This is a very enjoyable and entertaining read. At times it descends into farce, and is extremely funny. I absolutely love the French setting. It would make a perfect holiday read for anyone off to France. I’m looking forward to more in this series.

This is the second book in the series and it's a lot like the first one. There's a lot of craziness involved, and the story is often a bit farcical. Richard and Valerie return and small-town France is anything but boring. There's a pretentious chef's meal to endure, the murder of a cheesemaker, and a visit from Richard's wife, Claire, all happening in short order.

We get to understand Richard a bit more in this outing, especially as Claire brings back memories of the earlier days of their relationship. Valerie, on the other hand, is still elusive, only sharing a few morsels to get to know her better. The cast is fairly big in this story, with at least half a dozen new names introduced and just a few returning from the previous book. I do like the way Richard's love of film is used heavily in the story, sometimes moving the plot along quite nicely. I guess it goes to show that it takes all types to make the story.

Overall, I enjoyed this as much as the last book. I will rate this 3.,5 stars. I would like to thank Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for giving me an arc. I have provided this review under no obligation. .

I'm a bit disappointed in this second installment in the series. I struggled a bit to follow all the lines of the mystery, it seemed to go here and there too much . There were lots of characters and several with similar-ish French last names starting with G. It was hard to keep track of them all, especially when extra-martial affairs and their culinary related jobs were added to the mix. I didn't suspect the culprit of the murders though, so that's always a good thing. Once again, I enjoyed the antics Valerie and Richard found themselves in. That's definitely the shining star of the story. I just felt dissatisfied at the end of the story and left without the urge to continue reading the series.

Thank you to Poisoned Pen Press and Netgalley for my e-arc. Death and Fromage released March 5th!

I love that this wonderful book pokes fun at itself at the same time that it makes you want to move to this little country town in France. Even if a lot of people get murdered there. I enjoyed this second installment of the Follet Valley mystery series. It was a light, quick read that kept me guessing. I love Richard and Valerie, and really hope we get more of them. But the tiny chihuahua does sometimes steal the show.

After reading the first book in this series, I could not wait for another entry. The wait it was well worth it. Richard is such a likable protagonist, and I love that he’s found confidence in himself and solving mysteries while enjoying being an innkeeper. Keep the books coming, Ian Moore!

It is a well known fact that the French enjoy their food, it is almost a religion and sacred duty. This novel is the second in this series about Richard Ainsworth, an Englishman through and through, who owns and runs a Bed and Breakfast establishment in the Follet Valley in the Loire.
He loves the peace and quiet, the slower pace of life and his hens, all named after film stars of the Golden era. However, Richard has the unfortunate habit of becoming embroiled in finding dead bodies and then having to solve the murders.
This time, these murders, yes plural, all involve cheese, the great fromage beloved of the French nation. The suspects are a cheesecake, a goat, a Fromagerie and a missing recipe.
The characters are quirky, yet border on being too stereotypical. I appreciated the opportunity to use my schoolgirl French, and I didn’t do too badly! I didn’t find the mystery aspect as satisfying as the previous book, and I would have loved more emphasis upon the food! Some events seemed too laboured and also smacked of desperation in bringing in American heavies, they were really too extreme and out of place in my view.
An amusing read, light hearted, but no real flesh upon the bones. Three stars given.
My thanks to Netgalley and the publishers Poisoned Pen Press for my advanced digital copy, freely given in exchange for my honest review. I will post to Goodreads and Amazon UK upon publication.

This is a quirky and entertaining cozy that is the second in a series featuring Richard, an Englishman who runs a B&B in a small French town and - wait for it- solves murders! This time out it's the local cheese monger and fans of the genre know there was more to him than kindness. Moore plays off the cultural differences (sometimes too broadly) and winds in delightful food. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. A good read.

Readers who enjoy a Gallic mystery with a British protagonist may well enjoy this second food titled mystery following on the author’s Death and Croissants. It is written by a British comedian who brings a certain sensibility to the genre.

Richard has gone out for dinner. The menu is a tasting one and he has not tasted enough (he is still hungry). The beginnings of a mess emerge with the goat cheese parfait that is the dessert course.

Soon, there is, of course, a murder. It takes place in a cheese related locale. Will Richard, a local B and B owner figure out what has happened? How will his amie, Valerie, contribute? Read this one to find out. It will especially be enjoyed by Francophiles.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Press for this title. All opinions are my own.

Death and Fromage is the second in the Follet Valley Mysteries, I haven't read the first instalment but quickly got to grips with the characters and their relationships with one another. I found it hard to keep track of all the suspects and the storylines, if I put the book down it would take me a good 15 minutes the next time I picked it up to get properly in it again. I didn't manage to figure out any of the plot twists or the final culprit.

A plot that casts a film-loving English protagonist in the milieu of rural French restaurateurs might seem a promising and original premise for a whimsical mystery novel. That is, if you've never come across any of the 18 comic crime novels in Michael Bond's Monsieur Pamplemousse series, and you aren't familiar with the seven installments of Loren D. Estleman's Valentino series, Ian Moore's "Death and Fromage" offers few of the pleasures of Bond or Estleman and seems entangled in the mechanics of tale-telling.

Author Moore is a middle-aged English stage and TV comedian who commutes to his native country from his rusticated base in a French province. Credit him for knowing the region in which his fiction is set and the circumstances of being l’étranger among the colourful dwellers of the French countryside. His writing is poised and agreeable, but the plot is wafer-thin, the whimsy insufficient to propel the narrative, and the characters so stereotypical, underdeveloped, and disposable that they seem better suited to a 15-minute standup comedy routine than a novel.

The locals certainly do maintain quirky mannerisms and speak a mannered form of Franglish that fortunately stops short of repeatedly including the phrase "Zoot allures!" The sad-sack protag, aptly named Dick, is adrift in a world he never made, intersecting with non-essential single-joke stock players, including three brothers from New Jersey who speak in an unpersuasive Yiddish dialect and no doubt slap their foreheads on cue, a mysterious French femme fatale who packs a pistol and drives an exotic roadster, and where would we be without a grasping ex-wife who schemes to have our listless hotelier finally make something of himself? The murder part of this murder mystery is played strictly for yuks and the gags land with minimal impact.

At least the author seems to be amused with his own wordplay, and the merry effect can be shareable on a few occasions in the early chapter. Our guesthouse-operating detective has simply worn out his welcome by the halfway point. I appreciate NetGalley making this book available for review prior to publication.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for this eARC.

Lighthearted romp of a mystery as meek Richard returns to try and discover who killed the son of a famous cheese maker. Some laugh out loud moments during this cozy mystery.

This is not my first book from Ian Moore and I must admit that I’m a big fan. We follow Richard, a middle-aged Englishman that run’s a B&B in France. His life is quiet and peaceful just as he likes it until a scandal comes to life. Fabrice, a goat-cheese supplier is found dead. And Richard wonders, was it suicide or murder? He’s quite drawn to discover the cause of death.

The characters we are presented to throughout the story are quirky and there’s a lot of funny moments that make this book an amazing cozy mystery. It has a good pace and it’s full of mysteries and intrigues. We have jokes, twists, and a lot of references to movies.

I recommend it to everyone that enjoys cozy mysteries with a bit of humor on them. It was such a delightful read, it made me laugh out loud a few times and it made me feel like I was eating French gourmet food.

Thank you, Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley, for approving me to read this arc and write this review.

"A laugh-out-loud mystery perfect for fans of The Thursday Murder Club.

Richard is a middle-aged Englishman who runs a B and B in the Val de Follet. Nothing ever happens to Richard, and really that's the way he likes it. Until scandal erupts in the nearby town of Saint-Sauver, when its famous restaurant is downgraded from three Michelin stars to two. The restaurant is shamed, the town is in shock, and the leading goat cheese supplier drowns himself in one of his own pasteurization tanks. Or does he?

Valérie d'Orçay, who is staying at the B and B while house-hunting in the area, isn't convinced that it's a suicide. Despite his misgivings, Richard is drawn into Valérie's investigation, and finds himself becoming a major player in solving the crime. After all, the French do take their cheese quite seriously and it's quite clear there's nothing gouda happening in the close-knit, small village that Richard calls home."

Was it that the number one thing I took away from looking up this author is that he likes to make chutney? This isn't a slight, I think we need more author blurbs like this.

The story is told from the point of view of Richard Ainsworth, an Englishman who runs a B & B in the Follet Valley in France. Fabrice Ménard, a goat-cheese supplier known as the king of cheese, is found dead. Is Ménard’s death the result of suicide or murder? Richard is drawn into discovering the cause of Ménard’s death by Valérie d”Orçay, a friend staying at his B & B.

While the mystery of Ménard’s death, propels the main story, I find myself more interested in the relationships of Richard and Valérie and that of Richard and his wife, Claire. This book reminds me of a television series I recently watched, Madam Blanc Mysteries. Both are set in France and include quirky characters. The plot offers a good mystery, and Richard’s love of old movies and their stars and starlets is delightful. The setting and characters entice me to read more books in Ian Moore’s Follet Valley mystery series. Thank you, Poisoned Pen Press and NetGalley, for the chance to read and review an ARC of DEATH AND FROMAGE.

*Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing this book, with my honest review below*

Death and Formage by Ian Moore was the best cozy mystery I could have read on this gloomy day, and I absolutely loved that it fully transported me into the plot for a few hours! We follow Richard, who I yearn to be as I get older, as he gets roped into solving a murder. I loved the quirky characters and how funny this book was, but felt I may likely have missed something in not reading the first. Either way, this does stand on its own and delivers on the laughs and a little bit of intrigue!

France, farce, pet-dog, friendship, verbal-humor, situational-humor, sly-humor, cozy-mystery, bed-and-breakfast, amateur-sleuth, small-business, small-town, expats, banter, rural, multiple-deaths*****

I laughed myself silly over this cheesy novel!
Richard, the English expat film historian/B & B owner and Valerie, a charming French bounty hunter are back for another zany collaboration. This time there is a restaurant critic with a migrating toupee,
Passpartoute the chihuahua, the cheesemaker headfirst in the vat, a few more bodies, and sleuthing! Wonderful read!
I requested and received an EARC from Poisoned Pen Press via NetGalley. Thank you!
#FolletValleyMysteries

This mystery is set in France and features Richard, an English B & B owner, who is enamoured with Valerie, a charming albeit mysterious French bounty hunter. Richard is a film historian and references old films to help him make sense of things.

A fancy multi course dinner at a new restaurant ends badly, and soon the bodies begin to appear. Valerie is on the case and brings Richard along for the ride. Things get complicated when Richard's estranged wife shows up unexpectedly.

I enjoyed this mystery. It has a slow start and Richard tends to drift through life, but by the end I was absorbed. I plan to look for more books in this series.

I would like to thank Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for a review copy of Death and Fromage, the second novel in the Follet Valley series to feature B&B owner Richard Ainsworth and alleged bounty hunter Valérie D’Orçay.

A tasting at a newly opened restaurant ends in chaos with the Michelin starred chef shamed. Following on from this the leading goat’s cheese producer drowns himself in one of his tanks. Valérie, house hunting in the area, thinks he was murdered and draws Richard in to her investigation.

I thoroughly enjoyed Death and Fromage, which is a funny read with a well disguised perpetrator and motive. It centres around the rather hapless Richard, who is a lovely man, but unable to stand up for himself. He gets pushed around by both the enigmatic and worldly Valérie and his estranged wife, Claire, who knows what is best for him. He finds solace communing with his hens. That doesn’t stop him having views on the French way of life and attitudes. He makes me laugh with both the situations he gets into and his commentary. He’s never going to what he wants, a quiet life.

The plot meanders along with Valérie getting him into all sorts of situations, not least getting arrested, him having the occasional brainwave and Valérie interpreting it. The author really throws the kitchen sink at the motive and it’s very funny. All I can say is that it’s all about misrepresentation and keeping up appearances (that includes a standing joke about a food critic and his wig).

Death and Fromage is a fun read that I have no hesitation in recommending.

This is the second book in comedian Ian Moore’s Follet Valley series of cosy murder mystery stories set in France, and I have enjoyed it even more than I enjoyed the first. It is another “laugh out loud” book in which the hapless hero finds himself involved in trying to solve a murder or two at the same time as he attempts to cope with complications in his personal life when his soon-to-be ex-wife turns up hoping to impose her own agenda. This is an ideal feel-good holiday read.

I really really like Richard, he felt so real to me. He likes his quiet life, his hens, and old films starring Olivia de Havilland. He also likes Valerie, a mysterious and alleged bounty hunter who is his total opposite. When a local farmer ends up dead, by apparent suicide, Richard and Valerie are roped in. Then who shows up but Richard's estranged wife and more deaths happen in this quiet part of France.

The mystery was alright. I found the story to be slow but I also really liked all the characters, especially the Martin and Gennie running joke. There was some humorous dialogue as well. It was less a mystery, to me, than a study in the people who live there. At the end, after three deaths have occurred, there is a dramatic reveal orchestrated by Valerie, but it is tough to get excited about it because it all revolves around a culinary dessert and cheese. The stakes feel... low. And I thought the resolution of whodunnit was confusing and a little underwhelming. I'm still not sure of what exactly happened. Also, why did Valerie need to give him a black eye?

I might read more books about Richard and Valerie, especially since they seem to be about to open up a detective agency together and I enjoy their relationship, but I hope the mystery is a bit more fleshed out.