Murder Visits a French Village

by Susan C. Shea

Overview

"Not since my first visit to Louise Penny's Three Pines, have I encountered a more beguiling fictional world than Susan C. Shea's Reigny-Sur-Cannes" Catriona McPherson, award-winning author on Dressed for Death in Burgundy

Ariel Shepherd is devastated by the sudden loss of her husband, but nothing could have prepared her for inheriting the rundown French château they'd visited on their honeymoon four years ago. With finances tight she has no choice but to swap her Manhattan apartment and city lifestyle for a renovation project in a peaceful French village.

When Ariel hires an expert to help her uncover the legacy of her beautiful ruin, life only becomes more complicated. Christiane, the historian is found dead in the moat, and although the local police aren't suspicious, Ariel is. She joins two other ex-pats, Pippa and Katherine to investigate, but with plenty of workmen - and errant tools - around the chateau, many people had the means, but who had the motive? Why would anyone want to kill a historian?

Ariel begins to suspect that her French village life will be anything but peaceful! Can she solve the suspicious murder and make her château in Burgundy the perfect new home?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781448310500
Publisher:	Severn House
Publication date:	11/28/2023
Series:	A Château in Burgundy mystery , #1
Edition description:	Main
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.43(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Susan C. Shea spent more than two decades as a non-profit executive before beginning her first critically praised mystery series in 2010, featuring a professional fundraiser for an art museum. In 2017, she debuted a new mystery series set in France, for St. Martin's Minotaur Books. She's a regular on 7 Criminal Minds blog and is a past secretary of the national Sisters in Crime board and is a past board member of the Northern California chapters of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America.

She lives in Marin County, California, where two cats pretty much rule the house!

Editorial Reviews

A Miss Marple-like investigation.immerses the reader in the life of an American woman trying to fit into an insular French village

Booklist on Love and Death in Burgundy

Susan C. Shea's novel set in the French countryside offers a pleasant getaway from hard-core killers

New York Times on Love and Death in Burgundy

01/30/2023

In Shea’s uneven third French Village mystery (after 2018’s Dressed for Death in Burgundy), New Yorker Ariel Shepard is reeling from her husband’s sudden death and his lawyer’s revelation that he purchased a dilapidated 19th-century French chateau in Noyers-sur-Serein as a surprise for her. Coping with eccentric workmen there, mounting maintenance problems, and bat and rat challenges, she’s happy to make new friends: British mystery writer Pippa Hathaway and U.S. expatriate Katherine Goff, as well as historian Christiane Breton, who begins to delve into the chateau’s past. Christiane dies in what appears to be a fall at the chateau, but the death looks suspicious, and Pippa, Katherine, and Ariel vow to find out more despite police hostility to meddling amateurs and danger to Christiane’s husband. Alert readers will quickly cotton on to the perpetrator and may become a little impatient with the oblivious Ariel. However, the colorful locals, as well as the rich culinary and cultural ambiance, show promise. Hopefully, Shea will do better next time. Agent: Christine Hogrebe, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Susan C. Shea's novel set in the French countryside offers a pleasant getaway from hard-core killers

New York Times on Love & Death in Burgundy

Not since my first visit to Louise Penny's Three Pines, have I encountered a more beguiling fictional world than Susan C. Shea's Reigny-Sur-Cannes. Dressed for Death in Burgundy is a box of delights!

award-winning author on Dressed for Death in Burg Catriona McPherson

Ariel is a sympathetic amateur sleuth . . . and the mystery is nicely framed by a view of expat life in France and the details of restoring a chateau

Booklist

A Miss Marple-like investigation immerses the reader in the life of an American woman trying to fit into an insular French village

Booklist on Love & Death in Burgundy

Ariel is a sympathetic amateur sleuth . . . and the mystery is nicely framed by a view of expat life in France and the details of restoring a chateau

Booklist

03/01/2023

New Yorker Ariel Shepherd is devastated by the sudden death of her husband of only four years. When she learns that he bought a rundown French château they'd visited on their honeymoon in a small village in the Burgundy region of France, she decides to make a new start. She immerses herself in the time-consuming renovation of the château and hires a historian, Christiane Breton, to research its history. However, after only a few visits, Christiane is found dead in the château's moat. With the help of two new friends, fellow expats Pippa and Katherine, Ariel is determined to find out who wanted Christiane dead. After Ariel finds Christiane's husband beaten and left for dead, she redoubles her efforts to find the person behind these crimes and restore peace to her new hometown. VERDICT The quirky village residents make this an appealing series debut. Characters from Shea's "French Village Murder" series also appear in this book, but that does not detract from the storyline. Recommended for those who enjoyed the author's previous series and for fans of M.L. Longworth, Martin Walker, and Serena Kent.—Jean King

Library Journal

2023-01-25
An American woman intent on restoring an ancient château in France faces many challenges.

Ariel Shepard has recently lost her wealthy and beloved husband, Dan. Refusing to battle his first wife over his estate, she finds herself left with an expensive New York apartment and, to her surprise, the decrepit French château she’d admired on their honeymoon almost four years earlier—which she didn't know Dan had bought as a gift for her. She decides to take a leap of faith and move to Reigny-Sur-Canne, and through a friend she meets Katherine and Michael Goff, fellow American expatriates. Monsieur Brunet, the lawyer who handled her husband’s acquisition of the château, is happy to lend a hand, suggesting workers to help restore the property, which needs massive repairs. Ariel quickly strikes up a friendship with Katherine, who approves of her plans to run a B&B but warns her that it will take much longer than she thinks to restore the building. She also meets British mystery author Pippa Hathaway and French scholar Christiane Breton, who can tell her more about the history of the château. As the multinational crowd working on the restoration makes slow progress, Christiane, who’s interested in tracing the building's provenance, finds something that doesn’t look quite right. When Ariel stumbles over Christiane’s body, her dream turns into a nightmare. Soon thereafter, Ariel narrowly escapes a robbery attempt and Christiane’s husband is attacked. Ariel, Katherine, and an enthusiastic Pippa start sleuthing in the hope of finding the killer before they become the next victims.

The charming details of French country life make up for a mediocre mystery.

Kirkus Reviews