Sometimes when you find a "new" mystery series you get the urge to run out and read all the books in order, right away, because you are obsessed with the characters, theme or the setting. And because you are reading a series, you might shortly discover that the author might have a "formula" or "pattern" in their books. And the books might all seem similar. This is what is known as a genre, folks! (Some people may say there are only 6 stories - just told over and over and over again!) And in crime/mystery fiction somebody usually solves a murder/puzzle/crime. The art is in creating scenarios and characters that the reader wants to come back to.
I have been whipping through Nancy Fairbanks' books with the food writer/academics wife/mom Carolyn Blue. I had read the first one for it's New Orleans connection a while ago (see early posting). But now I needed to read her books about traveling to France - Death a L'Orange and French Fried. (And now I've been sucked into reading them all!) And travel we did. One book is set in the city of Lyons, the other in Paris and the surrounding countryside on a tour with a bunch of not so nice academics.
We can identify with Carolyn because she is an underestimated sleuth. She's the nondescript over 40+ lady who is supposed to stay in the background. But she doesn't and that is when she gets in to trouble or when the humor begins. In Chocolate Quake, she ends up on the back of a motorcycle to go interview a guy in a pool hall nicknamed Spider. Holy Guacamole has Mrs. Blue crossing the Mexican border by her hometown of El Paso with a female ex-vice cop and ends up being her partner in bounty hunting. (Pretty darn funny scene.)
I like reading travel narratives and this is really what these mysteries are about. (And it is a cheap way to travel!) Carolyn talks about and notices the food, but then that is her specialty and profession. She is my kind of traveler - looking at the cultural aspects of the area while having studied the history of the town etc. That is how I travel - which may be why I enjoy these so much. Are these realistic? Well - the travel part is pretty real - and she exposes the reader to sights that they may not have know about. It is a travel guide? No - but it is a heck of a good read. I'm up to the Mozzarella title and having a fun frothy time. A fun read with some quirky characters. Enjoy.
Crime Brulee
Truffled Feathers
Death a L’Orange
Chocolate Quake
The Perils of Paella
Holy Guacamole
Mozzarella Most Murderous
Three-Course Murder
Bon Bon Voyage
French Fried
Turkey Flambe
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