Love and Death in Burgundy

Francophiles will welcome this cozy series launch from Shea (Mixed Up with Murder). Artist Katherine Goff and her failed rock-star husband, Michael, have bought an old farmhouse in Reigny-sur-Canne, which is “hardly more than a crossroads in Burgundy’s famous landscape of pastures and grapevine-planted terroirs on rolling hills.” One of their neighbors is a record producer, and Michael hopes for a second chance at a platinum record and concert tour. Meanwhile, Albert Bellegarde, the German-born husband of the local chateau’s owner, dies in a fall down the chateau’s back stairs. Everyone assumes it was an accident, but the French police aren’t forthcoming, and acrimony between one of Katherine’s best French friends and the dead man makes her wonder. Her role as organizer of the village fête in honor of the Feast of the Assumption and the upcoming show of her paintings in a nearby town leave little time for sleuthing. Nonetheless, Katherine uncovers important information that helps to resolve the mystery in the surprising and satisfactory denouement. [em]Agent: Kimberley Cameron, Kimberley Cameron & Associates. (May) [/em]