Season 13, Episode 259 A Fashionably French Murder with guest Colleen Cambridge
Typically Amy has not been a cozy mystery reader, but this week’s guest, Colleen Gleason who also writes as Colleen Cambridge, may have single-handedly converted her. She is the author of over 57 books in numerous series but her “American in Paris” series has been a delightful escape over the last year. It is a cozy mystery set in postwar 1950s Paris with a dynamic mystery-solving duo featuring none other than Julia Child. Book 3 in the series titled A Fashionably French Murder was published in April. So we were thrilled when Colleen agreed to chat with us about this series as well as several of her other books.
Colleen’s style of writing often includes a pairing. She has a mystery series that involves Agatha Christie and her housekeeper, another series featuring Abraham Lincoln and his aide, and even a steampunk paranormal YA series involving an imaginary crime-fighting pairing of Bram Stoker’s younger sister and Sherlock Holme’s niece. As we know from doing this podcast, having a partner-in-crime makes things much more fun.
In our book rec section of the episode, we are all about gardens. We are not reviewing gardening books, however. Rather, we’re talking about books in which gardens, gardeners, flowers and shrubs are part of the story in some format. We’ve got thrillers, middle grade, fantasy, contemporary family drama, murder mysteries, and Appalachian gothic.
Books Mentioned in this Episode:
1- A Fashionably French Murder (American in Paris series) by Colleen Cambridge
2- Food People by Adam M. Roberts
3- The World’s Greatest Detective and Her Just Ok Assistant by Liza Tully
4- Dept Q by Jussi Adler-Olsen
5- A Murder Most French (American in Paris series) by Colleen Cambridge
6- In the Spirit of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge
7- Paris Noir: The Secret History of a City by Jacques Yonnet
8- The Seven Rings (The Lost Bride Trilogy #3) by Nora Roberts
9- The Rosie Result (Don Tillman #3) by Graerme Simsion
10-The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
11-The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion
12- Forged by Danielle Teller
13- A Five Star Read Recommended by Fellow Book Lover Betsy Tomszak @bookswithbetsy - Reservoir Bitches by Dahlia de la Cerda
14- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
15- The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister
16- June in the Garden by Eleanor Wilde
17- A Botanist’s Guide to Parties & Poisons by Kate Khavari
18- The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst
19- Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
20- The Summer of June by Jamie Sumner
Media mentioned--
1- Hacks (Max, 2021 - present)
2- Dept Q (Netflix, 2025)
3- Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022)
4- The New Look (Apple Plus - 2024)