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About the Author: Robert Mangeot lives in Franklin, Tennessee with his wife and cats. His short fiction appears here and there, including ALFRED HITCHCOCK MYSTERY MAGAZINE, THE FORGE, LOWESTOFT CHRONICLE, MYSTERY WEEKLY MAGAZINE, MWA’s ICE COLD, and the Anthony-winning MURDER UNDER THE OAKS. He was a finalist in the 2017 Derringer Awards. When not writing, he is the chapter president for Sisters in Crime Middle Tennessee and Vice President for the Southeast chapter of MWA.
The impending charge against Vicomte Montvaste was murder of that scoundrel food critic, and it threatened to wreck the ’32 season. On our first night, no less. We who journeyed to the chateau each October by train, boat, and Bugatti should have savored the famed Sanglier a la Montvaste, a roasted boar served at its pinnacle here and only here. Now the Vicomte was in custody, that critic Bale found knifed and bobbing facedown in the Loire shallows. Bale. What should have launched a fortnight of the highest cuisine risked blazing out faster than the traditional cherries flambée.
“Madame Feubert?” the Sûreté Inspector said. It was my turn for a rude questioning in the gallery. Duplanche was his name, a past-his-primer down from Tours, and in a suit rather shabby for the Chateau Montvaste. The young Vicomte might have switched entertainment from a chamber orchestra to his phonograph, but like his forebears he insisted on evening wear.
Duplanche stood poised with a pencil and notebook. “Might I confirm that you discovered Mssr. Bale beside the dock?”
That interloping Bale and his ignorant drivel. For centuries we refined palates feasted on this very land. Land passed down from Montvaste to Montvaste, feast to feast. Neither that Napoleon business nor the Great War broke our chain, though in both instances certain Hapsburgs were disinvited briefly for obvious reasons.
“From the veranda,” I said. “Ghastly. I told this to that man of yours, should you bother to check.”
This is one of the stories that allow you to relish every single sentence. What a fun read.
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