Delicious in every detail
- Book: Madam, Will You Talk?
- Location: Provence
- Author: Mary Stewart
Mary Stewart has been one of my favourite writers since I was about ten, when I first discovered her. Madam, Will You Talk? is set in the south of France and is suffused with the scents and warm air of a French summer. My paperback copy dates from the late 50s or early 60s and is all part of a flowery, feminine feeling of sitting in a courtyard in the shade of some aromatic tree, drinking cafê au lait or a glass of marc, watching a boy and his dog running about – before the intrigue begins. The key characters are strong and likeable, the villains have charm before they turn on the fear, and there are enough twists and turns to keep even a 21st century crime reader entertained. One of the things that impressed me most at first reading, and whenever I re-read it, is a restaurant scene when the heroine has dinner with the murderer. The way Stewart describes the food and the service is so French, so delicious, and so elegantly written. I’ve always wanted to eat that meal in that village, although perhaps not in those circumstances… A book I’ll never part with, and will read with great pleasure many more times to transport myself to the France of my dreams.
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