Death and Fromage

Comedian Moore follows up Death and Croissants with another witty cozy featuring hapless former film professor Richard Ainsworth, who now operates a bed and breakfast in France’s sleepy Vallée de Follet, and his daring amateur investigator friend, Madame Valérie d’Orçay. At the outset, Richard and Valérie take a trip to a local Michelin-starred restaurant as guests of a lauded food critic. Dissatisfied with the meal, the critic revokes one of the restaurant’s stars, leading to local scandal and the suspicious suicide of the restaurant’s main supplier of goat cheese. Valérie smells a rat, and she once again ropes Richard into her unsolicited investigation. Suspects include two ego-swollen chefs and a local cheesemaker who is trying to enlarge his market share by producing vegan goat cheese. Added to the mix is the sudden appearance of Richard’s estranged wife, who has come to France to haul her wayward husband back home to England. The pacing is brisk, the jokes are plentiful, and the mystery is complex enough to satisfy diehard whodunit fans. It’s a generous helping of good fun, with authentic Gallic flavor. (Mar.)