A murder most French

Julia Child returns in Cambridge's sprightly second cozy featuring the legendary chef (after Mastering the Art of French Murder), who once again asks her American expat neighbor, Tabitha Knight, to help solve a mystery--this time, a series of wine-based slayings in 1950s Paris. During a cooking demonstration at L'École du Cordon Bleu, where Julia studies French cuisine, a famous chef dies after taking a sip of Volnay Clos de la Rouge from the rare 1893 vintage. Toxicology reports indicate that cyanide is the culprit--but who would add poison to such a precious wine? When a string of other figures in the Parisian culinary scene also die from poisoned vino, Julia taps Tabitha to flex her formidable powers of deduction, decipher clues, and risk her life and limb to ferret out the culprit. While fair-play fans will have plenty of fun following along with the friends' investigations, it's Julia's sensuous recipes, lusciously described visits to the market, and fascinating tour of a subterranean mushroom farm that give this book its tantalizing flavor. The results will satisfy foodies, armchair travelers, and old-fashioned mystery lovers alike. Agent: Maura Kye-Casella, Don Congdon Assoc. (May)

Cambridge's second in her charming cozy-adjacent series (following Mastering the Art of French Murder) picks up where the first left off, with American expat Tabitha Knight, best friend of Julia Child, still struggling to cook palatable food and involved in the caseload of inspector Merveille, he of the penetrating stares and ocean-gray eyes. After helping Merveille solve an earlier case and barely escaping with her life, Tabs is once again cast among the murderous when she is an eyewitness to a poisoning by wine. Set in Paris a few years after the end of World War II, the story conveys the devastation of the Nazi occupation of France, looking particularly at the Nazis' theft of wine. Some bottles survive however, and someone is using them to kill the best chefs in the city. Tabs, often with Julia's help, is on the case, using her skills, wits, and bravery to track a killer who wants to kill her. VERDICT Wonderfully set, characterized, and paced, this is another winner in a delightful series. Add it to sure-bet lists and suggest to readers wanting to sink into a good story.--Neal Wyatt

More accurately, Four Murders Most French, since none of the homicides entangling Julia Child's circle in postwar Paris seems any more Gallic than the others. Joining Julia at a tasting during a monthly meeting of her wine club at L'École du Cordon Bleu, her neighbor, friend, and amanuensis Tabitha Knight is on hand to watch Chef Richard Beauchêne taste his very last wine, an 1893 Volnay Clos de la Rougeotte that he samples just before keeling over. Cyanide, thinks Tabitha, whose determination to stay away from anymore murders is on a collision course with her sense that she's channeling Agatha Christie. Although Inspecteur Étienne Merveille wholeheartedly endorses her reluctance to get involved, she's left with little choice after she recognizes Louis Loyer at another event as the chef who was arguing with Beauchêne on the evening of his last libation only moments before Loyer uncorks an 1871 Sauternes that turns out to be his last round as well. Assuming that the two poisonings (more will follow) can't be a coincidence, Tabitha wonders if it's a coincidence that she's been on the scene for both of them and begins to make a cautious list of other people who were present for both deaths. Considering that she's not much more interested in the suspects than her author, Tabitha does a highly effective job of identifying the culprit and tipping her hand in a way that forces her once again to employ her Swiss Army knife to rescue herself from certain death. Neither the characters nor the mystery makes nearly as much of an impression as the setting and the cuisine. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.