The
Murderous Macaron
by
Ana T. Drew
GENRE:
Cozy Mystery
BLURB:
Welcome
to Beldoc, a small town in the heart of Provence, imbued with
lavender and fresh baked bread! You can idle around, or you can
puzzle out a murder mystery.
When
a man dies on her watch in her pâtisserie, newly divorced chef
Julie Cavallo is dismayed. It isn’t that she’s a suspect. The
local gendarmerie captain signs off the death as a natural event. A
heart attack. But for a reason she won’t discuss, Julie suspects
Maurice Sauve was poisoned. What’s a girl to do? She’ll ignore
the risk and seek justice for Maurice on her own!
Well,
not quite on her own. Julie’s eccentric grandmother, her snarky
sister and her geeky sous chef are keen to help. The team’s
amateurism is a challenge. But there’s also the pesky matter of no
evidence, no clues, and soon, no body. The murder—if it was a
murder—was planned and executed flawlessly.
Can
a small-town baker solve the perfect crime?
"The
Murderous Macaron" is a twisty whodunnit mystery perfect for
fans of Janet Evanovich, Alexander McCall Smith, Jana DeLeon and
Lilian Jackson Braun.
Excerpt:
I
sit down across a round table from the gendarme, Capitaine Adinian,
and begin my sad tale of yesterday’s macaron-making workshop that
didn’t go as planned.
He
listens, barely taking any notes.
When
I get to the part where I asked my students to mix the ingredients
I’d prepared for them, Capitaine Adinian leans forward. “Who
prepared and laid out the ingredients?”
“I
did.”
“When?”
“Shortly
before the class began.”
“Did
you leave the shop, even for a brief time, after you had everything
ready for the class?” he asks.
“No.”
He
scribbles something in his little notebook. “Please continue.”
“Most
participants struggled to get their batter to stiffen,” I say.
“Some gave up, claiming it was impossible without an electric
mixer.”
“Did
Maurice Sauve give up?”
“Quite
the contrary. He whisked unrelentingly, switching hands but never
pausing. He was the first to complete the task.”
Capitaine
Adinian writes that down.
“I
gave him one of these.” I show Adinian the remaining badges that
Flo had made for the workshop.
“Great
Baking Potential,” he reads aloud.
“Then
I went around with his bowl and had everyone admire the perfect
consistency of the batter.”
“Did
anything stand out or seem unusual at that point?”
I
gaze up at the ceiling, picturing the scene of me praising Maurice
Sauve’s firm, satiny batter, students giving him their thumbs-up,
and him smiling, visibly stoked. But he isn’t just smiling, he’s
also… Panic squeezing my throat, I zero in on his face. He’s
panting.
Oh.
My. God.
I
clap my hand over my mouth. “What if he’d whisked too hard? What
if that exertion caused his heart attack?”
“An
intense workout, especially at freezing temperatures, can trigger a
heart attack,” Adinian says.
“He
whisked intensely.”
“Madame
Cavallo, I’ve never heard of anyone whisking themselves to an early
grave.”
My Review:
Julie has just went through a rather quick divorce. After her divorce
she decides to move back to her hometown. Julie opened up her own
bakery shop. Julie loves to cook and is a chef. After opening her
little bakery shop she decides to teach a class on how to make
Macarons.
On the first day of her class one of her students falls over dead.
The local police rights the guys death off as a heart attack. After
having a vision Julie becomes to believe that the man did not have a
heart attack but instead may have been poisoned.
Julie’s sister and grandmother encourages her to look into the guys
death. They believe that it will be very therapeutic for Julie with
her recent and quick divorce. Julie is a wonderful person as she
takes it all in stride although she is looking into the man’s death
because she believes the man was murdered.
The Murderous Macaron was a fun
sweet little murder mystery. It kept me guessing from beginning to
end. It started out with a bang at the very beginning with a guy dead
on the floor of Julie’s bakery shop. Julie
had
a list suspects who may or may not have had a reason to kill the guy.
The Murderous Macaron had the same feel to it as Murder She Wrote. I
pictured the houses in the town of Beldoc with soft light colors and
white picket fences with little old ladies peeking out the windows. A
usually quite, quaint little town where everyone knows each other and
gets along very well.
Although Julie tied up this little murder mystery nicely something
tells me that there are going to be more murders and mystery for her
to solve. I can’t wait to see what mystery she finds herself into
next. While The Murderous Macaron was tied up nicely there were still
questions about Julie and her past that I hope to learn more of in
future books.
I would recommend The Murderous Macaron to anyone looking for a cozy
little murder mystery. One click your copy of The Murderous Macaron
today!
AUTHOR
Bio and Links:
Ana
T. Drew is the evil mastermind behind the recent series of murders in
the fictional French town of Beldoc. When she is not writing cozy
mysteries or doing mom-and-wife things, she can be found watching
“The Rookie” to help her get over “Castle”. She lives in
Paris but her heart is in Provence.
>>>
Visit ana-drew.com for a free cookbook and a game!
Giveaway:
$20 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC
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4 comments:
I've enjoyed following the tour for The Murderous Macaron and I'm looking forward to checking it out!
Good morning and thank you for the book description and giveaway.
What a lovely review! Thank you!
Sounds interesting, thanks for sharing!
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