About the Book
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Living in Paris, Kentucky, and having a sidekick cat named Pepe le Pew gives Marci Beaucoup’s life a certain je ne sais quoi . Combining her love of baking and France, Marci opened La Belle Patisserie to bring her small Southern hometown a bit of French flair and lots of croissants. Everything is sunshine and macarons at the bakery until her landlord calls to tell her she’s selling the property. Marci’s relieved to hear that if the top bidder, an enchanting Frenchman named Antoine Dubois, gets the property, he’ll renew her bakery’s lease. Charmed by Antoine, Marci figures this development isn’t half bad and sees a handsome new landlord in her future—but then Antoine’s estranged ex-girlfriend Kelly turns up dead in front of her bakery. Sacrebleu!
Everyone calls Marci’s pastries “to die for,” but nobody’s actually died at La Belle Patisserie before. Antoine quickly becomes the main suspect to everyone in Paris—including to womanizing detective Maverick Malone. Who else would have killed Kelly but the ex-boyfriend she was just seen fighting with on the day of her death?
Marci finds out from her landlord that if Antoine is arrested, his purchase of her building will fall through—and her landlord will sell to developers instead, who plan to demolish the building and construct a strip mall in its place. Enamored with Antoine and with her patisserie dreams hanging in the balance, Marci is determined to prove Maverick and the rest of Paris wrong and find the true killer before Antoine winds up in jail—and she has to say au revoir to her bakery.
Now Marci finds herself mixed up in the murder investigation, and she must find the killer before her half-baked theories result in her untimely death.
My Review
Marci Beaucoup loves everything about France. She even lives in a town named Paris, although it’s in Kentucky and not the country of France. She has a cat named Pepe le Pew. Now, she’s opened her own French style bakery called La Belle Patisserie. Life is good, but then she finds out her landlord is selling the building that houses her bakery. There are two potential buyers - one wants to tear the building down and the other, Antoine Dubois, wants to keep everything the same including the bakery.
However, things take a nasty turn when Antoine has an argument with his ex-girlfriend and she ends up dead in front of the bakery. Antoine becomes the prime suspect in her murder. If he’s found guilty and sent to prison, he can’t buy the building and it will go to the other buyer. Marci is afraid of losing her business and sets out to investigate. She’s sure Antoine didn’t do it. After all, he’s handsome and he asked her out. The local detective on the case, Maverick Malone, is sure the man is guilty. Marci is convinced he’s looking no further than Antoine. It should be noted that Marci has personal problems with Maverick from years ago. She's convinced he's a womanizer. This just makes her more determined than ever to find the real killer.
This book is the first in a brand-new cozy mystery series. It had so much potential. I admit, the cover drew me right in. I wanted to like this one so much. Unfortunately, it took me a long time to get into the story. It just didn’t click for me.
Marci is an interesting character, but she also seems too naive to me. She jumps to too many conclusions without any real proof. Plus, there are pages and pages of her internal thoughts. It’s as if she’s brainstorming with herself. She really needs a confidant. Marci’s insistence of doing things on her own is too reckless to me. Although, that’s standard with cozy mysteries - the amateur sleuth takes too many risks. For me, it didn’t work in this one.
Although this book didn’t work for me, I still think the idea of a French bakery in Paris, Kentucky could be a great setting for a cozy mystery. I, also, feel if Marci had a close friend helping her with the sleuthing, it would make the world of difference. It gets to be too much just reading her thoughts to herself through most of the book. Sometimes it felt like she was arguing both sides of a situation with herself.
I’d still be willing to give a second book a chance. There are so many possibilities with this storyline, I'd want to give it another try. Perhaps my next visit to Paris, Kentucky will be better.
For reading challenges:
NetGalley & Edelweiss Reading Challenge 2023
Cloak & Dagger Reading Challenge 2023
FTC Disclosure: I voluntarily reviewed a free Advance Reader Copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.
That looks really good and I love the cover.
ReplyDeleteSometimes there is wisdom in the writing advice of "show, don't tell."
ReplyDeleteI love Paris so the idea of bringing home some of the charm in Kentucky sounds lovely. Sorry to hear it didn't quite meet up to expectations. Hope the next one is better!
ReplyDeleteI'm about 3/4 of the way done with this and definitely agree that Marci would have benefitted from a friend to investigate with. I'm enjoying this one but feel like we spend a lot of time in Marci's head.
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