Description:

From Publishers Weekly

Campion's debut introduces a beguiling heroine, 28-year-old Lt. Capucine Le Tellier of the Paris judicial police. Bored with her deskbound job pursuing white-collar crime, Capucine jumps at the chance to get involved in a possible murder investigation. The body of Jean-Louis Delage, the président-directeur général of the automaker Renault, has turned up in the refrigerator of Diapason, a three-star restaurant, where Delage dined earlier that evening with his lawyer. Diapason's owner, eminent chef Jean-Basile Labrousse, is well known to Capucine's restaurant critic husband, Alexandre. What at first appears to be a case of food poisoning is soon ruled a homicide. Capucine's family connections help open political doors and provide useful contacts as she uncovers a plot involving foreign nationals and industrial espionage. Full of amusing characters, this diverting gastronomic mystery builds to a most satisfactory conclusion. Readers will want a second helping. (July)
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From

This new series offers a uniquely blended mix of “hooks” that will appeal to a vide variety of mystery lovers. The heroine is Capucine LeTellier, an elegant young Parisian police detective. So far she has worked white-collar fraud, but she longs for a more spectacular case. She gets exactly that when the body of an automobile executive is found in the food cooler of a famous French restaurant—a fortuitous crime scene, as Capucine's husband, Alexandre, is a food critic. Despite the bumbling of her team of detectives, Capucine gradually pieces the case together, tracing the crime's origins to industrial espionage and the CIA. So we have a culinary mystery set in Paris but blended with a police procedural and a little espionage, all taking place around the inner workings of the French wine and food industry. It really is an appealing combination. While recipes are not included in the text, the dishes sound delicious, and the intrepid cook can visit the author's Web site for details. --Judy Coon