we had been talking about Cypripedium at a recent Orchid Society meeting. I also enjoyed the jaunt through the Dordogne. The 18th century werewolves, not so much! But I learned something about lycanthropy.

[Shui · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read.

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

A mindless mystery

[Tammy]

Recommended in the book, Tolstoy and the Purple Chair.

[Anneleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nederlandse titel: Het Raadsel van de Dordogne.

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meest infantiele en nietszeggende vertaling van de oorspronkelijke titel The orchid shroud.. de rest van het boek redelijk maar beetje flauw vakantievermaak

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plot was a bit too complicated so it was work to keep up, but overall a great mystery.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it and learned a lot about orchids.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and engrossing from the start but the characters left something to be desired.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite a departure from the first book in my opinion, but still an enjoyable read all told.

[Roberta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in Dordogne.