Monsieur Pamplemouse Hits The Headlines
By Michael Bond

      Monsieur Pamplemousse never intended to be in the studio audience when Cuisine de Chavignol was being recorded. France's most popular cookery programme does not appeal to the gastronomic sleuth, who believes the rumors that its host knows less about cookery than his faithful bloodhound Pommes Frites. Nevertheless, there he was, and seated in the front row to boot when Chavignol swallows an oyster and vanishes behind his worktop, only emerging as a dead body. But who would have wanted to poison him, and why is Pamplemousse's boss so keen on him finding out whodunit? A unique car, an inflatable nun and some compromising photographs all have their part to play.

     Michael Bond's detective is unique because he combines humor, France and cookery in one glorious package. Normally the books are very funny but there is a cooling off from the usual knockabout laughs in this latest volume, and more of an emphasis on the crime itself and Paris as a modern city. Serious modern detective novels are ten a penny it must be said, so a funny one is a rarity worth cultivating and keeping that way. There is more of a plot in this one than in most of the others and Bond has clearly spent much time researching life in Paris as he paints a realistic and detailed picture of it. However, to my mind these elements are a poor swap for some real laugh-out-loud humor. Hopefully next time, the author will be back in form.