Nancy Fairbanks, French Fried

French Fried

Nancy Fairbanks

Berkley, December 2006

ISBN: 0425213080

Toxin expert Professor Jason Blue and his wife food columnist Carolyn are in Lyons to meet with members of the university who will be attending a science conference in Avigon sponsored by the Chemistry Department. While Jason heads to the university, Carolyn returns to their hotel room to nap, but is shocked to find a man on her bed making a funny noise. An ambulance takes him to the hospital where he is pronounced dead. Carolyn believes he was a poison victim and plans to prove it.

Neither Jason nor Carolyn can think of anyone who would want them dead, as they assume they were the intended victims. The next day while Jason is running, a black car tries to hit him; his reflexes save his life. At about the same time Carolyn is thrown down a flight of stairs and left battered with a concussion. At the conference, someone shoots Jason's graduate student. Carolyn, still recuperating, vows to uncover the identity of the assailant trying to kill them before he or she succeeds.

In spite of the serious undertone of the plot, there is much humor in FRENCH FRIED, which is a terrific amateur sleuth mystery starring a heroine who marches to her own drummer. Some of the situations she marches into are amusing, but her astute mind enables her to see the bigger picture, as she ponders who has a grudge so large that innocents are hurt. Nancy Fairbanks's delectable who-done-it is a one sitting treat.