Item: The Shady Chateau: a Provence Cozy Mystery (Julie Cavallo Investigates, #4)
Rating: 4
Author: Gina

The Shady Chateau: a Provence Cozy Mystery (Julie Cavallo Investigates) by Ana T. Drew | Review & $10 Giveaway

A book blog tour from Goddess Fish Promotions.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Marianne & Judy at Goddess Fish for providing me with the information for this tour.

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Book Details

The Shady Chateau: a Provence Cozy Mystery (Julie Cavallo Investigates, #4) by Ana T. Drew
Series: Julie Cavallo Investigates #4
Published by Independently on 06/28/2021
Genres: Amateur Sleuth, Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Mystery
Format: eBook, Paperback
Pages: 184

Beware — dressing up as Napoleon can get you killed!

Provence baker Julie Cavallo, her sous chef, and her grandma sign up for a Napoleonic re-enactment at a nearby chateau.

The event includes theatricals, war games, and costume balls — all courtesy of the host and pillar of the local community, Baron Gustave Cordes d’Auzon.

What a welcome break from baking and catering......and from pining for a tall, dark, and unsociable captain of the gendarmerie! Unlike the captain, the guests at the chateau love conversing. Some are so flamboyant they outshine even Julie’s badass grandma Rose!
It’s all fun and cosplay… until the lord of the castle turns up dead. Three unlikely culprits plead guilty. Each gives the gendarmes a different motive. Each insists they did it alone.

Who’s lying? And why? And who really killed the baron?

If you’re a fan of Murder on the Orient Express and country house mysteries, then you’ll love this book. It will regale you with a dogged amateur sleuth, a puzzling ensemble of suspects, and a tangled web of lies.

Source: Amazon Purchase, Goddess Fish Promotions, Kindle Unlimited, Received from the author or publisher for review.

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Excerpt from The Shady Chateau

I head back to the crime scene. While I’m crossing the lawn, my phone rings.

“I’ve been trying to decipher your coded text message since midnight,” Capitaine Adinian says. “But I gave up. I have to admit that the encryption strength you used is above my pay grade.”

Coded message? I thought I was being as straightforward as it gets…

“What do you mean by coded?” I ask.

“Madame Cavallo, you texted me ‘18 months.’ If that wasn’t a code, then what was it?”

No more Julie? We’re back to the formal address now?

Wait, what?

Did he just say I texted him 18 months?

No-o-o. No, no, no, no, no!

It’s impossible. I wasn’t that drunk. While I texted him, I was thinking about how it’s been eighteen months since the last time I got laid. It was shortly before my marriage to Bruno fell apart.

But there’s no freaking way I typed that!

What I courageously wrote to Adinian was, How about dinner when you’re back?

I’m 100 percent sure of it.

…OK, maybe 99 percent.

…50 percent?

Oh my God, did I message him 18 months!

Adinian’s voice jolts me from my stupor. “Julie? Are you still there?”

“Y-yes.”

“And?”

“And what?”

“What does eighteen months mean?”

“I can’t tell you now,” I say, deflecting. “I’m in the middle of something.”

“Does that something involve a chateau and a dead body?”

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Purchase Links for The Shady Chateau

Amazon

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My thoughts on The Shady Chateau

This is my first exposure to Ana T. Drew and her Julie Cavallo Investigates cozy mysteries. Although The Shady Chateau is book #4 in the series, it works quite well as a stand-alone story. I can’t wait to read the first three books and number five is on its way soon.

I enjoyed the quirky characters and the uniqueness of the visions Julie has where she sees a dead person from the vantage point of a leaf or bit of dandruff. Such a fun twist.

There is nothing like a book trip to the French countryside to take your mind off your worries!

The pacing of the story keeps you turning the pages and you are through the book before you realize it. Since our amateur sleuth is a professional baker by trade, there are many references to delicious creations to make your mouth water.

Julie has a bit of hometown girl in her that makes her very relatable. The story has a few red herrings and many suspects. I certainly did NOT see that ending coming! But I don’t want to give it away, so please grab a copy of the book today and experience this charming story for yourself.