Capucine Le Tellier is a police Commissaire in Paris. She thinks she's going on vacation to visit her Uncle in her family's ancestral manor house, but she just can't seem to take a break from crime. Her uncle is convinced that a recent accident during a partridge shoot was actually murder. And when other accidents start happening in the same circle of people, Capucine starts to agree. She sees this case as a chance to reconcile with her family, who are still having a hard time adjusting to her having become a police officer, and to show how a local girl has made good in the big city. But the local police aren't exactly helpful, and there's another big case calling her back to Paris. What's a girl to do? The characters are complex, as is the mystery.

Though born a New Yorker, Campion has spent much of his life in Paris, and this rings through in the text. We find ourselves transported from there to the French countryside, savoring the apples of Normandy as we go. Campion is also a food critic, like Capucine's husband, which no doubt helps make the character of Alexandre believable. And a great deal of this book is about the food. From finding it (on mushroom foraging trips and partridge hunts), to preparing it (especially in having the mushrooms checked to make sure no one has picked a poison) to enjoying it (from sumptuous steak feasts to clandestine dinners), these characters certainly have food on the brain. This is the second book in the Capucine Culinary Mystery series, and Campion has posted a number of the recipes from the first book on his web site. We can only hope he follows suit with some of the delectable offerings from this one.

Book Summary

Taking a break from the hustle and bustle of Paris, French detective Capucine Le Tellier and her portly food critic husband, Alexandre, visit Capucine's family's manor home in Normandy. Arriving at the height of the pheasant hunting season, idyllic picnic lunches and mushrooming trips in the forest are interrupted by a series of hunting accidents that claim the lives of several employees from the local cattle ranch, famed for its exquisite beef. Suspecting foul play, Capucine delves into local affairs only to find her investigation stymied by the local police force. And as the case unravels, Capucine and Alexandre uncover romantic intrigues gone awry and dangerous, deadly resentments...