Series debut
This is a charming debut, set in the French countryside. As promised in the title, it provides both cycling and baked goods. The main character, Sadie Greene, has shucked her secure actuary job in Chicago after the hit and run death of her best friend, Gem, and bought a French bicycle touring company. She’s all in and her little company, Oui Cycle, is about to take off on it’s first tour. Joining her are – let’s be real – the suspects: her hometown almost family, the Appletons (parents, son, and girlfriend); a sleek German, Manfred; two Scottish sisters who can’t get enough of the baked goods; and a supposedly undercover travel writer, Nigel. In true Murder, She Wrote style, two of the most unpleasant on the tour, Nigel and Dom Appleton, seem targeted for doom.
As does Sadie’s little company. She’s been plagued by graffiti and when the tour starts, a series of unfortunate happenings which sadly include the probably not accidental death of the stubborn and dissatisfied Dom Appleton, who had seemed determined not to enjoy himself. He also owned the company Sadie worked for and was trying to lure her back, despite Sadie’s assurances she’s happy with Oui Cycle.
What sets this cozy apart, despite a pretty conventional set up – is Sadie’s voice, which is lightly snarky and exasperated as she aims to meet the needs of all her (very needy) clients. As a reader, her voice drew me into her character and made me care about her. She’s helped by her staff, the practical Ukrainian Nadiya, and Jordi, who runs the tech end of things and drives the Oui Cycle van. Complication: Jordi has a police record and he’s a convenient scapegoat for all that happens. Well, cozy fans, we know the reformed with a record are never the culprits. It’s almost a rule.
The book is punctuated by the details of the tour – each day’s itinerary it itemized at the beginning of the chapters – as well as letters written by Sadie to Gem. It’s a brilliant way to get a look inside Sadie’s state of mind. She’s a classic mystery outsider – she’s of the tour but she’s the organizer, so she’s looking at things from a detached point of view. She’s not the one enjoying the spa at the end of the day, she’s the one trying to organize everyone and get them (and their bikes) where they need to be. There’s also a good amount of gentle humor to the writing, always a welcome addition in any novel.
I thought as I read I had figured out what was going on but I was pleasantly surprised to discover I was wrong in my assumptions. As Sadie combs through her feelings about both her grief at losing Gem and the death on the tour of Dom Appleton (as well as the possible death of her little touring company), she’s also sorting through the details of the crime and reaching a solution. While this does include a trip into the dark alone (this should also be a rule: don’t let your female heroine go off in the dark alone when a killer is lurking), the author pulls this off. She also delights the reader with an armchair tour of Southern France and includes a recipe for a difficult but delicious sounding desert at the end. This is a wonderful series kick off with an enchanting main character. — Robin Agnew