Death and Croissants

Follet Valley Mysteries #1

by Ian Moore

Wo ist Monsieur Grandchamps? Wer hat etwas zu verbergen im Val de Follet? Und was hat das Huhn mit alldem zu tun? Richard ist Engländer, und eigentlich will er einfach seine Ruhe. Seit ein paar Jahren führt er eine kleine Pension im französischen Loiretal – dort passiert absolut nie etwas, und das ist wunderbar so. Bis eines Tages einer seiner Gäste der alte Monsieur Grandchamps. Was er zurücklässt, ist nicht mehr und nicht weniger als ein blutiger Handabdruck.
Fast zeitgleich bezieht die beeindruckende Madame Valérie d'Orcay eines der Zimmer, inklusive Hündchen in der Handtasche. Und erstaunlicherweise interessiert sie sich sehr für das Verschwinden des Monsieurs. Während Richard eigentlich schnellstmöglich zur Tagesordnung zurückkehren möchte, ist er auf einmal Teil eines schrägen Ermittlungsteams – und spätestens als es seiner Lieblingshenne Ava Gardner an den Kragen geht, wird es auch für ihn persönlich … Ein Buch zum Hineinstolpern, herzlich Lachen, Mitgerissenwerden. Richard Ainsworth ist ein Held, genau wie wir ihn jetzt brauchen. Versprochen.  

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Cozy Mystery, Audiobook, France, Mystery Thriller

Audible Audio

First published July 1, 2021

About the author

Best-Selling author Ian Moore is also a stand-up comedian and conference host in the UK, and husband, father of three boys, farmhand, chutney-maker and Basil Fawlty impersonator in France. Since doing less stand-up, he's stopped taking himself so seriously.

Reviews

[Jessie Turner · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really don't know who this was written for. Other middle-aged men that can somehow relate to our sodden flannel of a protagonist, who thinks he is much funnier than he is and views women like he's a pubescent boy? Also, who killed the chicken?

[Terrie Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Death and Croissants" by Ian Moore is a Humorous and Cozy Murder Mystery.

Ex-Pat Brit, Richard Ainsworth is the proprietor of a B&B in Val de Follet, a quiet corner of the Loire Valley in France. Richard is also dull and a bit boring. He likes things dull and boring. That's what he likes best about his early retirement as he tends to his guests by avoiding eye contact and blending into the background. Passive aggressive customer service in its finest form!

The highlight of Richard's day is feeding his hens, Lana Turner, Joan Crawford and Ava Gardner. He also enjoys watching old movies and drinking whiskey. This man loves his whiskey! And, the quiet life!

Everything changes when beautiful and alluring Frenchwoman, Valérie Dorçay comes for a stay at the B&B. Suddenly Richard is swept into helping Valérie solve the mysterious disappearance of another guest. Life is anything but dull and boring for Richard now! Will his head ever stop spinning? Will he ever figure out what the heck is going on?

This book is described as an "Unputdownable mystery...", but I put it down many times. It has lots of quirky characters, which I love, but I didn't connect with any of them. I tend to lose interest if I don't care about the characters.

The premise was creative but it didn't hold my interest and my mind kept wandering to other things every time I read. Nine days is a good long time to spend reading a 230 page book, right? My preference is to not 'DNF' an ARC. I was tempted to with this one. There were too many moving parts and 'less is more', especially for a book of this length.

What I did like was the humor. I found sections quite comical and subtle. I love humor that makes me giggle and smile as I read. This book has that. I tried to love it overall, but I just didn't.

2.5 stars rounded up to 3 stars based on the 'humor factor'! Ian Moore is also a comedian.

Thank you to BookSirens, Farrago Books and Ian Moore for a free digital ARC of this book. This is my honest and voluntary review.

[Sandysbookaday (taking a step back for a while) · Rating 3 out of 5]

EXCERPT: 'So what have you decided?' She sat down on the bench and he sat back down beside her.

'I've decided that I don't like being pushed around.'

'Who's pushing you around?'

'You are.'

'I am not.'

'Yes you are.' She looked hurt. 'Look, it's not your fault, not really. I'm very easy to push around, but it's Ava Gardner here who's paid the price.'

'I don't think I've pushed you around at all.'

'Oh, you have. You and everyone else I know.' He sighed wearily. 'All I want is a quiet life, but what happens is you end up just being dragged along by other people's whims. I don't blame you as such, but in a very short space of time, I've lost a guest, very possibly murdered - in your opinion - possibly more than once, if what the Thompsons told you is correct. And two Italian killers - in your opinion - are sending me hen-based mafia death warnings.'

ABOUT 'DEATH AND CROISSANTS': Richard is a middle-aged Englishman who runs a B&B in the fictional Val de Follet in the Loire Valley. Nothing ever happens to Richard, and really that’s the way he likes it.

One day, however, one of his older guests disappears, leaving behind a bloody handprint on the wallpaper. Another guest, the exotic Valérie, persuades a reluctant Richard to join her in investigating the disappearance.

Richard remains a dazed passenger in the case until things become really serious and someone murders Ava Gardner, one of his beloved hens ... and you don’t mess with a fellow’s hens!

MY THOUGHTS: There is considerably more death than there are croissants.

I loved the setting of this humourous cosy murder mystery. Set in a B&B in the Loire Valley. A hapless ex-pat Brit is drawn into a search for a missing guest after finding a bloody handprint on the bedroom wall, and a pair of broken spectacles. He is aided and abetted, or rather bossed about and led by a beautiful and strong willed Frenchwoman, Valerie de Orcay.

My favourite character was Madame Tablier, the indomitable and irreverent housekeeper, followed closely by Richard's hens, Ava Gardner, Lana Turner, and Katharine Hepburn. I also enjoyed Richard's obsession with vintage movies, but there were times that I felt the author had 'overdone' the characters, making them more caricatures than relatable people. And that, I think is part of the problem. I really didn't care about any of the characters, and at times Death and Croissants read more like a 'Carry On' novel than a cosy murder mystery.

I have read a lot of this genre lately and unreservedly enjoyed them, but I am afraid that Death and Croissants fell a little short of the mark in comparison. I have to disagree with its description as an unputdownable mystery. I put it down several times, sometimes for days on end.

While I wasn't tempted at any point to not finish this, it did seem like a much longer read than it actually is. I don't think I will be reading any more of this series.

⭐⭐.6

#DeathandCroissants #NetGalley

I: #ianmoore @farragobooks

T: @MonsieurLeMoore @farragobooks

#contemporaryfiction #cosymystery #murdermystery

THE AUTHOR: Ian is an English stand up comedian who lives in rural France and spends most of his time travelling grumpily between the two while his family grows and his wife adopts every maladjusted animal in the area.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Farrago Books via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of Death and Croissants by Ian Moore for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review and others are also published on Twitter, Amazon, and my webpage https://sandysbookaday.wordpress.com/...

[Elisabeth Howell · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the most annoying book I’ve ever read. Plot makes no sense, the main character has absolutely no interest in solving the crime, and you don’t really care who did it. And the final reveal has nothing to do with what’s been going on and seems extremely over the top. Very disappointing.

[Stephen · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is distressing to think that more books in this series are planned.

[Sid Nuncius · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m afraid that, despite warm endorsements from a lot of comedians whom I like very much, I didn’t like Death And Croissants.

Richard, a middle-aged ex-pat Brit, runs a small B&B in the Loire Valley. A guest disappears mysteriously, leaving some bloodstained clues and Richard is reluctantly strongarmed into investigating by a forceful and glamorous Frenchwoman who is also a guest. It’s mildly amusing in places (with the occasional strong whiff of A Year In Provence), but I’m afraid I found it slow and rather tedious with some very laboured humour. Richard himself is an insipid protagonist which is intended to fuel a lot of the humour, but it just didn’t for me so I was left with an uninspiring character in slow, not-very-interesting story which wasn’t nearly as funny as it wanted to be.

I’m sorry to be critical, but I just got fed up and gave up around half way through. It’s possible that I missed a comic masterpiece in the second half, but I doubt it somehow. Farrago do an excellent job in bringing us a lot of both new and neglected humorous writing, much of which I have enjoyed very much. This one, though, wasn’t for me.

(My thanks to Farrago for an ARC via NetGalley.)

[The Sassy Bookworm]

Calling it a day on this one. It just wasn't holding my interest. It happens. 🤷🏻‍♀️ On to my next read!

[Jackie Watts · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unengaging mystery in which B+B owner Richard is persuaded by alluring female stereotype Valerie to investigate the disappearance of an elderly guest and the death of a chicken. And I'm not sure we ever get a satisfactory explanation of who killed the chicken, or why.
It wouldn't usually take me five days to read a 278-page novel but this one proved surprisingly putdownable. Part of the problem is the charmless Richard, a man with a DVD collection instead of a personality and the emotional range of a potted plant. He could quite easily have been killed off at any point in the proceedings and neither he nor I would have cared. The other characters are also pretty unrelatable, and the women in particular are little more than caricatures. The French setting is bizarrely unevocative and the plot is plain silly. All of this could probably have been saved had the hilarity promised on the cover actually materialised - I'm not sure whether I just couldn't summon up the goodwill to be amused or whether this book isn't as funny as it thinks it is but, sadly, I never managed more than an occasional wry smile.

[Lady Clementina ffinch-ffarowmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

My thanks to Farrago Books and NetGalley for a review copy of this book.

Death and Croissants is the first of the Follet Valley Mysteries and is a crazy, quirky, comic, and slightly over the top cosy mystery. In the book, we meet Richard Ainsworth, a middle-aged Englishman who has moved to the bucolic Loire Valley where he runs a Bed and Breakfast or rather a chambre d’hote. Richard is dejected, slightly boring even, and his only interest in life is old movies, so much so that the hens in his establishment are named after actresses—Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth and Lana Turner. He is estranged from his stylish wife Clare who found nothing to keep her in France and has returned to England. Life goes on monotonously for him, most days being pretty much the same, only his cantankerous (but observant) cleaning lady, Madame Tablier for company.

But one morning Richard’s life turns topsy-turvy. A guest at the B&B, old man Grandchaps has gone missing leaving a bloody handprint on his room wall (also broken, blood covered specs as they later find), and while Richard is inclined to leave the matter alone (why should it bother him?), another guest, the glamorous, beautiful and domineering Valerie d’Orcay decides they must investigate, and browbeats Richard into agreement. (He becomes more keen on joining in when Ana Gardner is targeted). At first it seems like Richard is simply being dragged all over the place by the (over) enthusiastic Valerie—trying to track Grandchamps to his village (where an interesting surprise awaits them), following clues, and suspects (among them, an Italian couple), but before long he realises that this is the most fun he’s ever had in his life. But yes, there is a murder to solve, and the danger that can put them into is very real!

This was a fun, crazy read with everything from cranky twins (or at least one crank among them), a not-so-bright (or so it would seem) village policeman, swingers, dubious dealings, the Italian mafia, a mysterious Texan (complete with hat), hens, chimpanzees, and also a chihuahua called Passepartout! As you can well make out, the characters are (as they sound) pretty eccentric, their antics crazy, but at the same time, (as I was glad to see) the mystery is very real. Not only that, there are quite a few twists and turns along the way, a nice fat one particularly that I didn’t see coming, so I enjoyed it very much indeed (some of my guesses was not completely on track either, right but in a different way than I’d thought). But like another reviewer has also said, we never do discover who it was that killed poor Ava Gardener!

Given’s Richard’s love of films, all the references to old movies were good fun and I liked the idea of Richard considering himself the equivalent of IMDB before it existed. I also loved the reference to The Avengers and Mrs Peel, especially because lately whenever I see the Avengers referenced, it ends up being the Marvel Comics one, not the old series and film (that was equally quirky and crazy but one I enjoyed very much but really, I’m digressing now).

The humour and the quirky characters were great fun for the most part, but may be a bit over the top sometimes. Still I liked both Richard and Valerie (and the dog Passepartout) very much, and look forward to their further adventures.

I wish Valerie did like cats though!

The title releases on 1st July 2021

[Marta · Rating 3 out of 5]

I ran across this on Audible as one they recommended for fans of The Thursday Murder club. It did not have that subtitle - only Goodreads has it and it is ridiculous, I would have skipped it if I have seen it.

This is definitely NOT anywhere near The Thursday Murder Club. I was pleasantly surprised by the good writing in Ian Moore’s work, the entertaining set of characters, the descriptions of the setting and sleepy life of the small French town. There was a definite sense of compassionate humor towards our middle-aged, put-upon protagonist, Robert, who wants only to run his bed and breakfast, watch his old movies, and raise chickens named after old movie stars. When a bloody handprint and a French femme fatale drag him out of his misery, he finally gets some long overdue excitement in his life.

The characters and setup are rather fun, except for the creepy older middle-aged couple, who are way overdone. The book is from Robert’s point of view, but the author makes one jarring exception to switch to Valerie, just to get a very offputting scene in with the naked Thompsons, which should have been left out for many reasons.

The plot is all over the place and has holes you can drive a semi-truck through. There is a mystery and it is sort of solved but it does not fit with the early clues and leaves much unexplained. For example, there is a large sum of money involved but we never know why. Ava Gardner, the hen, dies a gruesome death early on, but it is not explained. Neither are the first clues in the novel, the bloody handprint, the broken glasses, and why the old man was checking into hotels in a certain order and leaving them behind without payment. The motivations are extremely thin, especially why would Valerie drag Robert with her when he clearly just slows her down. And who is Valerie, after all?

This is probably more like 2.5, because it seems like an editor should have been able to tell the writer to fix those obvious plotholes. However, the writing, the setting, and Robert’s character and marital issues, are way better than what would normally go with such an undercooked plot. Ian Moore, the author, also narrates the book, and he is surprisingly very good at it. So I give it three stars, because my enjoyment level was roughly balanced out by the annoyment level.

[Aisha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Light hearted read. Definitely in the same lane as The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. So if you didn't like that book you can steer clear of this.

This book has too many loopholes in the plot. It is intended to be laugh out loud kind of funny and is silly in places. But I wish the plot was smarter and characters had a little more depth.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Death and Croissants is the first in Ian Moore's cosy mystery series featuring British expat Richard Ainsworth, the middle-aged proprietor of a chambre d'hôte (B&B) in the (fictional) Follet Valley - a "quiet corner" of the popular Loire Valley region in France.

Recently-separated Richard is trying to hold things together as he manages the running of his accommodation business, Les Vignes. A former film historian who loathes IMdB with a passion, Richard likes nothing better than to commune with his chickens, avoid sexually-adventurous fellow Britons and B&B proprietors Martin and Gennie Thompson, and live a relatively ordered life. With the assistance of his irascible and formidable femme de ménage (domestic help) Madame Tablier, he's just about coping. Then all hell breaks loose - an elderly guest - Monsieur Grandchamps - goes missing from his room at Les Vignes, leaving only a bloody handprint on the tiled wall of his ensuite bathroom and a broken pair of spectacles. Worse, Richard's favourite chicken, Ava Gardner, is senselessly slaughtered in her run soon afterwards. Is this a warning, and who exactly is - or was - the mysterious M. Grandchamps?

Another guest, the rather fabulous Valérie d'Orçay - "[she] dominated the room the way Cleopatra dominated Egypt." - sashays onto the scene on cue, encouraging Richard to buck up and solve the mystery. Together, they pursue leads in and around the Loire Valley, identifying M. Grandchamps' estranged brother - a retired judge - and tracking the missing man's last movements. Ripped from the rut in which he'd been existing, Richard finds he's secretly revelling in the adventures Valérie leads him on, as their madcap adventures take them on a chase through the streets of Tours, on a Loire Valley pleasure cruise, an escape from a pleasure dungeon and into a confrontation with a pair of mafia assassins.

Death and Croissants is a light and entertaining romp, which I'd characterise as Peter Mayle meets Agatha Raisin. Featuring diffident Richard and flamboyant Valerie as an unlikely detecting duo, this promises to be the start of a great series.

I'd recommend Death and Croissants to any reader who enjoys action-packed cosy mysteries, especially those with Francophile tendencies and/or a love of classic cinema.

My thanks to the author, Ian Moore, publisher Poisoned Pen Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.

[Javier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review published in: https://diagnosisbookaholic.blogspot....

3,5 ⭐️

Death and croissants is the first installment in the Follet Valley Mystery series. I’ve read lots of cozy mysteries but none set in France so, that and the gorgeous cover (a croissant and a dead hen?!) convinced me to give this one a chance.

It stars Richard, a British ex-pat running a B&B in the Loire Valley turned reluctant amateur sleuth when one of his guests goes missing and another one, Valérie D’Orcay, compels him to investigate.

The characters are the strong point in this story. They’re eccentric, witty, quirky…Some of them were a bit OTT but that was part of their charm. Richard’s British sarcasm made me chuckle more than once. The whole cast of characters was well drawn and they made a really interesting bunch.

With some surreal characters and situations (Richard’s hens are named Lana Turner, Joan Crawford and Ava Gardner) the humor is one of the main ingredients of the novel. The weakest part in my opinion was the mystery itself. For a cozy mystery it was a bit convoluted at times and the fact that sometimes the reader is just told some crucial facts of the investigation without knowing or seeing how the characters found out about them did not help.

Entertaining mystery with some charming and crazy characters that results in a lighthearted and amusing read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Farrago Books for providing an eARC in exchange for an hones review.

[Dan · Rating 1 out of 5]

There was little to like in ANY of the characters in this book. Richard is an insipid, flaccid, drab man with few redeeming features. And the final line made me audibly groan and slam the book shut.

This could go on a shelf of books under the theme of "middle aged men writing their aspirational lives into exotic locations with exotic women".

And to edit... Wtf happened to the chicken?

[Alayne Emmett · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a lovely, funny book to read. Very relaxing and it just made me laugh. It read a little like a cozy mystery. This would make a good tv series which I enjoy watching. The characters were so funny even the miserable ones. I hope this is the start of a long series. My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. To be honest I wasn’t expecting this to be as good as it is. Very well written, great story and some very funny episodes.

Good enough to head straight to the sequel!

[Thomas Ravenscroft · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book has one of my favorite opening lines but that was where it peaked.

[Kimmy C · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 27%
This was touted for ‘fans of the Thursday Murder Club’, so I requested it as I did enjoy the geriatric romp through the seedy underbelly of life. However, as it progressed, I was doing nothing but punishing myself, when there are so many more worthwhile books out there.
Set in a fictional French town (a tick for me, and stars for the descriptions), the jaded proprietor of a B&B gets caught up in a disappearance, and I can only congratulate Monsieur Grandchamps for having the prescience to exit the story so early on. Richard, the Brit expat owner, doesn’t seem to care about the disappearance of one of his guests, so therefore, neither should we. I’m sure with a different writing style, Richard (and his sidekick Valérie) could be the heroes of the olden days film that perhaps the writer had in mind, but for me, it just fell flat. It’s possibly for some people, but I am not her. Half a star awarded though for the introduction of the creepy other expat B&B owners, Martin and Gennie, they added a bit of humour to the story.
With thanks to NetGalley and Farrago books for a copy.

[Kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first thing I noticed when I started reading this book was how deliberately quirky it was written. Death and Croissants deliberately comes across as a cosy murder mystery very quickly and tells you from chapter 1 what it is that you can expect. What is the start of a new murder mystery series titled the “Folley Valley Mysteries” series, presents its readers with a cast of unique, bizarre characters that managed to make what turns out to be a rather soft murder case at least a bit more interesting.

Richard Ainsworth is a proud Englishman and owner of a Bed and Breakfast in a rural area of France. He’s middle-aged (not so proudly), in the middle of a divorce and currently living his life on a day-to-day basis. In the mornings he oversees his guests’ breakfast, always hoping to come across as disengaged enough to unobtrusively blend into the background, while his afternoons and evenings are usually spent drinking wine and feeling a bit sorry for himself. All that changed with the arrival of Valérie d’Orcay, a gorgeous whirlwind of a woman who is just a little too interested in the bloody handprint found in the room of one of Richard’s guests. The man himself has vanished, leaving behind only the handprint and a pair of smashed glasses. Unwillingly, and very reluctantly, Richard is pulled into the investigations of just what happened to his gentleman guest and who murdered Ava Gardner, his beloved hen?

I more or less requested this on a whim. I was looking for something similar to The Marlow Murder Club, something with preferably a lot of murders but set in a small town. Death and Croissants delivered on that front, but it turned out that the book was more interested in establishing and developing its quirky characters than in setting up an ‘unputdownable’ murder mystery.

The mystery of what exactly happened to the elderly gentleman, of who the beautiful and mysterious Valérie is and who is targeting Richard’s hens (all named after famous Golden Age actresses) is cute and entertaining in a low-key kind of way. Halfway through, however, I found myself sort of stopping to care ‘whodunnit’ and realised I was mainly continuing to read because of Richard and Valérie’s dynamic.

On their own, each character comes across as a bit over the top at times, just a bit too much like a caricature. Richard really doesn’t care for the sudden disappearance of one of his guests (even though it’s clear that something is amiss) so, as another reviewer put it “neither should we”. Valérie is awesome but you can just tell that she is a female main character written by a man. There was always this “Kill Bill/ femme fatale” air that surrounded her and at one point, Richard even compared her to Emma Peel from The Avengers who is just that. She’s given so many supposedly badass characteristics (of course she has also been married and divorced at least 4 times) but ends up being a female stereotype of a “strong woman”. 🙄🙄

It was when those two were together, however, that I very much enjoyed myself. Valérie and Richard are such polar opposites: the stiff Englishman who doesn’t want any excitement in his life and the French woman who drives a yellow sportscar, happens to know self-defence as well as how to handle guns and who owns a little chihuahua called Passepartout.

Nevertheless, I rooted for these two to have more quiet and intimate moments with each other because it’s clear that Richard likes her and is interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with her. I just can’t help rooting for middle-aged people to fall in love. It’s all about the yearning, folks.

Very minor spoilers: their very softly hinted at ‘will-they-won’t-they’ relationship is what kept me going so that I finished the book in three days, even though I was left a tiny bit disappointed with where Valérie and Richard’s dynamic seemed to be going.

Unfortunately, I was left cold by the solving of the murder. While the middle part seemed to drag a bit, the ending moved way too quickly for my taste and there were too many unresolved plot points. It’s never said who killed Richard’s hen, Ava Gardner. The function of the bloody handprints and smashed glasses left behind at not only Richard’s BnB but at other hotels as well was never explained. There is no reason for Valérie to drag Richard along with her because he clearly slows her down all the time. This could have been explained by them forming a strong(er) bond or connection, but she spends most of her time mildly annoyed by his being slow on the uptake. And I have no idea how the two different sums of head money came about. In the end, the plot wasn’t written sharply enough to not confuse readers with its inevitable conclusion.

This book simply doesn’t have the depth and loving warmth of either The Thursday Murder Club or The Marlow Murder Club and it’s trying too hard not to take itself too seriously, which it fails at. The characters have potential, especially if the author allowed them to get closer, but they, as well as the plot, are in desperate need of honing.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for granting me an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Elaine Tomasso · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would like to thank Netgalley and Farrago Books for an advance copy of Death and Croissants, the first novel to feature Bed and Breakfast owner Richard Ainsworth, set in the Loire Valley.

Richard is enjoying a quiet early retirement, running a B&B and watching old movies, but that changes when he finds a bloody handprint in one of the bedrooms and no sign of the guest. Persuaded by another guest, the glamorous Valérie Dorçay, to investigate he soon finds himself caught up in all sorts, the mafia, nudity and murder most fowl.

I thoroughly enjoyed Death and Croissants, which is a fun, lighthearted read with a genuine mystery at it’s heart. It is told entirely from Richard’s point of view and that’s the source of much of the humour as Richard is a put upon 53 year old Englishman with a rather naive world view. I don’t know anything about the middle class South of England mindset, so I assume that what I took to be a rather cruel portrayal of an unassuming man will resonate with readers who understand it.

It’s the same idea as The Thursday Murder Club and while I wouldn’t read another one in that series I will read this series again. This novel has a sparkle and verve that is appealing, both in the dialogue and the comedic plotting. Swingers and the Mafia in the rural Loire Valley? Pure gold. Then there’s all the crossing and double crossing, sundry motives and secrets. It’s a caper that is cleverly and humorously executed and which had me fooled most of the time.

Death and Croissants is a good read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

[Anna]

Treated myself to a DNF.

This book felt like it was written by an old man, and I didn't relate to it or understand the references or jokes one bit.
The lead man was like... a limp, wet handshake of a person, and the lead woman was frustratingly rude, which I worry was just going to be portrayed as "spunky".
It felt very much like a man was writing a "Strong woman", and to do that had to make her overbearing, insensitive, dismissive, and then say it was all ok because she was attractive, and he was bland enough to let it happen.

Everyone else was a caricature so ridiculous I couldn't see the paper because my eyes were too busy rolling in my head.

I tried to push through for the fact that is was only like 300 pages, but I wasn't even engaged in the mystery. In fact, I don't even know why they were getting involved in the mystery except for the fact that the lead woman was pushing herself into other people's business.

I didn't finish, so I don't think it's fair to give it a star rating.

[Diane · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some of the jokes were almost funny so at some point I debated giving this two stars. But then I spent the entire book rooting for the death of the main character (what an utterly unlikeable man) and the reveal was so unrealistic that I decided against it.

Maybe it’s because I had to force myself to keep reading this and not check my phone every two pages, but the story and especially the reveal made absolutely no sense to me. What did the swingers add to the story? Why was the mafia involved? What was the need to make Valerie a freaking bounty hunter? WHO KILLED THE DAMN CHICKEN?

This was worse than a Netflix original movie and the worst thing is that this could’ve gone
somewhere logical and better if the author had thought about any of it for more than five seconds. But unfortunately, he didn’t.

[Lucy Pillinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poor man’s Thursday Murder Club

[Sonia Cristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Que livro tão palerma😁. A primeira metade foi completamente sem jeito, não me atraiu por aí além. Do enredo, não percebia nada do que se passava. Uma hóspede que leva o dono de uma pousada numa busca por outro hóspede desaparecido? Assim, do nada? Uma coisa estranhíssima e sem nexo.

A segunda metade já teve mais piada, apesar de que eu continuava sem perceber o que se passava. Às vezes parecia até que faltavam frases para ligar as passagens, as mudanças - de lugar, como passaram daqui para acolá, que aconteceu para os levar lá.

Envolve um velho desaparecido, um gémeo, máfia, galinhas, recompensa, perseguições, sem esquecer fetichismo.

Era muito engraçado como Valérie manipulava Richard e ele, bobo, a seguia. Que remédio!😆

Engraçadito mas não deixa marca. Ainda fez rir um bocado, por isso, já valeu a pena.

[Jamie Loves Books · Rating 2 out of 5]

** 2.5 Stars (rounded up to 3, for Ava Gardner) **

Sadly this book just wasn't for me. I was really looking forward to it after reading other cozy mysteries. Unfortunately this one fell a bit flat.

I will say through the whole hen scene and hens was gold. *chefs kiss* I was dying over the hens, Lana Turner, Joan Crawford, and Ava Gardner. This was just so good.

Thank you to Net Galley, Farrago Books, and Ian Moore for the opportunity to read this R Arc. My review is voluntarily.

[Grace Convertino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Richard Ainsworth is a middle-aged British ex-pat who runs a bed and breakfast in the beautiful Loire Valley of France. He is a loner who lives a rather dull existence, and frankly, that’s the way he prefers it. Richard is a film buff, or rather a film historian, incensed at the idea that there is a website designed to have all filmography at the touch of a button. He believes that cinema is the equivalent of therapy: “Everything he needed by way of explanation, support, definition and all-round rocket-up-the-backsidery had come from the cinema. And right now he felt let down and betrayed, and that called for film noir…” On Sunday evening, the Rizzolis, a young newlywed couple from Italy and a beautiful woman from Paris named Valérie D’Orçay had signed in as guests in the B & B. On Monday morning, a regular customer named Vincent Grandchamps disappeared. The only things left behind were the elderly man’s bloody handprint on the wall and his bloodied eyeglasses in the bathroom trashcan. To Richard’s dismay, Valérie wants to investigate the disappearance, and wants Richard to assist her in doing so. To say he’s reluctant to accompany her is an understatement, and he takes a backseat in the investigation until the murder of one of his beloved hens, Ava Gardener, found hung in the coop. No one messes with a man’s hen, and Richard is incensed.

What a wonderful, funny, enjoyable romp of a cozy mystery! There is so much wry and dry British humor in the pages, making the novel thoroughly enjoyable. The cast of eccentric characters is stellar: the mafia couple, the crotchety old judge, the swinging neighbors, and the crusty cleaning lady, Madame Tablier. “Richard had “inherited” Madame Tablier when he and his wife, Clare, had bought the business a couple of years before. She tottered permanently on the edge of outrage; swore relentlessly in front of the guests, who she regarded en masse as an unnecessary, germ-infested, stain-creating evil; and appeared, on the face of things, to hate the world so much that “Sweet death, take me now” could have been the motto on her blemish-free apron instead of “Je place le bonheur au-dessous de tout,” roughly translated as “I place happiness above all else,” and surely bought in jest.” (locations 146 & 159 of 3594). Adding to the humor is Richard’s view of mornings, especially when that is when all the work must be done in a “bed and breakfast.” “It wasn’t that Richard Ainsworth was in a bad mood necessarily, just that he found mornings difficult. Trying would be a better word. He found mornings trying, something to be endured before reaching the slightly less trying afternoons and evenings. Mornings are the cold, filthy foot bath you’re forced to step through before you’re allowed into the warmth and relative cleanliness of the public swimming pool.” (location 55 of 3594) The novel is page-turning, has something for everyone, and plenty of twists to keep the reader entertained. I heartily recommend this heart-warming cozy mystery to all fans of the genre!

I’d like to thank NetGalley, Ian Moore, and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

[Weatherwax · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entzückend!

Humorvoll, gemächlich und der Fall ist eigentlich nebensächlich. Die inneren Monologe des Protagonisten haben es mir angetan :)

Richard führt ein beschauliches, vielleicht sogar eintöniges Leben. In diesem ersten Band einer hoffentlich langen Cosy-Crime-Reihe wird ihm Elan und frischer Atem eingehaucht. Bezaubernd :)

Für Thrillerlieberhaber:innen ist das hier nichts. Auch nicht für Leser:innen, die lange kulinarische oder geographische Beschreibungen lieben.

Aber für mich, da war es ein erfrischender whodunnit-Start ins neue Jahr!

✨🤚👓🐔✨

[Ler aos poucos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Li este título e pensei imediatamente: “Quero ler”, adoro este livros cozy mystery.

Passado no romântico vale do Loire, o chamado “jardim da França”… quem diria que neste ambiente idílico um crime iria ser cometido. Ainda para mais na pousada de Richard, um inglês de meia idade, que se refugiou naquela região na busca de sossego para escrever o seu romance.

Richard vê a sua vida de pernas para o ar, e de repente, parece que está a viver um dos filmes que tanto adora. É uma personagem muito engraçada, muito ingénua e é sempre o último a perceber o que se está a passar.

Já Valérie, uma hóspede da pousada de Richard, é o oposto, cativante e enérgica, é mesmo o que ele precisa para apimentar os seus dias.

A empregada da pousada é uma personagem super cómica e os vizinhos excêntricos são a cereja no topo do bolo.

É uma leitura divertida e leve, ideal para umas boas gargalhadas e perfeita para um fim de semana descontraído.

[8stitches 9lives · Rating 4 out of 5]

Death and Croissants is the first instalment in the Follet Valley Mystery series set in France and inspired by Moore's very own B&B in the Loire Valley. It's a charming comedy murder mystery featuring reluctant, out of his depth amateur sleuth Richard Ainsworth. Richard is a British ex-pat in his late-fifties who moved to France for a quiet early retirement and is estranged from his wife, Clare, who was once by his side in his rustic Loire Valley chambre d’hote venture but returned home to England shortly after. He also has a disillusioned 27-year-old daughter, Alicia, who has become indifferent to her father's presence in her life. He loves the small pleasures, lives a fairly mundane, ordered existence and has that stereotypical British stoicism in which the stiff upper lip must be maintained at all times. He also has the classic sardonic, self-deprecating humour we Brits tend to favour. Disinterested in many normal hobbies of men of a certain age, Richard has two loves in his life: old movies, and cinematography, especially those from the Golden Age of Hollywood and his beloved girls - a brood of hens who he names after his favourite prominent actresses. For being the old, cantankerous introvert that he is and given his preference for a relaxed and boring lifestyle with few surprises, it makes you wonder why exactly he had chosen the astute, loudly opinionated, profanity-spouting Madame Tablier as the establishment's cleaner given they are like chalk and cheese.

When one of the older guests, Monsieur Grandchamps, vanishes and has seemingly left a worrying bloody handprint on the bedroom wall close to the en suite bathroom and a smashed pair of glasses, surprisingly Richard isn't too interested in solving the mystery and is more concerned about it permanently staining the wallpaper than anything else; that is until the glamorous, dominating presence of femme fatale Valérie d'Orçay compels him to act and he is exposed to a mysterious world of crime. But a short time later, adding to the farcical nature of the plot, things become really serious when someone murders Ava Gardner, one of Richard's hens. The disappearance of a guest is one thing, but you just don’t mess with a fellow’s hens! This is a compelling, madcap and entertaining cosy mystery with a wonderful charm to it and both cheeky wit and humour throughout. It is the perfect summer pick-me-up and pokes some fun at the British in an amusing fashion all set against the searing heat of the French countryside and featuring rich descriptions of the landscape, people and the delicious cuisine. It's a fun and sometimes surreal read and I felt the characters were some of the most quirky, idiosyncratic and beautifully painted I have encountered of late. If you enjoy lighthearted mysteries full of eccentricities then don't let this pass you by. I am already looking forward to reconciling with this delightful, unforgettable cast. Highly recommended.

[Viola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ja patīk britu humors, Francijas ēdieni un klasiskais kīno, šī grāmata ir ideāla.