A Christmas Mystery in Provence - Softcover

Deeb, Mary-Jane

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1478282282 ISBN 13: 9781478282280

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2012

Synopsis

It is the winter holidays, and Madame de Medici, Chrissy's beloved grandmother, and sleuthing partner, has decided to spend a traditional Provencal Christmas en famille with her children and grandchildren and assorted guests in her villa in Grasse. She has a surprise for them: two medieval manuscripts which have been brought together for the first time in five centuries to celebrate the eight hundreth anniversary of Grasse's ancient cathedral. But her holiday plans are disrupted when the manuscripts are stolen and a body is found in the orchard. Chrisssy and her grandmother have only a week to solve the mystery and restore peace and order to Grasse and its denizens.

About this title

About the Author

Mary-Jane Deeb is a mystery writer who has authored a number of novels including Cocktails and Murder on the Potomac, Murder on the Riviera A Christmas Mystery in Provence, and Death of a Harlequin. She also works at the Library of Congress, where she is Chief of the African and Middle Eastern Division. Deeb holds a doctorate from the Johns Hopkins University in International Relations and has published several non-fiction books as well. She has traveled all over the globe, but has set her last three mysteries in the South of France because she loves the food, the culture, the weather and the traditions of that region world

From Publishers Weekly

This light, uneven mystery from Deeb ("Murder on the Riviera") will please Francophiles and rare book aficionados but may disappoint mystery fans. When Marie-Christine "Chrissy" de Medici spends the Christmas holiday in southern France with her grandmother and assorted family members, a rare 15th-century illuminated manuscript goes missing, and a relative turns up dead. The novel contains many recognizable mystery clichés, including the "we’re-all-trapped-in-this-country-estate-because-of-the-snowstorm" device. The main character seems more like a giddy adolescent than a newspaper editor, heiress and successful amateur sleuth—a problem heightened by the novel’s bizarre use of Bridget Jones-style narration, with too many exclamation points and too few subject pronouns. (In a total about-face to the immature voice of the protagonist, the mystery is interrupted several times by jarring academic footnotes.) If the plot and characters are tired, the book’s saving graces are the author’s extensive knowledge of the world of rare books (she heads up the Near East section of the Library of Congress) and her wonderful forays into French Christmas traditions: readers learn about the crèche, the burning of the yule log, the three tablecloths at Christmas Eve dinner and other customs. Despite the book’s flaws, some readers will enjoy its peek at the lifestyles of the rich and famous in Provence.
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About this edition

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1478282282
• ISBN 13: 9781478282280
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 274