I will forever be grateful to author Colleen Cambridge for writing Faygo pop - the soda brand of my Hoosier youth - into a Paris set murder mystery involving Julia Child. Tabitha Knight, a Michigan born Rosie the Riveter lives in post WW II Paris with her oncle and Grand Pere. Julia Child, in her Cordon Bleu school days, is their neighbor. The two ladies share shopping time and an easy friendship. But when a guest at a theater party thrown by Julia's sister Dort is found dead, Tabitha dons her detective beret and investigates. Julia Child makes mayonnaise. Repeatedly. (a la chopping les oignons in Julie and Julia.)
Colleen Cambridge sprinkles in salty and sweet tidbits about Julia with an easy hand the way a good chef seasons a dish. Tabitha is intelligent and believable as a young woman trying to find herself post war. How hard it must have been for young women to do vital work contributing to the war effort, only to be sent packing at Wars end. Julia Child faced the same roadblocks after the OSS no longer needed her. She became one of the best chefs of all time. Will Tabitha become a great detective? Only time, and more books will tell.
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