Death and Croissants, by Ian Moore

 Available March 14, 2023

I don't know quite what to think of this book. On the one hand, I didn't love it, but I also didn't hate it. I was mostly just confused. I felt a bit like main character Richard, going along without really quite ever knowing what was going on or why. It was only when my mind finally settled on an image of John Cleese's Basil Fawltry that I felt like I'd at least helped. Richard doesn't have Basil's pompous arrogance, but that sense of never quite having a handle on events seemed to work for me. Try that angle if you're not lucky enough to be immediately pulled in.

Richard is dull and boring and seems to like it like that. Despite running a B&B, he goes out of his way to avoid even eye contact with guests. He loves old movies and his chickens, dubbing his hens Lana Turner, Joan Crawford, and Ava Gardner. Then he's somehow pulled into helping the lovely but mysterious guest Valerie look for missing guest Grandchaps. What happened to the elderly gentleman? Who is Valerie? Why does she want his help? I mean, it isn't like he's much help, not to mention she seems quite competent of doing, well, whatever she wants.

I won't even attempt to explain the plot. Somewhere along the line Richard's beloved Ava Gardner is killed. In fact, unless I missed it during one of the sections that I zoned out in, I don't think we ever find out what happened to Ava Gardner. Let's just say, somehow it veers from a bloody hand print, his chats with his wife, dressing in a chicken suit, discovering neighbors who have a dungeon (and more), the mafia, a chihuahua with attitude, and, oh, so much more. I couldn't connect to any of the characters, but somehow found myself continuing to read. I think perhaps I'd segued into imagining it all as a Monty Python skit in my mind. There was humor, yes, which is probably what really kept me there, even as confused as I was about what was going on, not to mention why. 

Thanks #NetGalley and #PoisonedPenPress for letting me take a look into Richard's world, confused as it left me. Somehow, I was not surprised to discover the author's connection to Basil at the end.