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perednia's review against another edition
3.0
Benjamin Cooker is a winemaker in this French detective series, consulting with vineyard owners and wineries, dispensing his opinion in a popular guidebook and serving on wine juries. It's a good life for this half-British, half-French lover of good wine, food and cigars. But just like Jessica Fletcher or any number of cozy amateur detectives, he doesn't go looking for murder. It finds him.
The series begins with Treachery in Bordeaux, in which wine in three vats of one of his longest friends has gone bad. Since the distraught man owns one of the last wine estates remaining within the city limits of Bordeaux, its prestige needs to be protected. He needs someone to look into things quietly, not with a splash. And that's just what Cooker does. Along the way, he acquires an assistant, indulges his love of art and local lore, and discovers what happened to the wine and why. As a series introduction, it's a breezy read with a very interesting motive behind the crimes that occur.
Nightmare in Burgundy, published in trade paperback on July 31, finds Cooker and assistant Virgile travel to that other renowned French winemaking region. Our hero is inducted into a highly honorable organization that celebrates the fruits of the grape. Odd graffiti is discovered in various places around town. Cooker realizes the writing is in Latin. An old friend, an aging monk, helps him find the Biblical verses that correspond. And Virgile is adept at enchanting at least one local young woman.
When disgust at the graffiti leads to death, Cooker is the one to put the pieces together. The plot is wrapped up very quickly in this short novel, but its conclusion brings to mind a classic mystery. As with the debut novel, all the pieces fit together smoothly.
Deadly Tasting, the fourth book in the series, requires Cooker's expertise when an elderly man is found dead and, in his humble abode, are 12 wine glasses with only one filled. What wine is it and how might that be pertinent to the crime? Then another body is found, and another. Cooker has to put the pieces together before the circle is completed. Again, the motive of what's going on is clever and, as with the other two mysteries, the clues have a lot to do with France and French winemaking.
The novels are very quick books to read. On occasion, there are things that don't fit into such a light premise, as some crime scenes that are more gory than usual in cozy mysteries and jarring vulgar language that is thrown in when many other alternatives are available. It's not that crime fiction should -- and hardly does -- shy from such things. But they do stand out in what are otherwise light, cozy reads.
Although people who know France and French wine will more fully recognize the lists of names that are used in the books and what they mean, those who appreciate gastronomic delights will enjoy this aspect of the series. The French lore and history are especially enjoyable aspects.
The series has been adapted to French television and, based on these three entries, shows the potential for many stories.
kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review against another edition
3.0
Disclaimer: ARC read via Netgalley courtesy of Le French Press
Benjamin Cooker is France’s answer to Jessica Fletcher. If you have ever seen the old(ish) series Murder, She Wrote, you know that when Mrs. Fletcher shows up, someone dies. In real life, people would avoid her like the plague. Cooker isn’t quite so bad, but even when being inducted into the Wine tasters’ knightly order, mysteries follow him around like bad pennies.
Or pieces of cork in wine.
The mystery in this installment surrounds the appearance of graffiti messages in a town so small it doesn’t have a priest or a doctor. It’s got a vineyard though. That’s important thing.
This is book, in terms of mystery, is the weakest of the series so far. The solution to the mystery ( which has a nice change in that no one dies) taps into certain assumptions about mental illness, in particular, depression, that are slightly disturbing. Cooker doesn’t condemn and offers sympathy and understanding. But the mixture of depression and insanity is just as demeaning as the immediate clause of depression and suicide. There are different types of depression, and just because someone is clinically depressed doesn’t mean that they will commit suicide and are crazy. Too often Hollywood does the same thing, and it becomes a bit much. This isn’t to say that there aren’t good looks at mental illness, but a cozy mystery that can be easily read in an hour and a half, really doesn’t have enough space to do the topic justice.
That said, the other elements that make this series are still present – humor, wine, and food. There is something refreshing about mystery that does not involve the finding of a body. There is a wonderful sequence involving train travel and sandwiches. Virigile, Cooker’s aide, gets a little more development.
Benjamin Cooker is France’s answer to Jessica Fletcher. If you have ever seen the old(ish) series Murder, She Wrote, you know that when Mrs. Fletcher shows up, someone dies. In real life, people would avoid her like the plague. Cooker isn’t quite so bad, but even when being inducted into the Wine tasters’ knightly order, mysteries follow him around like bad pennies.
Or pieces of cork in wine.
The mystery in this installment surrounds the appearance of graffiti messages in a town so small it doesn’t have a priest or a doctor. It’s got a vineyard though. That’s important thing.
This is book, in terms of mystery, is the weakest of the series so far. The solution to the mystery ( which has a nice change in that no one dies) taps into certain assumptions about mental illness, in particular, depression, that are slightly disturbing. Cooker doesn’t condemn and offers sympathy and understanding. But the mixture of depression and insanity is just as demeaning as the immediate clause of depression and suicide. There are different types of depression, and just because someone is clinically depressed doesn’t mean that they will commit suicide and are crazy. Too often Hollywood does the same thing, and it becomes a bit much. This isn’t to say that there aren’t good looks at mental illness, but a cozy mystery that can be easily read in an hour and a half, really doesn’t have enough space to do the topic justice.
That said, the other elements that make this series are still present – humor, wine, and food. There is something refreshing about mystery that does not involve the finding of a body. There is a wonderful sequence involving train travel and sandwiches. Virigile, Cooker’s aide, gets a little more development.
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