I think this book would fall into the “Cozy Mystery” sub genre which is not where I spend a lot of time. Our MC, Tabitha, is neighbors and friends with one Julia Child in Paris after WW2. After a party at Julia’s, one of the guests is killed in the cellar of her building and with one of Julia’s knives. Suddenly Tabitha and Julia and even Julia’s sister Dorothy are amateur detectives, trying to figure out the who and why.

I wanted to like this. It felt like the author has been obsessed with JC since childhood and decided to write a little fanfic where her MC gets to be friends and neighbors and even gets to get mini cooking lessons from the great Julia Child. I feel if the JC character was replaced with a fictional character I would’ve enjoyed this a lot more as it felt like an unofficial JC biography. As a fan myself, I already knew 99% of the facts sprinkled into the story about her. I enjoyed the slice of life story from post-war Paris, though it seems like historical and modern ideas and sentiments were getting a little muddied.

Not terrible by any means, but probably won’t be continuing on with the series if there are more focusing on Tabitha and JC.

What a fun historical fiction story of a young woman (Tabitha) who meets Julia Child in post World War 2 Paris while Julia is studying at the Cordon Bleu cooking school. I especially liked the parts where Julia Child was teaching Tabitha how to cook.

The narrator of the audiobook did a great impression of Julia’s voice on those parts. 😊

Really looking forward to more books in this series!

Special thanks to NetGalley for the advance audiobook copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

#MasteringtheArtofFrenchMurder
#NetGalley

This was an adorable cozy mystery. Julia Child is hilarious, her and Dort being side characters to their neighbor's sleuthing is great. Makes me want a baguette and to go back to Paris

Okay, I've got it figured out. I'm not the craziest about cozy mysteries. I really enjoy being disgusted and spooked out of my socks, and I know that sounds awful, but it truly does bring me solace. I am thankful for receiving both a physical copy and an audiobook copy of Mastering the Art of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge, but I just got bored of it too quickly.