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DEATH A L'ORANGE
by Nancy Fairbanks
Berkley Prime Crime, June 2002
288 pages
$5.99
ISBN: 0425185249


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Beautiful France. What better place is there to sample some fine cuisine, share in some young and not so young love, and visit museums and old castles? This is exactly what food writer Carolyn Blue, her husband Jason and their twenty year old son, Chris thought. Little did they suspect that murder was also on the menu.

With some wonderful luck, Carolyn and Jason were able to get a great deal on a tour sponsored by Jason's college for its faculty. All they had to do was to keep their eyes on a young girl, sixteen year old Edie Atwater. At the last minute Edie's parents couldn't make it and sold their tickets to the Blues. Edie's main interest wasn't so much in France but with the Blue's son, Chris. Ahh, young love.

The tour consisted of faculty members from the college, and their spouses. A total of twenty-two people - most of whom I had a hard time telling apart..

Strange things started to happen as soon the group arrived in France. The Blue's luggage was missing and Professor Jean-Claude Childeric, one of the tour members, was pushed into the luggage carousel and incurred a bad cut to his forehead. Dr. Childeric was sure that someone was out to hurt him because he was a candidate for the position to be the new Dean of the college. He was positive that the person who pushed him might be one of the other two candidates who were on also on the tour.

Indeed, wherever the Professor went in France, an accident occurred, if not to him, then to other tour members who were with him. But did the person who wanted Professor Childeric out of the running for the Dean's position want to just hurt him or kill him? Or was he even the real target?

Someone had to figure out what was going on with all the accidents and Carolyn Blue was going to do just that.

Every couple of chapters, the readers of this book are permitted a view of the guilty party's Travel Journal.

DEATH A L'ORANGE is more like a tour guide of France than a murder mystery. Author Nancy Fairbanks tells the reader all about the different museums, foods, gardens, and other things in France. In between descriptions an accident happens to one of the tour members but you really have to plough your way through a lot about France to get to these parts. As for the murder, well, don't hold your breath. By the time it actually happens it's very near the end of the book. And a real disappointment.

The book has some nice French recipes and long discussions about Mad Cow Disease that starts when Carolyn orders Steak Tar-Tar. Food and food related disease conversations continues throughout the novel.

There was one interesting scene where Carolyn, Professor Childeric, and some others are almost drowned by the oncoming tide in the marshes at the Monastery at Mont-Saint-Michel on what was once called Mont Tombe. I thought that the murder would happen there but no, I had to read another 50 or so pages for that to happen.

The mystery part of DEATH L'ORANGE isn't a real mystery. It's easy to guess who the culprit is among the tour participants. The murder part of it isn't all that great either, nor are the foods they eat, nor the tidbits of history that are thrown at the readers.

If you want to learn a bit about France's history by all means read DEATH A L'ORANGE. But if it's a murder mystery you're after, I might suggest you try another book.

Reviewed by Sharon Katz, June 2002

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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