Crime Fraiche

May 9, 2011
Campion's picturesque sequel to The Grave Gourmet (2010) takes Commissaire Capucine Le Tellier, of Paris's judicial police, and her food critic husband, Alexandre de Huguelet, to Normandy, where her aristocratic uncle, Aymerie, asks Capucine to look into two fatal shooting "accidents" that occurred during hunting season. Facing resentment from the inept local police, elderly neighbors disconcerted by her job, as well as city superiors concerned with political issues, Capucine discovers that the two victims are connected to the cattle ranch of her uncle's friend, Loïc Vienneau, and thus all may not be well with Vienneau's highly celebrated beef operation. Placing an officer undercover at the ranch puts both detective and commissaire at risk. The lack of a suitable array of suspects, a distracting subplot with a thief who preys on vulnerable people in the arts that fails to connect with the main narrative, and less than perfect justice may disconcert traditional mystery fans.