Monday, March 07, 2022

A Vintage End by D'Arcy Kavanagh

 
First Line: The leader of the vintage bicycle race followed the Mediterranean coastal road around the bend and studied the next stretch ahead.
 
Although the local authorities on the French Riviera dismiss it as a hoax, former professional cyclist Paul Burke knows that finding two skeletons dressed in Nazi uniforms posed along the route of a vintage bicycle race is serious business-- especially when the figures and memorabilia point at the race's wealthy sponsor, Bosco Yablonski.
 
As Burke continues to cover the series of vintage races, more bizarre incidents occur, and when two bodies turn up, he knows that much more serious threats lay ahead for not only the races' sponsor but for those riding in the races as well. But who would want to harm the race series or the sponsor? This is what Paul Burke is determined to find out.
 
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Having not read the first book in the Paul Burke series, I wondered how I would fare. The answer is very well. Kavanagh provides enough backstory to prevent readers from being confused and just enough to make most of them want to go back to read that first book, The Bastard Is Dead.
 
The plot is a familiar one, especially if you're a fan of Martin Walker's Bruno Chief of Police mysteries. Memories are long in France, and any whiff of Nazism is taken very seriously. This is why the accusations of wartime profiteering against millionaire cycling enthusiast Bosco Yablonski are so serious. 
 
The mystery is a nice, convoluted one, and French Canadian Paul Burke is an eagle-eyed former professional cyclist who doesn't miss a trick, so much so that the local police grudgingly pay attention to him after checking in with the officer he worked with in the first book. He's got a nice life in a perfect little village in the French Riviera. A girlfriend in the restaurant business. A Jack Russell terrier named Plato. And a job as a blogger for a newspaper consortium and a weekly gig on a television sports program. I became rather envious of this man's lifestyle while at the same time thinking he was a bit too good at putting random pieces of information together. 
 
Although I enjoyed letting my mind work on the solution to the mystery, and I did like Burke as the main character, I have to admit that I enjoyed the cycling lore and the bicycling through the small French villages the most.  I could picture the vistas spread out before me and feel the wind in my hair. Spoiled by all the food in Martin Walker's mysteries, I almost wish there were more gastronomic delights in A Vintage End, but that's not being fair to this charming tale.

A Vintage End by D'Arcy Kavanagh
eISBN: 9781643972886
BHC Press © 2022
eBook, 398 pages

Cozy Mystery, #2 Paul Burke mystery
Rating: B+
Source: Net Galley

10 comments:

  1. I love travel writing about cycling and you say it's quite strong on that, specializing in Provence villages so that's me sold. I just nipped over to Amazon and grabbed both books for my Kindle. Thanks, Cathy!

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  2. It does sound like a good read, Cathy. There's the setting of course - you had me at that. And, although I'm not an avid cycler, I can see the appeal of it. And the lifestyle is appealing, too. It sounds like a very nice break from the world outside, but at the same time, not too 'frothy.'

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    1. Yes, it was a very nice break that was still rooted in the here and now.

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  3. I like the cover, and I may give the first book a try, since this is only the second in a series.

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    1. It's always nice to find a new series before there's a dozen books to choose from, isn't it? LOL

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  4. I've read and liked several in the Bruno series and I do find the setting attractive so this series might be one that I would enjoy reading.

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  5. You mentioned that memories are long in France, that was something that surprised me in the Bruno books. I just wasn't aware of that and found it a bit odd that people were bringing up connections to Nazism far back in a family tree. Like you, the cycling is what sounds the most interesting to me.

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    1. I would imagine those long memories have everything to do with the Nazi occupation of France. ^The Nazis were so good at making lasting friendships wherever they went.^

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