Readers of Death and Fromage who appreciate comic actor John Cleese at his put-upon best will be hard-pressed not to picture him as protagonist Richard Ainsworth. Death and Fromage is English comedian Ian Moore's follow-up to the first novel in the Follet Valley Mystery series, Death and Croissants, and is equally farcical and funny.
Englishman Richard runs a bed-and-breakfast in France's Loire Valley. This time around, he finds himself hosting an eviscerating restaurant critic, who gives a withering review to Michelin-starred chef Sébastien Grosmallard for the sin of having made his signature dessert with vegan goat cheese... or did someone sabotage Grosmallard's dish? (Richard finds all the fuss about cheese a bit much--"but then this was France.") Soon Grosmallard's cheesemaker is found dead, having apparently drowned himself in a fermentation tank. Not buying the suicide angle is Richard's love interest, Parisian bounty hunter Valérie d'Orçay, whom he skittishly joins in sleuthing out the truth.
At one point, Richard privately laments that Valérie doesn't understand "his particular brand of finely honed British sarcasm," which is one comedy fuel that powers Death and Fromage, along with slapstick (a toupee goes rogue) and Monty Python-grade silliness. All of this puts the Follet Valley series in the esteemed company of Lynne Truss's Constable Twitten books and Christopher Fowler's Bryant & May titles. Death and Fromage also delivers an airtight puzzle that Richard has a hand in solving, albeit using a methodology less suggestive of Inspector Morse than Inspector Clouseau. --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer