Meurtre rue Saint-Jacques: A Murder Mystery in Easy French (Petits meurtres français)

by France Dubin

Alice and Liz, two Americans, decide to spend a week in Paris. They rent a beautiful apartment in the Latin Quarter and are ready for their dream vacation! Unfortunately, the day after they arrive, the landlord is found dead in their kitchen. Can Alice solve the crime?

This cozy mystery is perfect for French learners from beginner to intermediate (A1-B2). The Kindle and paperback editions include the story in French, a complete English translation, and tons of fun exercises. The audio edition includes the story in French, read by the author.

This book is part of a series, Petits Meurtres Français. They can be read in any order.

Genres: France, Mystery

196 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 1, 2022

About the author

If you want to improve your French, my books are for you.
I write fun books in easy French for adults.

Reviews

[Dr Dabbler · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you want authentic easy reading material in French for adults, France Dubin's work is worth looking at.
This story is a simple murder mystery. Suspense is achieved by having the murder in the first chapter, then while we're guessing whodunnit, we go from the beginning, when the two women first decide to travel to France together, with more facts slowly being revealed.
Dubin ensures that useful dialogues occur during the stories, without it slowing the narrative down much. At the end of each chapter are short exercises to help revise or improve your French knowledge.
This story revealed a gap in my vocabulary. I know very few kitchen words.

[Halley Sutton · Rating 5 out of 5]

C'est parfait pour pratiquer le français.

[AnneLouise · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this and found it very beneficial as an adjunct to my French study. I was proud of my ability to read and comprehend most of it.
It was a really fun story and I look forward to reading more in the series.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

C’est fantastique. J’ai appris de nouveaux mots et j’ai compris l’histoire. Merci!

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some reason I cannot add the audiobook edition, and that is the one I listened to.
It's not a long book. The author specialised in books in really easy French, no complex grammar or vocabulary, and reads it slowly and understandably. It's perfect for people who want to develop their comprehension skills. They're also real stories, not encounters with the neighbours or visits to the post office, which often call themselves stories. This book is about two American women going to Paris, renting an apartment, and the day after they arrive their landlord is found dead in their kitchen. They are suspects, but our heroine does a little investigating of her own and helps flag down the murderer. The story is thin, but that's fine. It's still a real story, with multiple possibilities and good motives. I recommend her books highly to people learning French.

[Steven Barrett]

A great story well written in French and English. The book is written at around the A2 level, I found it easy and enjoyable to read which allowed me to read for much longer and learn new words easily through the context of the rest of the story. There are also language exercises between each chapter.

I have already bought the rest of the murder mystery series and I will definitely looks at the author's other books too

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an easy french book if you are at level A2. The exercise at the end of each chapter are a nice review of different conjugation, vocabulary, or grammar. I think the exercises distract from the reading but are nice exercises. The conclusion of the mystery is abrupt and a little unsatisfying, but overall it is a good book for helping learn french.

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't as entertaining as her last but I just realized that Alice has been to France three times and has been a murder suspect each time. The French police cannot stop trying to pin murders on this lady.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fun to read! I am an intermediate French student and the language and grammar was manageable for me. The story was amusing and made me laugh a few times. There was enough mystery and suspense to keep me engaged until the end.

I bought another Meurtre book to read next!

[Norah · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF'D at 16%