A FASHIONABLY FRENCH MURDER

In her third American in Paris adventure, set in 1950, Julia Child’s friend Tabitha Knight finds her sixth and seventh bodies.

As soon as Tabitha realizes she’s left one of her gloves behind in Maison Lannet, the lower-budget fashion studio Christian Dior’s protégé Rose-Marie Lannet has established, seasoned fans will know what to expect when she and Julia return: the corpse of Madame Lannet, strangled with a piece of designer lace. When the sûreté inspector in charge of the investigation is called home by a family emergency and replaced by the familiar Inspecteur Étienne Merveille, everything seems as comfy as can be, at least until Tabitha stumbles on the body of Gabrielle Pineau, Madame Lannet’s vendeuse and amoreuse, stabbed to death with a pair of scissors. In the meantime, Tabitha lands the first case she’s actually asked to take on: There’s been a burglary at the shoe boutique Godot & Block, whose owner suspects his employee Mathilde Pillon’s boyfriend, and Mathilde’s sister begs Tabitha to clear his name. Once a very cursory investigation reveals a much more likely suspect, rival shoemaker Philippe Wathelet, the only mysteries that remain are whether and how Cambridge intends to tie the two cases together, what connection they can possibly have to the collaborationists who fed the occupying Nazis information during the war, and what Tabitha will do about the sudden romantic attraction she feels toward Inspecteur Merveille.

Forget the forgettable plot and savor the loving descriptions of French cuisine and couture.