What do you think?
Rate this book
Stranded in Provence #1
Parlez-Vous Murder?
"My name is Jules Hooker. I have lived through a few crappy moments in my life—and with a name like Hooker, you can just imagine—but nothing, nothing, compares to the two intensely and world-shatteringly crappy things that happened to me this last June. Three, I guess, if you count Gilbert. After my boyfriend dumped me on the day I thought he was going to propose, I’d have to say two other really bad things happened last June. The first would have to be the dead body I discovered in the rental house in France where I went to get over being dumped. The second—and very possibly I should have led with this—was the dirty bomb that exploded over the Riviera throwing me and everyone else in France back to the 1950s. So now I’m stranded here—trying to make a living by solving murders the old fashioned way — without help from DNA, databases, CSI crime labs or the police. And I’m doing it in France. Where I do not speak the language. During the apocalypse. Sound like fun?"
242 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 3, 2017
1482 people are currently reading
1381 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 142 reviews
November 23, 2019
Okay, this is truly one of the strangest books I've read in a very long time. It starts off sounding like a cozy mystery. Jules Hooker's boyfriend has just dumped her instead of proposing, as Jules expected. Jules is heartbroken, but decides to go ahead and do the apartment swap she'd planned exchanging her place in Atlanta for a one in in Aix (hence, the "Provence" part of the "Stranded in Provence" series). When Jules arrives in Provence she learns the apartment is not in Aix, but in the tiny village of Chabenel (definitely not within walking distance of Aix). And instead of being luxurious the apartment is tiny, old-fashioned, and not in a great part of town. Jules decides she's not going to stay as long as planned, and will get an immediate return flight to Atlanta.
Things go downhill from there, when Jules discovers the body of a woman who was murdered right under her balcony. But as the police arrive to investigate, there's a bright flash, all of the electricity goes out, cars stop running (except for really old ones), and cellphones and computers no longer work! The villagers soon learn there's been a nuclear explosion (cause unknown as yet) that led to an EMP. Nothing will be the same. And Jules is definitely not going home.
The citizens soon learn it's not just Province, but worldwide. We get glimpses that things are bad in the U.S. (looting, rioting, and worse) thanks to a local ham operator. But in Chabenel, with lots of local farmers, cheese makers, etc., people continue to hang out in the cafes, drink coffee, drink wine, and enjoy a lot of good food at the market (although there are hints the boulangeries are running out of supplies).
Yes, this is a cozy mystery -- with definite hints of romance -- set in the new post-apocalyptic world. As Jules adjusts to the notion that she may be stuck in Chabenel forever she decides to investigate the death of the young woman, since the police are too busy maintaining order and doing PR.
This book is definitely not for everyone, as it's very odd. But despite the oddness -- or maybe because of it -- I found myself enjoying it, and downloaded the second in the series before I finished the first. I'm curious to see what happens with Jules and some of the other interesting residents of Chabenel.
Things go downhill from there, when Jules discovers the body of a woman who was murdered right under her balcony. But as the police arrive to investigate, there's a bright flash, all of the electricity goes out, cars stop running (except for really old ones), and cellphones and computers no longer work! The villagers soon learn there's been a nuclear explosion (cause unknown as yet) that led to an EMP. Nothing will be the same. And Jules is definitely not going home.
The citizens soon learn it's not just Province, but worldwide. We get glimpses that things are bad in the U.S. (looting, rioting, and worse) thanks to a local ham operator. But in Chabenel, with lots of local farmers, cheese makers, etc., people continue to hang out in the cafes, drink coffee, drink wine, and enjoy a lot of good food at the market (although there are hints the boulangeries are running out of supplies).
Yes, this is a cozy mystery -- with definite hints of romance -- set in the new post-apocalyptic world. As Jules adjusts to the notion that she may be stuck in Chabenel forever she decides to investigate the death of the young woman, since the police are too busy maintaining order and doing PR.
This book is definitely not for everyone, as it's very odd. But despite the oddness -- or maybe because of it -- I found myself enjoying it, and downloaded the second in the series before I finished the first. I'm curious to see what happens with Jules and some of the other interesting residents of Chabenel.
April 25, 2018
There were so many problems with this book. The biggest and most glaring issue is the confusion of genre. It’s a cozy murder mystery, but also a time traveling drama, but also an apocalyptic, fear-driven story, but also a romance. Let me just state I love when authors subvert your expectations of what should or should not be in a particular genre. However, this one just felt like a mess. The moment the murder mystery would start to get interesting, the story would focus more on the apocalyptic survival.
Because the book was so short (213 pages), that means most of the topics were focused on only shallowly. If the author had focused on just one of the big issues (such as the murder, or the bombing, or the romance), the plot’s focus would have come across more clear and exact.
Full review on my blog: https://madamewriterblog.com/2018/04/...
Because the book was so short (213 pages), that means most of the topics were focused on only shallowly. If the author had focused on just one of the big issues (such as the murder, or the bombing, or the romance), the plot’s focus would have come across more clear and exact.
Full review on my blog: https://madamewriterblog.com/2018/04/...
April 27, 2021
Not Bad
Cute, fun and easy. The case is tied up in a very very neat bow. A funny and colorful cozy mystery.
Cute, fun and easy. The case is tied up in a very very neat bow. A funny and colorful cozy mystery.
June 9, 2019
Cozy mysteries are not really my genre. I picked this because it was a free book and it had a question for a title. Something I needed for my reading challenge. It was a quick read and set in Paris which is always nice. The main character was likeable and there was an interesting plot twist when the power went out all over the world for an undetermined length of time. Overall, it was not a bad read.
March 11, 2021
Parlez-Vous Murder? Is about a woman from America who books a house exchange to a small French town with her boyfriend, after she is dumped by her boyfriend she still decides to take the trip. Our main character, Jules, stumbles across a dead body and before the police can properly investigate a worldwide power outage happens, which renders modern technology useless. As the police focus more on the power outage, Jules decides to take the murder investigation into her own hands and try to solve it.
This book was a frustrating read due to the fact that I liked no-one in this book. Both the main protagonists are just insufferable.
Let’s start with Jules as we are in her head most. She is so judgemental and hypocritical. When she finds the murder victim, when Luc, the police officer, arrives she starts talking about how attractive he is and it just feels out of place considering that she did just find a dead body. Jules seems to have no trouble trusting people who she perceives as good looking but seems to hold a lot of contempt for people she thinks are ugly and greasy looking. She also proceeds to judge a mother, who has just lost their daughter, because the mother suspects someone that Jules likes because he was nice to her, it also isn’t lost on me that the mother living on the poorer side of town and that she is a sex worker is mentioned to make her seem unlikable – no sympathy for a mother who has just lost her child and the police aren’t making it a top priority to solve the case. Further evidence to the ‘judging a book by its cover’ point (there are a lot), earlier she states that because of Hugo’s looks that he must be a serial killer and that she can judge by appearance because she is not the police, she then states that she believes in ‘innocent till proven guilty’ when Jim is seen as suspicious and that if the French don’t believe in ‘innocent till proven guilty’ then they need to, but why is she allowed to proclaim someone guilty because of how they look but other people aren’t (especially since it was because Jim was seen with the murder victim). Another character she judges based on looks is Thibault, he hasn’t done anything bad to Jules, in fact he has helped her and she continues to not like him and be repulsed by him because he has greasy hair, she only comes to like him because he has both a HAM radio and a car that can work and only realises, she was judgemental towards him when he leaves money to pay for their drinks. At another point in the book, she steals a bike to go to the canal and it gets stolen, she’s more annoyed by the fact that she now has to walk back town rather than feeling bad that someone now no longer has a bike, especially since most cars no longer work. Jules also causes an accident which has Katrine, a character that has been nice to Jules, injured and Jules proceeds to get frustrated at Katrine – she does later acknowledge this
“except, could I really bash into her bike, bloody her knee and then run off and not listen to her apology”
but she is more concerned about listening to Katrine’s apology rather than realising she herself needs to apologise. She is also kind of dumb, the world is in a blackout – no electricity, no phones, laptops, newer cars etc – she is burgled and sounds surprised that her food isn’t stolen as that would be considered valuable now but it’s not really, most of the book after the blackout talks about how the market is still stacked with food and that bakeries and cafes are still opened and have a lot of people going to them, so I don’t know why she is surprised that the food is still there but the flashlight, batteries, candles and money are gone as in reality that is what people are going to need the most. She also confronts a murderer and is surprised they intend to kill her. Idiot.
Now let’s talk about Luc. He seems to think that he is the only one that can be right and his opinions matter more, he seems to dislike Matteo for simply caring about the people of Chabanel and their worries during a global blackout and I’m just confused as to why, isn’t it Luc’s job to care about the people and what they need? Also has one of my least favourite quotes in the book
“she was moving quickly, purposefully. But then she was American. That’s how they all move until they start to gain weight”
Just … why??
He was just a really bland, dismissive character who didn’t really add anything to the story. Yawn.
Now onto the book as a whole. I feel like is could’ve used a bit more editing, at one point (after the massive blackout) Luc is looking at a blank screen but then later has to scramble to cover sensitive material on his laptop, earlier it was shown that even if you had a fully charged laptop before the blackout that is still wouldn’t work, so I’m confused. It seemed that a lot of times that things just happened for the sake of happening and to move the plot along but not in an organic way. There is a big show of going back to the canal so that Jules can look for evidence on the way back to town but nothing is described of this venture except what she was wearing and that it started to rain and I couldn’t help but wonder what was the point in that scene happening. It also has a case of tell don’t show, at one point Jules says she is sure that Luc likes her “it was pretty clear he liked me” but there is no evidence to back that up, the reader is in the mind of Luc at times and even I don’t know if he likes her so how does she know (except I think like, two, half assed ‘looks attractive’ statements). There are more notes I have on this book but I’m getting tired now.
I was looking for a ‘Murder, She Wrote’ type of cosy mystery and ended up being frustrated at the insufferable characters and boring story.
This book was a frustrating read due to the fact that I liked no-one in this book. Both the main protagonists are just insufferable.
Let’s start with Jules as we are in her head most. She is so judgemental and hypocritical. When she finds the murder victim, when Luc, the police officer, arrives she starts talking about how attractive he is and it just feels out of place considering that she did just find a dead body. Jules seems to have no trouble trusting people who she perceives as good looking but seems to hold a lot of contempt for people she thinks are ugly and greasy looking. She also proceeds to judge a mother, who has just lost their daughter, because the mother suspects someone that Jules likes because he was nice to her, it also isn’t lost on me that the mother living on the poorer side of town and that she is a sex worker is mentioned to make her seem unlikable – no sympathy for a mother who has just lost her child and the police aren’t making it a top priority to solve the case. Further evidence to the ‘judging a book by its cover’ point (there are a lot), earlier she states that because of Hugo’s looks that he must be a serial killer and that she can judge by appearance because she is not the police, she then states that she believes in ‘innocent till proven guilty’ when Jim is seen as suspicious and that if the French don’t believe in ‘innocent till proven guilty’ then they need to, but why is she allowed to proclaim someone guilty because of how they look but other people aren’t (especially since it was because Jim was seen with the murder victim). Another character she judges based on looks is Thibault, he hasn’t done anything bad to Jules, in fact he has helped her and she continues to not like him and be repulsed by him because he has greasy hair, she only comes to like him because he has both a HAM radio and a car that can work and only realises, she was judgemental towards him when he leaves money to pay for their drinks. At another point in the book, she steals a bike to go to the canal and it gets stolen, she’s more annoyed by the fact that she now has to walk back town rather than feeling bad that someone now no longer has a bike, especially since most cars no longer work. Jules also causes an accident which has Katrine, a character that has been nice to Jules, injured and Jules proceeds to get frustrated at Katrine – she does later acknowledge this
“except, could I really bash into her bike, bloody her knee and then run off and not listen to her apology”
but she is more concerned about listening to Katrine’s apology rather than realising she herself needs to apologise. She is also kind of dumb, the world is in a blackout – no electricity, no phones, laptops, newer cars etc – she is burgled and sounds surprised that her food isn’t stolen as that would be considered valuable now but it’s not really, most of the book after the blackout talks about how the market is still stacked with food and that bakeries and cafes are still opened and have a lot of people going to them, so I don’t know why she is surprised that the food is still there but the flashlight, batteries, candles and money are gone as in reality that is what people are going to need the most. She also confronts a murderer and is surprised they intend to kill her. Idiot.
Now let’s talk about Luc. He seems to think that he is the only one that can be right and his opinions matter more, he seems to dislike Matteo for simply caring about the people of Chabanel and their worries during a global blackout and I’m just confused as to why, isn’t it Luc’s job to care about the people and what they need? Also has one of my least favourite quotes in the book
“she was moving quickly, purposefully. But then she was American. That’s how they all move until they start to gain weight”
Just … why??
He was just a really bland, dismissive character who didn’t really add anything to the story. Yawn.
Now onto the book as a whole. I feel like is could’ve used a bit more editing, at one point (after the massive blackout) Luc is looking at a blank screen but then later has to scramble to cover sensitive material on his laptop, earlier it was shown that even if you had a fully charged laptop before the blackout that is still wouldn’t work, so I’m confused. It seemed that a lot of times that things just happened for the sake of happening and to move the plot along but not in an organic way. There is a big show of going back to the canal so that Jules can look for evidence on the way back to town but nothing is described of this venture except what she was wearing and that it started to rain and I couldn’t help but wonder what was the point in that scene happening. It also has a case of tell don’t show, at one point Jules says she is sure that Luc likes her “it was pretty clear he liked me” but there is no evidence to back that up, the reader is in the mind of Luc at times and even I don’t know if he likes her so how does she know (except I think like, two, half assed ‘looks attractive’ statements). There are more notes I have on this book but I’m getting tired now.
I was looking for a ‘Murder, She Wrote’ type of cosy mystery and ended up being frustrated at the insufferable characters and boring story.
June 18, 2020
As positively ridiculous premises go, this book takes the cake: silly American girl jets off to the south of a France with her very expensive wardrobe, and finds herself in a cozy mystery. THAT would have been pretty pedestrian in itself, but no, the author then adds a global EMP event caused by at least one dirty bomb that destroys all electronics, etc., effectively adding an apocalyptic element to the cozy mystery, silly American girl wearing inappropriately fashionable shoes in a French village narrative. She solves a murder because the police chief is too busy with the apocalypse. Ridiculous. But....she is rather nice. Her self-narrative (it’s first person) implies a level of foolishness that is nicely countered by the fact that she automatically decides to make sure the two old ladies in her building have food and decides to solve the murder because the girl who was murdered was so pathetically forgettable. Foolish, ethnocentric, but basically kind. And since the book really has an identity crisis, lots of talk of cobblestones and croissants and cheese and wine and chocolate. It’s a totally ridiculous book...but I don’t regret reading it, and I might just make my way through the series...because, heck, a little cozy French scenery would be a nice addition to the apocalypse...
December 6, 2019
(Disclosure: I always cheat and look at others' appraisals before I write mine.)
While some reviewers were really disconcerted by the juxtaposition of cozy mystery and apocalyptic future, I was excited! What a unique concept and such a safe way to explore the "worst case" scenario of our future should tempers remain unchecked. I feel that there are sensitive topics within the story that are too glibly discussed; this could be the cause of some of the backlash to the book. Looking at our heroine, though, let's be honest - she is not a thoughtful person. Not really. She's impulsive and perhaps a little vapid and I sincerely doubt that at this point in her life she's really thinking about things on anything more than a reactionary level. And I totally agree that she had more than one TSTL moment.
I liked this book. It definitely was uneven. It was completely different from Susan Kiernan-Lewis' other series which I also enjoy. (Also, disclosure, I'm already well into the second book. I couldn't get myself to stop reading long enough to review.)
While some reviewers were really disconcerted by the juxtaposition of cozy mystery and apocalyptic future, I was excited! What a unique concept and such a safe way to explore the "worst case" scenario of our future should tempers remain unchecked. I feel that there are sensitive topics within the story that are too glibly discussed; this could be the cause of some of the backlash to the book. Looking at our heroine, though, let's be honest - she is not a thoughtful person. Not really. She's impulsive and perhaps a little vapid and I sincerely doubt that at this point in her life she's really thinking about things on anything more than a reactionary level. And I totally agree that she had more than one TSTL moment.
I liked this book. It definitely was uneven. It was completely different from Susan Kiernan-Lewis' other series which I also enjoy. (Also, disclosure, I'm already well into the second book. I couldn't get myself to stop reading long enough to review.)
October 9, 2020
This book is a weird combination of a cozy mystery set in France, and an apocalyptic novel. The main character goes to Provence for a house swap of a couple of weeks, and then a dirty bomb is detonated over the Mediterranean (and the US) and suddenly all electrical power is gone, as are all the things that depend on it (pumping gasoline for example). So she's stuck there with no access to news from her family (although a ham radio is still working so she can get general information) and no access to her money in the US. Since I live abroad (in Spain) and depend on ATM's to access my pension which is direct deposited in the US, this is pretty scary to me. And yet, she goes along merrily solving the murder of a young girl whose body she discovered just before the bomb detonated. The mystery part is pretty weak, but the description of life in Provence is indeed cozy. I will probably give this series one more try.
March 12, 2019
“I mean, after all, my country is a country of cowboys, rebels and loners. We believe in the individual, in vigilante justice, in getting and keeping what’s ours.
In the right to bear arms.
If what had happened in France truly had happened in the US then I wasn’t at all surprised that instead of produce markets and cafés with fresh-baked bread, there was looting and lawlessness.”
REALLY AUTHOR REALLY?? YOU ARE REALLY GOING TO MAKE THE UNITED STATES LOOK BAD IN A CRISIS LIKE THIS? Get real. How often do we have protests that turn deadly? How often really is there chaos to the point of looting? Yes in a few instances but it’s not a regular occurrence in the US and even then it’s confined to one single city. France is a country that has protests WEEKLY that take turns for the worse on a regular basis. After winning the World Cup in Summer 2018 cars and buildings were destroyed, businesses were broken into and looted ALL OVER THE COUNTRY and that’s just ONE example of many that occur on a regular basis. I love France I’ve been many times and I consider myself a Francophile but don’t delude yourself into thinking they are a peaceful croissant baking cheese eating country and the US is this lawless horrible place. Quite the opposite in fact. In a true disaster like this, the vast majority of American cities would be keeping it together quite well.
Not only is this book poorly constructed but this whole paragraph just set me over the edge. I’m not bothering to finish something so stupid.
In the right to bear arms.
If what had happened in France truly had happened in the US then I wasn’t at all surprised that instead of produce markets and cafés with fresh-baked bread, there was looting and lawlessness.”
REALLY AUTHOR REALLY?? YOU ARE REALLY GOING TO MAKE THE UNITED STATES LOOK BAD IN A CRISIS LIKE THIS? Get real. How often do we have protests that turn deadly? How often really is there chaos to the point of looting? Yes in a few instances but it’s not a regular occurrence in the US and even then it’s confined to one single city. France is a country that has protests WEEKLY that take turns for the worse on a regular basis. After winning the World Cup in Summer 2018 cars and buildings were destroyed, businesses were broken into and looted ALL OVER THE COUNTRY and that’s just ONE example of many that occur on a regular basis. I love France I’ve been many times and I consider myself a Francophile but don’t delude yourself into thinking they are a peaceful croissant baking cheese eating country and the US is this lawless horrible place. Quite the opposite in fact. In a true disaster like this, the vast majority of American cities would be keeping it together quite well.
Not only is this book poorly constructed but this whole paragraph just set me over the edge. I’m not bothering to finish something so stupid.
May 20, 2019
Un petit roman policier léger et frais, avec une base originale : une Américaine qui vient en vacances en Provence et qui se retrouve coincée en France à cause d'une Impulsion Electro-magnétique causée par une explosion nucléaire survenue quelque part en mer ou dans l'océan, et qui propulse le monde entier 50 ans en arrière (voire plus puisqu'il n'y a même plus d'électricité). Or, le jour même de l'Impulsion, elle découvre un cadavre derrière l'immeuble où elle a loué son appartement.
Le premier choc passé, elle décide d'enquêter, puisque la police locale est submergée par un millier de problèmes et n'a pas le temps de s'en occuper.
Bien que le tout ne soit pas super crédible, j'ai adoré le principe et surtout l'ambiance.
La douceur de vivre en Provence est super bien rendue, même s'il est difficile de croire que dans un contexte de "presque-apocalypse", les gens continueraient à continuer leur petite vie tranquillement - même dans un petit village provençal - alors que le reste du monde est à feu et à sang.
Mais si l'on accepte ce postulat et qu'on se laisse embarquer par l'histoire, c'est vraiment super sympa.
Et cerise sur le gâteau : je n'avais pas deviné le coupable une seule seconde.
Tout cela m'a donné bien envie de lire le tome 2 !
Le premier choc passé, elle décide d'enquêter, puisque la police locale est submergée par un millier de problèmes et n'a pas le temps de s'en occuper.
Bien que le tout ne soit pas super crédible, j'ai adoré le principe et surtout l'ambiance.
La douceur de vivre en Provence est super bien rendue, même s'il est difficile de croire que dans un contexte de "presque-apocalypse", les gens continueraient à continuer leur petite vie tranquillement - même dans un petit village provençal - alors que le reste du monde est à feu et à sang.
Mais si l'on accepte ce postulat et qu'on se laisse embarquer par l'histoire, c'est vraiment super sympa.
Et cerise sur le gâteau : je n'avais pas deviné le coupable une seule seconde.
Tout cela m'a donné bien envie de lire le tome 2 !
February 13, 2018
I started this book and quickly realised I was daydreaming when I read the blurb. I thought it was a time-travel book and the heroine actually travelled back to the 50's, not just that the EMP event knocked out the power and vehicles etc, making it LIKE they were back in time. LOL - after I got over that surprise, I really enjoyed this book. The premise was interesting and I enjoyed the fact that the police were not morons - a nice change for a cozy. There were a lot of descriptions which bogged down the story sometimes, and my version of this book needed another light edit as there were some repeated sentences and the odd sentence which wasn't quite right, but it wasn't too much. I found myself thinking about the book during the day and being keen to get back to it and that's always a good sign. I'll definitely give book two a try and I expect I'll keep reading the series, just to find out if Jules ever gets home!
June 5, 2019
When Jules goes to a small village in Provence,France to recover from a romantic breakup, there are many things she is not prepared for. Her apartment is tiny with few of the amenities that she is accustomed to and she finds that she is not within walking distance of anywhere outside the village. All of these considerations fall away however when she finds a dead body and immediately thereafter all of the lights and communications go out and cars and computerized equipment ceases to function - not only in France, but in most of the world. How Jules and the others in the village cope - including how a murder investigation is conducted without DNA evidence, lab testing and little police participation- makes for interesting reading. I most say that I liked this book a lot more than I thought I would when I started it!
Want to read
February 12, 2018💝 FREE on Amazon today (2/12/2018)! 💝
August 30, 2024
A very different sort of style than I have previously read. Jules Hooker takes off to France in a temporary house exchange, but very soon after reaching her disappointing replacement home, much of the world falls into a state of apocalypse, and she is stuck in her "new" home. Because she's American and new, people do not trust her, and supposedly new friends may not be friends at all.
July 3, 2019
A fun read. The many french words some times made it diffecult but if you read further you wil understand it clearly. I like Jules and Luc and the old ladies. Juist havent decided if i am gonna read the other parts.
removed
February 3, 2019DN finish
February 28, 2019
i read this for a book club with my friend and honestly what on earth
Read
April 23, 2020There was one thing that kept coming to mind (given current Covid-19 issues) that was never addressed: no electricity, no post-1980s cars/trucks, no water utilities . . . what did this mean for useable bathrooms and toilet paper?
January 13, 2018
Finally, a really good book!
This book was so much fun on so many levels that I literally ran the battery down on my e reader. A plot that is believable with a heroine to root for. Well edited and very entertaining. Jules Hooker is a writer for a newspaper in Atlanta and hoping for an assignment as an investigative reporter as well as a proposal from her boyfriend . When she gets dumped instead of engaged she decides to take a trip to France to get over her disappointment. Instead she finds the body of a dead woman and is suddenly faced with a worldwide EMP attack that sets technology back to pre electronic status and leaves her stranded in Provence . Have some fun and a bit of romance with this story but be sure your reader is fully charged. This book will not disappoint you.
This book was so much fun on so many levels that I literally ran the battery down on my e reader. A plot that is believable with a heroine to root for. Well edited and very entertaining. Jules Hooker is a writer for a newspaper in Atlanta and hoping for an assignment as an investigative reporter as well as a proposal from her boyfriend . When she gets dumped instead of engaged she decides to take a trip to France to get over her disappointment. Instead she finds the body of a dead woman and is suddenly faced with a worldwide EMP attack that sets technology back to pre electronic status and leaves her stranded in Provence . Have some fun and a bit of romance with this story but be sure your reader is fully charged. This book will not disappoint you.
July 4, 2018
I have been a fan of Susan Kiernan Lewis for some time now. Another great mystery novel by this author was no surprise to me. Susan has a way of captivating the reader from the very start. Great storyline, satisfying ending, and I am very much looking forward to reading book 2 in this series.
August 20, 2024
Jules is very kind to the two neighboring old ex-veteran ladies and she sets out to discover the murdere of the poor girl Lilou because she was mentally challenged. I have been very touched by her empathy.
A fellow reader bestowed a comprehensive review to the book, so I will simply paste ith ere-
Jules Hooker's boyfriend has just dumped her instead of proposing, as Jules expected. Jules is heartbroken, but decides to go ahead and do the apartment swap she'd planned exchanging her place in Atlanta for a one in in Aix (hence, the "Provence" part of the "Stranded in Provence" series). When Jules arrives in Provence she learns the apartment is not in Aix, but in the tiny village of Chabenel (definitely not within walking distance of Aix). And instead of being luxurious the apartment is tiny, old-fashioned, and not in a great part of town. Jules decides she's not going to stay as long as planned, and will get an immediate return flight to Atlanta.
Things go downhill from there, when Jules discovers the body of a woman who was murdered right under her balcony. But as the police arrive to investigate, there's a bright flash, all of the electricity goes out, cars stop running (except for really old ones), and cellphones and computers no longer work! The villagers soon learn there's been a nuclear explosion (cause unknown as yet) that led to an EMP. Nothing will be the same. And Jules is definitely not going home.
The citizens soon learn it's not just Province, but worldwide. We get glimpses that things are bad in the U.S. (looting, rioting, and worse) thanks to a local ham operator. But in Chabenel, with lots of local farmers, cheese makers, etc., people continue to hang out in the cafes, drink coffee, drink wine, and enjoy a lot of good food at the market (although there are hints the boulangeries are running out of supplies).
Yes, this is a cozy mystery -- with definite hints of romance -- set in the new post-apocalyptic world. As Jules adjusts to the notion that she may be stuck in Chabenel forever she decides to investigate the death of the young woman, since the police are too busy maintaining order and doing PR.
A fellow reader bestowed a comprehensive review to the book, so I will simply paste ith ere-
Jules Hooker's boyfriend has just dumped her instead of proposing, as Jules expected. Jules is heartbroken, but decides to go ahead and do the apartment swap she'd planned exchanging her place in Atlanta for a one in in Aix (hence, the "Provence" part of the "Stranded in Provence" series). When Jules arrives in Provence she learns the apartment is not in Aix, but in the tiny village of Chabenel (definitely not within walking distance of Aix). And instead of being luxurious the apartment is tiny, old-fashioned, and not in a great part of town. Jules decides she's not going to stay as long as planned, and will get an immediate return flight to Atlanta.
Things go downhill from there, when Jules discovers the body of a woman who was murdered right under her balcony. But as the police arrive to investigate, there's a bright flash, all of the electricity goes out, cars stop running (except for really old ones), and cellphones and computers no longer work! The villagers soon learn there's been a nuclear explosion (cause unknown as yet) that led to an EMP. Nothing will be the same. And Jules is definitely not going home.
The citizens soon learn it's not just Province, but worldwide. We get glimpses that things are bad in the U.S. (looting, rioting, and worse) thanks to a local ham operator. But in Chabenel, with lots of local farmers, cheese makers, etc., people continue to hang out in the cafes, drink coffee, drink wine, and enjoy a lot of good food at the market (although there are hints the boulangeries are running out of supplies).
Yes, this is a cozy mystery -- with definite hints of romance -- set in the new post-apocalyptic world. As Jules adjusts to the notion that she may be stuck in Chabenel forever she decides to investigate the death of the young woman, since the police are too busy maintaining order and doing PR.
March 9, 2021
Parlez-Vous Murder was written by Susan Kiernan-Lewis. This is the second book I have read by this author and I enjoyed it tremendously. This story is of a young American woman, named Jules Hooker, who travelled to a small French village called Chabenel for a holiday. She house swapped with a couple, who were enjoying her comfortable apartment while Jules was taken back to a very old apartment building with no luxuries at all and their very unfriendly cat for company.
This book is a cozy mystery, with just a hint of romance as it travels along. She finds a young girl murdered in the overgrown garden behind her very old apartment and then something unspeakable happens. There is a bright light and then she finds herself in a world with no power, cars that mostly no longer work, no technology of any kind and worst of all, no way to travel home.
There are some very interesting characters in this story, and as this is the first book in a series of books, I can see that Susan Kiernan-Lewis has left plenty of room for character growth. She made some friends, made some enemies, and learns that not everyone is as they first appear.
I quite enjoyed reading about the laid-back detective Luc DeBray, he becomes overworked as the local people are trying to deal with life without power and technologies, and the murder of this young girl gets somewhat overlooked, and this is where Jules steps in to help and find the murderer and so the mystery begins.
This story was very easy to read, I read it in one sitting. The author was descriptive in her writing, she took me to the cobblestoned streets and alleyways, I saw the community sipping coffee and eating croissants and one of the many cafes she described. This book is quirky, which I liked and it kept my interest.
An enjoyable book. I will be reading the second book in this series.
Susan Kiernan-Lewis gifted me a copy of this book.
This book is a cozy mystery, with just a hint of romance as it travels along. She finds a young girl murdered in the overgrown garden behind her very old apartment and then something unspeakable happens. There is a bright light and then she finds herself in a world with no power, cars that mostly no longer work, no technology of any kind and worst of all, no way to travel home.
There are some very interesting characters in this story, and as this is the first book in a series of books, I can see that Susan Kiernan-Lewis has left plenty of room for character growth. She made some friends, made some enemies, and learns that not everyone is as they first appear.
I quite enjoyed reading about the laid-back detective Luc DeBray, he becomes overworked as the local people are trying to deal with life without power and technologies, and the murder of this young girl gets somewhat overlooked, and this is where Jules steps in to help and find the murderer and so the mystery begins.
This story was very easy to read, I read it in one sitting. The author was descriptive in her writing, she took me to the cobblestoned streets and alleyways, I saw the community sipping coffee and eating croissants and one of the many cafes she described. This book is quirky, which I liked and it kept my interest.
An enjoyable book. I will be reading the second book in this series.
Susan Kiernan-Lewis gifted me a copy of this book.
September 4, 2025
Review: ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5
If I start to talk about the book, it was an apocalyptic survival diary disguised as murder mystery. I honestly went into this thinking that it was a time-travel detective story and both of these sound good, you see. So I didn't see the apocalypse coming (my bad) but it was more interesting to me that way.
.*･｡ﾟ
First half of the book, we read about Jules' existential crisis and when she gets over it, we get a really cozy murder solving -yes, in the literal sense.
Now this book had many subjects and topics hidden behind the veil of coziness.
First, this book heavily highlighted the use and need of modern day technology in our lives and how it had rendered human beings as useless. And it was really integrated into the story structure flawlessly.
Second, what beautiful social relationships Susan wrote. It felt so real to read. This book really showed how 'if the world was ending ' chaos would erupt around the world. And I kid you not, it felt so real because that's absolutely what would happen.
Now, if we talk about the murder mystery itself, it was a cozy adventure. I still gasped when I found out the culprit because yeah, no one saw that coming - so if you want a short, cozy read to immerse yourselves in, this one is for you!!
..
Now at last, if I had any complaint it was just about her "suddenly stupid" phase whenever there was some major clue about the mystery. That's it! Because of course we need to create drama and make the reader think
'she's acting so stupid'.
This is my review of Book 1 of "Stranded Provence Series" which I will not be reading completely. Sometimes ignorance is bliss y'know :)
If I start to talk about the book, it was an apocalyptic survival diary disguised as murder mystery. I honestly went into this thinking that it was a time-travel detective story and both of these sound good, you see. So I didn't see the apocalypse coming (my bad) but it was more interesting to me that way.
.*･｡ﾟ
First half of the book, we read about Jules' existential crisis and when she gets over it, we get a really cozy murder solving -yes, in the literal sense.
Now this book had many subjects and topics hidden behind the veil of coziness.
First, this book heavily highlighted the use and need of modern day technology in our lives and how it had rendered human beings as useless. And it was really integrated into the story structure flawlessly.
Second, what beautiful social relationships Susan wrote. It felt so real to read. This book really showed how 'if the world was ending ' chaos would erupt around the world. And I kid you not, it felt so real because that's absolutely what would happen.
Now, if we talk about the murder mystery itself, it was a cozy adventure. I still gasped when I found out the culprit because yeah, no one saw that coming - so if you want a short, cozy read to immerse yourselves in, this one is for you!!
..
Now at last, if I had any complaint it was just about her "suddenly stupid" phase whenever there was some major clue about the mystery. That's it! Because of course we need to create drama and make the reader think
'she's acting so stupid'.
This is my review of Book 1 of "Stranded Provence Series" which I will not be reading completely. Sometimes ignorance is bliss y'know :)
February 27, 2023
OK. I gave this one star, but it should have been zero stars! A truly horrible book, stuffed full of faults. Firstly, the "Police Municipale" DO NOT investigate crimes and DO NOT question witnesses, suspects, etc. The "Chief" Luc would be in uniform, just like the other members of the PM. When Jules (the MC) dials 112 for help after finding a body, she would be speaking to the Gendarmerière Nationale and not the local plod. Secondly, (and this really annoyed me) the "Place de Maire". NON, NON! The word "maire" (mayor) is masculine so it should be "Place du Maire". More correctly, it would be "Place de la Mairie" or "Place de l'Hôtel de Ville" (townhall). Next: house exchange. In France, to exhange houses, you join an agency or website so that you don't end up getting screwed (like Jules did)! Then, the village where she ended up is only 10 miles (or about 16km) from Aix-en-Provence, a university city, so there would have been a bus service from the village to the town, most of the shopkeepers would have (at least) some English. Lastly (oh, yes, I could go on and on, but will cut this short), after a disaster such as described at the beginning of the book, the people in the village wouldn't be sitting around drinking wine and stuffing themselves full of goat chesse and croissants - they would be rioting, looting and generally behaving just like the author has everyone else in the world doing. I say this because I am French and know how my neighbours would react.
March 29, 2020
When I started to read this book, I thought I had already read it. Maybe because I've read other Susan Kiernan-Lewis books before📚 Anyway this is a light read. Julia Hooker who has just broken up with her boyfriend goes to France, en Provence, to an apartment which she had traded a French couple for hers. The first day there she feels sorry for two old women who have lost their cat and goes to look for it. O mon Dieu she finds a human arm sticking out of the ground and the fun begins! She is off to solve this murder and meets the very handsome policeman, Luc deBray.
What I liked about this book: 1. Julia does not speak French so we realize the difficulty tourists have traveling for the first time in a new country. 2: we are in a similar situation here as with the Covid 19 dilemma. Someone as exploded a nuclear bomb in the Mediterranean area and now nothing is working, phones, electricity, iPads, anything techno. What about food and all the rest?⬜️
3. And most of all, I like the French lifestyle, foods, culture, use of French language the author exposes us to. That's why I read her books.
What I liked about this book: 1. Julia does not speak French so we realize the difficulty tourists have traveling for the first time in a new country. 2: we are in a similar situation here as with the Covid 19 dilemma. Someone as exploded a nuclear bomb in the Mediterranean area and now nothing is working, phones, electricity, iPads, anything techno. What about food and all the rest?⬜️
3. And most of all, I like the French lifestyle, foods, culture, use of French language the author exposes us to. That's why I read her books.
February 16, 2021
What do you do when your boyfriend, who you're pretty sure is getting ready to propose, suddenly tells you that he wants to break it off? You do what any normal person would do....you take yourself to France with the tickets that you bought for the two of you. This is the situation that Jules Hooker finds herself in. Unfortunately, while she's there, on her own, alone, she finds a dead body laying in the back garden of the flat that she's gotten in a house swap. Also, while she's in this tiny village in France, somebody detonates an EMP(electromagnetic pulse) and all electronics are done for....cell phones, ATMs, computers, most cars built after 1985, pretty much everything that we depend on to live our lives. No airplane flights, no electricity, no GPS. Life goes back to about 1950....no emails or texts, but handwritten notes. So, what does an investigative reporter from Atlanta do when she becomes stuck in this tiny hamlet? She tries to figure out who murdered the person in her garden, and everything that that entails. A cute story.
January 3, 2018
3-1/2 stars: First off, let me say that this kindle book could use a lot of editing. By that I mean there are quite a few punctuation errors, grammar errors and the occasional missing word. If not for that, I probably would have gone with 4 stars. The story is light (as most cozies are), the main character, Jules, has a good “voice” and the concept is fresh. The author came up with a refreshing way to give the main character a reason to investigate crimes without making the local police look like they don’t know what they are doing. (Instead they are overwhelmed with dealing with the new “world order” post-EMP.) Most of the book is told in first person narrative from Jules’ POV, but does occasionally switch to 3rd person for scenes from other character perspectives. Not 100% sure yet if I will read more in this series, but I won’t rule it out. Quick, light, easy and overall enjoyable read— just work on the editing.
September 11, 2019
Has potential but also some shortcomings. The twist of it being a modern story without technology, due to the EMP, was interesting. However, there wasn't a lot of character or plot development. I also found the repeated American bashing off-putting. I'm assuming the author has only lived in a US city. Her comments about what the French could do that Americans couldn't was laughable, if you are from the heartland. We regularly grow our own produce, raise our own livestock to milk & butcher, produce cheese & eggs, bake from scratch etc. We even know how to cook over flames and heat with wood. It's city people vs. country folk, not France vs. American. There were a few other parts that seemed rather immature also, but as a whole, I enjoyed it enough to put the next book in the series in the TBR pile.
May 12, 2023
The premise of this series promised a mix of sci-fi, historical fiction, travelogue, and cozily captivating crime. The sci-fi part proved more post-apocalyptic as Jules Hooker, who is familiar with the humor her name inspires, swaps apartments with a couple from France right before an EMP destroys all the electronics in the region. Chabanel also welcomes her with the discovery of a dead body. Without electricity to occupy her time, she begins making friends and investigating the murder of the young woman whose body she discovered. Will she discover the murderer before they decide to increase their body count?
The cast of characters amused me, particularly the Madame twins. Parts of the story seemed to repeat information, possibly because the point of view shifted to give more than just Jules’ view of events.
The cast of characters amused me, particularly the Madame twins. Parts of the story seemed to repeat information, possibly because the point of view shifted to give more than just Jules’ view of events.
May 15, 2017
Survival in Provence post apocalyptic
I love cozy mysteries. I love French memoirs. I hate post apocalyptic drama series that seems like everything is a minute by minute fight for life. Susan Kiernan Lewis has solved this by creating a post apocalyptic mystery cozy in France that still includes great food, handsome men, a few bad guys, and surprises. Hope and acceptance surround these French villagers while the main character, Jules Hooker, an American stuck in France, decides to solve a murder while the police deal with the apocalypse. I loved it. The characters are great, the writing is excellent, and the story moves at a quick pace.
I love cozy mysteries. I love French memoirs. I hate post apocalyptic drama series that seems like everything is a minute by minute fight for life. Susan Kiernan Lewis has solved this by creating a post apocalyptic mystery cozy in France that still includes great food, handsome men, a few bad guys, and surprises. Hope and acceptance surround these French villagers while the main character, Jules Hooker, an American stuck in France, decides to solve a murder while the police deal with the apocalypse. I loved it. The characters are great, the writing is excellent, and the story moves at a quick pace.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 142 reviews