Robin's Reviews > Just Another Dead Author

This book follows Bivald’s charming Edgar winner, The Murders in Great Diddling, which was all the things a British village cozy should be. In this book, main character Berit Gardner, a well known writer, is attending a writer’s retreat in Lyon, France, at the request of her bookseller friend, Emma. Berit feels Emma was the first person to understand her as a writer and is eternally grateful, so even though she’s not big on writer’s conferences, she agrees to head to France, to the absolute bafflement of her assistant, Sally.

The group assembled at the conference, which takes place in a somewhat down at the heels castle in the French countryside (surrounded by vineyards) is a varied one. Many of them have signed up not just because there will be agents and editors there who might help their careers, but there’s also a superstar author who is the lynchpin of the conference. Unfortunately, the superstar is so unpleasant and nasty that even though the writers attending want to suck up his knowledge of their shared craft, they can’t stand being around him.

As in the last book, the most unpleasant person is quickly dispatched, and as in the last book, that makes the stakes for the hunt for the killer somewhat lower. The guy deserved what he got, which was dying of poison in the front seat at Berit’s lecture. Berit, who was of great assistance in the Great Diddling murders – the police detective there is now a fan – steps up to help out French officer Beatrice Roche.

As in book one, the character of the police officer in charge is carefully delineated, and she’s an interesting mix of independence, devoted mom, and somewhat scary boss to her junior who she’s nicknamed the “Mayor” (his father is the mayor of the town). Her personality adds greatly to the investigation, and she eventually comes to accept Berit’s assistance.

In fact, the strength of both of Bivald’s mystery novels are the characters. Each writer at the retreat who is depicted, with their hopes, fears and dreams for the future, are all beautifully drawn and memorable. While the suspect pool is small, it’s also rich, because Bivald has made each character come fully to life. This reminded me a great deal of Agatha Christie, whose characters were all indelible.

We read the first book in our book club and while some felt it was too long, there were many of us who savored every word of Bivald’s humorous and thoughtful prose. She’s taken the very traditional tropes of the Golden age and pulled them gently into the present. Strip the story of cell phones and laptops and it easily have been set in the 40’s, but the beauty here is that the story is set so believably in the present. This is a new author to treasure.