Murder on the Menu: On the French Riviera

War-hero, huckster, showman and womanizer extraordinaire, Frenchman André Surmain has defied the critics and pulled off something really quite remarkable - forging a reputation for the Lutèce as the finest restaurant not just in New York but in the whole of the United States. “What do you think this is”, a New York hot-dog vendor once memorably remarked to a customer who dared to question the quality of his wares, “the Lutèce?”

The contrast with the hilltop town of Mougins, just a stone’s th...