Helpful Score: 1
Love & Death in Burgundy is filled with Gallic charm and should be enjoyed by readers who are fans of Martin Walker's Bruno Chief of Police series. In Shea's book, however, the main character is an American living in France, so its Frenchness is diluted a tiny bit. The cast of characters is varied. From Katherine and her husband Michael, to the villagers, to an American couple in the recording business, to an English ex-pat trying to write a mystery, readers get to see the village from several points of view.
To be completely honest, I did get tired of Katherine whining about not making the sort of friends she wanted. She was told from the very beginning that this was extremely difficult for any newcomer to accomplish. A little guilty pleasure for me concerning Katherine was that she and her husband don't have a marriage that's all sweetness and light. No marriage is, and while their differences aren't deadly serious, it makes the characters-- and the book-- more real. (No, I'm not against happy marriages!)
My favorite character in the book happened to be fourteen-year-old Jeannette who is totally bored with village life and spends most of her time on nocturnal prowls through people's property-- rather like a family cat who's turned outside for the night to do whatever it wants. Not only is Jeannette is a gold medal-winning snoop, she's light-fingered as well. She is the one who truly has her fingers on the pulse of the village, but seldom does anyone listen to her. After all, she's just a child.
There's a lot to like in Love & Death in Burgundy-- the very French atmosphere, an intriguing mystery, an interesting cast of characters, but... for some reason that I can't really pinpoint, this well-crafted book just didn't grab me. Your mileage may definitely vary, so don't hesitate to give it a try!
To be completely honest, I did get tired of Katherine whining about not making the sort of friends she wanted. She was told from the very beginning that this was extremely difficult for any newcomer to accomplish. A little guilty pleasure for me concerning Katherine was that she and her husband don't have a marriage that's all sweetness and light. No marriage is, and while their differences aren't deadly serious, it makes the characters-- and the book-- more real. (No, I'm not against happy marriages!)
My favorite character in the book happened to be fourteen-year-old Jeannette who is totally bored with village life and spends most of her time on nocturnal prowls through people's property-- rather like a family cat who's turned outside for the night to do whatever it wants. Not only is Jeannette is a gold medal-winning snoop, she's light-fingered as well. She is the one who truly has her fingers on the pulse of the village, but seldom does anyone listen to her. After all, she's just a child.
There's a lot to like in Love & Death in Burgundy-- the very French atmosphere, an intriguing mystery, an interesting cast of characters, but... for some reason that I can't really pinpoint, this well-crafted book just didn't grab me. Your mileage may definitely vary, so don't hesitate to give it a try!
