The seventeen thousand year- old paintings appear to be the protagonist, all the characters seemingly tied to the prehistoric cave art. But that is just the beginning of this French intrigue, a murder mystery created by Besty Draine and Michael Hinden. On October 25, 2011, Terrace Books, a trade imprint of the University of Wisconsin Press, releases Murder in Lascaux.
American Tourists Snooping Around French Lives
Art historian Nora Barnes and antiques dealer Toby Sandler are American tourists on a working vacation in France. Nora has received permission to research the writings of a little known painter and her husband is along to feed his interest in the region’s antiquities. The couple joins other American tourists participating in French cooking classes at the Château de Cazelle. This excuse does not lessen Inspector Daglan’s suspicions of Nora’s and Toby’s snoopy nature, causing them to be present at each murder.
The smug gendarmerie detective plays less of a role in unraveling the mystery but is a police presence, if for no other reason than to restrict the movements of these Americans by holding their passports. Inspector Daglan plays the unfortunate obstacle for the interfering foreigners.
Nora and Toby quickly find that the mystery surrounding the murders is interconnected with the history of the region and its art. As Nora reads the journals of Jenny Marie Cazelle, who lived from 1870-1944 and is a descendant of her hosts, she is provided with more than a few clues to unraveling why people are dying around her.
History and Geography of Southwestern France
Draine and Hinden successfully blended the extensive, but lesser known, history of the region into Murder in Lascaux. The geography of the Dordogne River valley in relation to the villages of Beynac and Montignac and the caves in and around the surrounding mountains is well illustrated and provides the characters with plenty of opportunities for mysterious encounters.
Including the prehistoric eras into the narrative is just the beginning. The twelfth and thirteenth centuries and the mid-eighteenth century, wars of the churches, and world wars, which created serious differences so says the Baron, between southern and northern France, were painstakingly woven into the characters’ stories.
French Food Cooked and Wines Drunk
Draine and Hinden have set the scene of Murder in Lascaux in the Dordogne valley, a part of the Périgord region and filled the mystery with local native foods and wines. The cuisine of southwestern France is replete with duck and geese dishes, walnut oils and sweet dessert wines.
In the mystery, Marianne de Cazelle runs her cooking school from her family’s château, where her guests keep rooms, venturing out to explore village restaurants and local festivals. Culinary adventures are not limited to visiting the notably local chef but include creating gourmet dishes of fricassee rabbit, walnut bread, biscottes with jams and not burning one’s self in the kitchen the characters learn.
Wisconsin Authors Betsy Draine and Michael Hinden
Draine’s and Hinden’s memoir, A Castle in the Backyard: The Dream of a House in France laid a ground work of research for their fiction, Murder in Lascaux. Both writings take place in France’s Périgord region, the real and imaged lives of each book’s characters are surrounded by historic castles, and prehistoric cave art many tourists flock to see.
Back in the Midwestern United States, Betsy Draine and Michael Hinden are professor’s emeriti of English at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They are responsible for translating and editing The Walnut Cookbook by Jean-Luc Toussaint.
Author’s Notes and Book Details of a French Murder Mystery
Although the original Lascaux cave is closed to the public, the authors recommend Lascaux II in Montignac while visiting France. The replica along with other caves such as Rouffignac, visited by characters in the story, is worth the effort for tourists seeking adventures for themselves.
Murder in Lascaux may be found using ISBN 978-0-299-28420-6 for cloth book form and 978-0299-28423-7 for e-book form. The small hardcover book is kept to 272 pages, but packed with writing and minimal white space.
Draine, Betsy and Hinden, Michael. Murder in Lascaux. Terrace Books, trade imprint of University of Wisconsin Press, October 25, 2011.
Permission received for all photos used in this article.
Chris Eirschele - Chris writes on plants grown and gardens explored; she is a member of the Garden Writers Association.
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