by Julie, wintering in Somerville
I am delighted to welcome Susan Shea to the blog today to celebrate the launch of Murder Visits a French Village. Susan and I served on the SinC board together, and her gracious manner was always a tonic.
Somewhere in my travel history, after falling in love with Bali’s magical culture as it was in the mid-1990s, Hong Kong’s optimistic energy before the hand over in 1997, and Italy’s, well, everything, I re-discovered France. First it was Paris, a swoony affection that included everything from garlicky snails and Berthillon ice cream to Baroque architecture and chimney pots.
Then close friends from my part of California moved permanently to a tiny crossroads spot in pastoral Burgundy. I was lucky enough to be invited for many visits. Much of the architecture bears witness to Burgundy’s medieval history, but some of the most glamorous structures were designed and built later, in the Renaissance, as palatial evidence of their owners’ importance and wealth.
We visited d’Ancy-le-Franc, a completely restored Renaissance palace set in formal parklike grounds, once the home of the Dukes of Burgundy and renowned for its murals, which decorated every wall and ceiling we toured. Lots of photos online.
Château d’ Epoisses has a history that goes back to the 12th century, boasts a fantastic rose garden, a moat, and a 12-foot box hedge that may have been a maze. (Yes, the town named after it is the home of that delicious cheese.)
So many others…A brusque Count who owned another château led the tours himself, only opening a handful of rooms, one of which was adorned with portraits of his ancestors, of whom he seemed excessively proud, set on easels. There were châteaux that had been updated to 19th century standards, but retained their original grand facades and allées of tall trees to signal their old nobility. Some grand looking properties weren’t open to the public, so we only saw their gray or creamy stone exteriors as we drove by.
We were invited to visit a real medieval fortress that friends of my hosts were restoring bit by bit. It had a dungeon, a great hall where people once ate and slept, a bridge over its dry moat, and a tower.
With all of this imprinted in my memory, it wasn’t hard to dive into a mystery set in my invented château, which I decided was a minor structure, with a medieval tower that had survived intact, and a 19th century update for the rest of the building. Ariel Shepard, my protagonist, a new widow in her mid-30s who inherits it, has fallen in love with the tower. It’s fun creating your own château. The hardest part? Finding a name for mine that hadn’t already been given to a French château – there are so many of them, and other “château” names have been gobbled up by wineries!
So, Wicked Readers, put yourself in the picture: If you could stay in a château in Burgundy, what would it have to include?
Susan will give a pre-publication, signed hard cover copy of MURDER VISITS A FRENCH VILLAGE to one commenter with a US address chosen randomly from today’s commenters.
About Susan C. Shea
Susan C. Shea is a member of Norcal’s Sisters in Crime, a former member of the SinC national board, and a member of MWA. She’s the author of two series, the French village mysteries, and the Dani O’Rourke Mysteries. She’s on the faculty of the Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference and blogs on 7 Criminal Minds. www.susancshea.com.
About the book:
Ariel Shepard is devastated by the sudden loss of her husband, but nothing could have prepared her for inheriting the rundown château in Burgundy they’d visited on their honeymoon. When the historian she hires to help uncover the château’s history is found dead in the moat, she realizes many people working on its restoration had the means, but who had a motive?