Friday, March 10, 2023

Susan Shea--Murder Visits a French Village

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Are you practicing your French? Because we have more of wonderful France for you today, as well as a lovely tribute to our own Rhys Bowen!

Susan Shea's French village novels are so charming they make me want to pack up my bags and move to France, or at least pour some red wine and make boeuf bourguignon. When I finished MURDER VISITS A FRENCH VILLAGE I hoped that I could at least book a room in the renovated French chateau!


Welcome, Susan!

SUSAN SHEAThank you, Debs and Jungle Red Writers for inviting me today. It’s a privilege to join you and your readers for conversation. Now that the new book is out, I can share what was a bit of a secret: MURDER VISITS A FRENCH VILLAGE is dedicated to a dear friend, and a JRW author – Rhys Bowen! Rhys is a gem, someone who pulls other writers along with encouragement and real help. In fact, Rhys is where the idea for a series based on restoring a château came from. Merci beaucoup!

 A lot of what I love about France comes from my travel experiences there. Traveling within France is an adventure in itself, though. I’ve been there six times since my reunion with the country in 2001. Yes, December 2001, with everyone still jittery. We spent two weeks in Paris, where my partner (who spoke street French) had to confront two Arab guards in the new Arab Institute art gallery who didn’t think any of the tourists waiting in line understood the dirty slang and insults they were lobbing. One Sunday, we visited the Porte de Vavnes flea market in the 14th Arr., where he murmured to me, “Don’t turn around. There’s a woman with a machine gun standing right behind you.” Of course I turned around! It was a petite gendarme, armed to the teeth and ready for trouble, one of a score of cops with guns we could see. Why? That stupid man responsible for decades of the rest of us having to remove our shoes had just set off his shoe bomb in a plane at Charles de Gaulle airport.  That Sunday was also the last weekend French francs were accepted as currency and people had come out in droves to spend them. I still have some souvenir notes.

One year, my friends in different parts of the country all wanted me to stay, generous invitations that led me to leasing a car online in advance and picking it up in Marseille from a car dealership where no one spoke a word of English. My limited French, charades, and the papers, which were written in English, bien sûr, finally got me a huge SUV I hadn’t ordered. But, okay, it was wheels, and with them I traveled to St. Rémy and other must-see sites in Provence, to Burgundy, Avignon, the wild Camargue and culture-rich Arles, where the GPS voice in crisp British tones insisted over and over that I should drive into the Rhone River instead of to my friend’s house.



French fast trains are a marvel. I love them. Paris to Burgundy in about 80 minutes, clean, almost luxe seating if you go first class. Last time I visited my ex-pat friend in Burgundy, the inspiration for Katherine Goff in my first two French village mysteries and a presence in the brand new MURDER VISITS A FRENCH VILLAGE, it was quite a journey. After a 16-hour flight and a wait, I took the TGV (the fast train) from Charles de Gaulle to its first stop, which is in Burgundy. Waited on platform at 11 p.m. for the local train to a town sort of near Noyers-sur-Serein. Driver recruited by my friend picked me up at midnight and drove me the last 20 kilometers to her house in Noyers-sur-Serein, where I staggered in and was too tired to do more than exchange the traditional bis and fall into bed.

Not everything I experience traveling in France winds up in a novel, just as Debs’ books can’t include everything she drinks deeply of in her beloved London, but there is an attitude, an approach to everyday life, an energy we pick up that permeates our writing.  I’m headed back to Paris in September, taking classes now to improve my pitiful conversational ability, and eager to inhale some of that je ne sais quoi for the fourth French village mystery, due out in 2024.

Do you love international travel, even if long lines diminish the joy, and, if so, where do you like best to go?

Ariel Shepard is devastated by the sudden loss of her husband, but nothing could have prepared her for inheriting the rundown French château they’d visited on their honeymoon four years ago. Ariel hires an historian to help her uncover the legacy of her beautiful ruin. Christiane, the scholar, is found dead in the moat and Ariel is determined to find justice for the victim. With plenty of workmen – and errant tools – at the château, she realizes many people had the means, but who had the motive? Ariel begins to suspect that her French village life will be anything but peaceful.



Susan C. Shea is a member of Norcal’s Sisters in Crime, a former member of the SinC national board, and a member of MWA. She’s the author of two series, the French village mysteries, and the Dani O’Rourke Mysteries. She’s on the faculty of the Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference and blogs on 7 Criminal Minds. Visit Susan at susancshea.com

DEBS: I'll answer Susan's question. London, obviously, even with queues, but I would really like to get back to Paris, and I'd love to go to Burgundy, which I've never visited! READERS, what place tops your list?

79 comments:

  1. Congratulations, Susan, on your new book. It does sound as if Ariel is going to have her hands full! I’m looking forward to reading her story.

    If international travel was in my plans, I’d want to visit both France and England, but Italy would be at the top of my list . . . .

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    1. Joan, it's so hard to choose, isn't it?

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  2. I haven't done too much international travel, especially recently. At least the kind you fly to. Although flying domestically is just as much of a challenge, it seems. I have taken some cruises, and those involved international ports, but I was always visiting US ports as well in those trips.

    But I've gotten the travel bug and really want to do more traveling. Armchair and real life.

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    1. Can you travel to Canada by train? Diana

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    2. I could, although it would be a long trip from Southern CA.

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    3. Train travel sounds like an option at times, but when I researched taking a train from the Bay Area to Tacoma this summer to visit a friend, it would have taken 20 hours, which meant getting a couchette, and would have cost about $1300. Europe has made much more of an investment in train travel and the fast trains are amazing and well-maintained. You can buy a Eurail pass for a couple hundred dollars and be on your way! I wish trains here were a better option.

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  3. Congrats on your book release, Susan. I would love to go to either Paris or London or Rome.

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    1. If I could wave a magic wand, Dru Ann, I'd whisk us there without all the hassle of the transport!

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  4. SUSAN: Congratulations on your new book series set in France!

    Has your travel plans been affected by the recent protests?
    A friend of mine arrived there last week and travel was messed up by the national rail strike.

    I would love to go back to Iceland, this time in the summer. But I would not turn down a trip to Paris.

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    1. GRACE: Iceland is on my bucket list! Diana

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    2. In fact, I'm meeting friends in Paris this fall. We originally planned to go in May but one of my French friends is calculating the potential risk of massive protests before the annual French vacation month and suggested postponing until September, when people have to get back to school, work.

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  5. This book sounds fabulous, Susan - congratulations!

    I formerly traveled internationally more than I have lately, but I'm excited about a trip back to Japan (where I lived and taught English for two years in the 70s) next year. And we're finally ready to reschedule our cancelled May 2020 trip to Ireland and Scotland. Getting back to San Diego (where I lived for six months in 1975) in August is exciting, too.

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    1. Edith, Ireland is also on my bucket list!

      Just learned that one of my immigrant ancestors came from county Antrim, which is in Northern Ireland. Even though it is in Northern Ireland, I still think of it as part of Ireland. I would love to visit Dublin.

      Diana

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    2. Edith, I'm loving hearing about the far-flung travel JRW readers have done! I have spent time in Indonesia (Bali often and for a month at a time and nearby Java), Hong Kong, and Europe, Ireland (with my name how could I not!), England, and France, but there's sooo much more to explore and I'm afraid I've lost a lot of stamina and flexibility in recent years, so several wished-for adventures are off the list nowe.

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    3. I hear you on the recent years, Susan. I've also lived in southern Brazil, Mali, and Burkina Faso, and would still love to go back to Brazil one more time.

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  6. Susan, I think I will love your series. I am ready to read a series set in a French chateau.
    I traveled through Europe when I was young and single and lived and worked in Israel in the mid 1970's. I understand that reading a contract in another language can be daunting.

    My husband and I have not done a lot of international travel together but I think he would enjoy Italy. Europe is very different now from back then. We are more nature lovers than museum goers, and we are not as spry as we once were, so we would have to plan carefully.

    I am going to look for your books this morning.

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    1. Judy, as a woman, did you feel safe in Israel, if I may ask? Diana

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    2. Interesting question, Diana. For the most part yes. I lived in Tel Aviv and had few issues with men there that differed from issues with men here.

      As for terrorism, although the terrorists were active, they weren't quite as well organized as they are now. There was no social media to use to incite people, no cell phones to coordinate attacks and the world media was sympathetic towards the Jewish state, unlike now. The rescue of hostages in Entebbe occurred just 3 days after I arrived home for the summer in 1976.

      As far as the way men behaved towards women in general, they were pretty much in the same place that we were in the mid-1970's, maybe a little less evolved. I could write a whole column about this but I will stop here.

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    3. A foreigner buying a property in Franbce does have a lot of hoops to go through. I expect trhe same may be true in other countries. My friends who bought their house in the tiny hamlet that inspired my first two French mysteries found that out.

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  7. I am not a good traveler, but if I could beam myself somewhere it would be to Tuscany, Italy for a cooking school vacation -- warm weather, local food to cook and wine to drink, and a lovely group of fellow foodies for good company. Failing that, I'll check out your new book set in France, Susan, which I also would be delighted to be beamed to. Congrats on your latest release!

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    1. Um, sign me up for that vacation, Amanda! How fun. Another bucket list item.

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    2. You have the right idea, Amanda. The actual process of travel from one place to another is the worst but, especially these days. I keep hoping for a breakthrough in astral projection, but science keeps failing us on that score.

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    3. I think I'm so glad to be traveling again that I really haven't minded the process too much, even the 10 hour Dallas/London flight.

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    4. Thanks, Amanda. Funny you should be dreaming about cooking school in another country. In Ariel Shepard's next adventure (writing now), she also dreams of having a cooking class at her château as a way to attract paying guests. We shall see....

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  8. We hope to travel to southern England in September for two weeks. Kent to Devon and points in between. Canterbury, Brighton, Glastonbury, Bath, and maybe Oxford, plus whatever small towns along the way. We want to do walking, cathedrals, castles, and tea shops. Oh, and gardens. Anybody has suggestions for must see places in that neck of the woods, let me know. We've got Rick Steves guide book and others, but I'd love more ideas.

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    1. From Rhys: Rye, Arundel in Sussex, Glastonbury, Wookey Hole in Somerset are all worth a visit

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    2. Thank you, both. Adding all to our list.

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    3. In 2018, I did a garden tour of Gertrude Jekyll's garden designs, all in the southern provinces in England. Glorious, although it did rain rather often!

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    4. Oh my gosh, I want to do that tour. I will have to get info from you.

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    5. Thank you, Susan. I will look for those gardens. Vita Sackville-West's Sissinghurst is on our list.

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    6. Over the years I've very much enjoyed finding the homes of my early French ancestors there more to the west and especially the home for my ancestor and the home he built just before his son left for Quebec. I've connected with a large number whose ancestors came across the Atlantic and found their way. My great grandmother was the first to head south to Salem, Mass. Surprisingly I learned that, that line actually started in Salem, Mass. that he was English and headed north to avoid the Salem witch trials.

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  9. Susan, welcome to JRW! I remember meeting you at the local Sisters in Crime meetings in California. Look forward to reading your new series and I love the premise! Congratulations on your new series!

    When I saw the name Ariel, I thought of the Little Mermaid. Does your Ariel look like the Ariel from Disney's the Little Mermaid? Just wondering.

    Visited Beaune in France and it was very interesting, I could walk from the little hotel to the village with the carousel. Visited Paris for only two days. We visited the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay. Night boat ride on the Seine river and my photos did not turn out well. The Eiffel Tower was a dot in the photos. That was in 2006. I remember taking the Eurostar ? from London to Paris. Upon arrival, I saw protests at the train station in Paris! I forgot that the protest was about.

    Favorite destinations? London and Edinburgh. Loved Oxford too. Loved Scandinavia. Would love to visit Paris again some day. Visited Rome and once was enough because I got so sick from the air pollution in Rome. However, friends in Rome want me to visit them in Rome and they suggested wearing masks like the Japanese tourists do so I could try that the next time I visit Rome.

    Big fan of International travel here.

    Diana

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    1. Hi Diana! My Ariel is a bit of a salute to an old friend and work colleague who didn't look a bit like the Little Mermaid! Isn't Beaune interesting? The architecture and building decorations, the cobbled streets, and the interior of what I think might have been one of France's first hospitals. I've visited twice because it's not too far from Noyers-sur-Serein, where my American friend went to live after her beloved husband died. But I'm not aware of the village near Beaune with a carousel - more research for me, merci!

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  10. Congratulations on publication! I'm looking forward to reading your latest.
    We navigated French museum and rail strikes last fall during a month in France: Paris, Bordeaux, Dordogne, Albi, Toulouse, Arles, and Avignon. Favorite place: Monet's home and garden at Giverny. Favorite cave: Rouffignac, where we took a train 2 km into the cave. Favorite castle: Beynac, where Richard the Lionheart lived part-time. Favorite garden: it's a toss-up between Giverny and the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. Most off-beat moment: having dinner in a wide alley in Avignon. A van crawled down the "street," so we all picked up our tables, chairs, and wine glasses to let him go by. Not forgetting the police museum in Paris, complete with model guillotine.

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    1. What a wonderful trip, Margaret. Did you plan it all yourself or did you go with a group?

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    2. We booked the Dordogne tour in 2019 and finally could take it. Otherwise, on our own. In Arles and Avignon, we took tourist center van tours to hilltop medieval villages and an olive orchard. The process of making olive oil is as involved as pressing grapes for wine.

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    3. Thanks, Margaret! The Jardin des Plantes is especially wonderful when the rose gardens are at their peak. I stayed nearby one summer week and walked along the promenade every late afternoon. With my stumbling French, I even had a conversation with a gardener tending the roses. I'll head back to Giverny this fall - what art lover or gardener could miss that?

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  11. Congratulations, Susan. You sure have had adventures.

    The only "international" traveling I've done is to Canada via the Peace Bridge in Buffalo, and talking my way into a New Year's Eve party in the British Virgin Islands way before 9/11.

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  12. Hank Phillippi RyanMarch 10, 2023 at 8:48 AM

    Oh, such wonderful adventures! And so fabulous to see you here. Your car rental story is hilarious… I remember when we were in Pau, and I was sent, with my rickety knowledge of French, to rent the car. After a while I came back with one, saying “I either rented this car for $25 a day, or just bought it for $25,000. I am not sure which.” But it all turned out.
    Xxx

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    1. That brings back memories -Hank when I called to rent a car from a local Parisian car rental. As you know the French have a reputation of being slightly unfriendly to Americans. The guy was a little curt but we finally made a deal. Small car for the "best" price in all of Paris. The car was so small we could only fit one tiny back pack in the trunk! (We were three, with 3 suitcases, needing the car for 3weeks). He had no other cars available!! No problem he said, "You can take my Audi." It was new, large and roomy and his personal car all for the same cost as the tiny car. Such a wonderful experience. I will always remember his kindness.

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    2. Oh, Hank, I'm laughing! I've had that kind of experience too often in my travels. Have you read David Sedaris's "Me Talk Pretty One Day"? One of the essays I love, and that I heard him read at a live event, has to do with the kinds of confusion that happen when we are in over our heads with a different language.

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  13. Bonjour, Susan! Or, if this were high school French class, Suzanne. Love to read about parts of France I've not been to. Yet.

    As most of the Reds know, we visited a daughter over the holidays, in Nairobi and other parts of Kenya. She and her husband are busy preparing now to move to Athens in August for another three-year tour of duty, so we are thinking about three or four trips around visiting them.

    The Greek Isles, of course, along with other Mediterranean countries, including Italy. Egypt, and a Nile cruise. A family visit to cousins in Poland, possibly including a river cruise in that part of Europe. And a long-awaited tour of the British Isles.

    Pretty ambitious plans, so we'll see what we end up managing to do.

    Bonne journee'!

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    1. I think you're going to win our international traveler award, Karen. And, gosh, you daughter is leading such an interesting life!

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    2. Thanks, Debs, but I can't hold a candle to Edith's extensive travel history, and of course Rhys has been everywhere.

      Yes, a career at the State Department is the ticket for anyone who wants to travel the world. They are trying to take every opportunity to explore while they're already halfway around the world from home.

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    3. Karen, I would have loved to visit Kenya, Tanzania, and other African sites of ancient history and anthropological discoveries when I was a bit younger and had more stamina. Sounds like you've had an extraordinary travel life. Burgundy is not as difficult to explore! Bon voyages!

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    4. Susan, go now, if you can. I'm 71, and did fine on safari, and groups like Overseas Adventure Travel have well planned trips aimed for "active older adults".

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  14. I have never done any international travel, except for a brief drive across part of Canada with my parents many years ago, until now. My husband and I leave April first for an 18 day tour of Italy. We begin in Naples and the Amalfi coast and end in Venice. Excited for this grand adventure that was canceled in 2020. The UK, Scandinavia, and Australia are other destinations that interest me.

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    1. Wow, Brenda, what a fabulous trip! I hope you have a wonderful trip and will report back to us!

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  15. Many years ago I spent three weeks touring Great Britain and Ireland by bus. It was beautiful and i loved the history but I would much rather visit more of my native Canada. Newfoundland was amazing, ocean views, whales, puffins and gorgeous flowers. Trying to walk up those hilly streets almost took us out.
    Next trip, I want to travel by train to British Columbia. Mostly, we go to our cottage!

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    1. I've always wanted to take a train across Canada, ever since I read that Dick Francis book (which one was it?) about the Canadian rail journey.

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    2. Chris -- Three trips to Newfoundland, here. Absolutely fantastic. We saw all that you saw plus caribou and icebergs.

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  16. Hello, Susan. A mystery series about French castles sound delightful. As for foreign travel, I feel a bit guilty answering this question, since I live in the middle of Europe (Bern, Switzerland) with a husband who loves to travel. Going back to some of my favorite places in Europe, like Paris, London, and Amsterdam, or smaller towns like Orvieto and Bruges, is a huge treat, but what I like best is visiting new places. We've been thinking about Cádiz or Santiago de Compostella in Spain or some of the amazing castles and forests in parts of Romania. Yes, I know--I'm spoiled.

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    1. Oh gosh, you are lucky Kim. I loved both Orvieto and Bruges.

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    2. Kim, Your life sounds wonderful. The ability to get around in Europe without today's difficult transit through major international airports and customs lines sounds like a dream to me!

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  17. Hi Susan! So delighted to see you here.... a long time fan of your books. And France. And international travel. I do want to take tat train ride across Canada that Debs mentions. And I'd love to go back to Alaska. But there are places here in the good old US of A that I 've never been, national parks that I haven't seen... yet.

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    1. Hi Hallie! I'm flattered that you like my mysteries, given that your own books are so darn good. I agree there's lots to see in the U.S.I grew up on the East Coast (NewYork, Maryland, Florida, Connecticut) and have explored California happily. But there are famous places I can't believe I haven't seen yet, like the Grand Canyon. So, onward!

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  18. Oh, this series sounds delightful. A French village and a chateau with secrets. Congratulations on your new book. Meanwhile, where I'd like to go . . . actually, my husband and I came regularly to Braga, Portugal for a number of years and in 2021 we moved here. But I would like to go to Paris again. So full of art by my favorite artists - which Rhys Bowen captured in one of her Molly Murphy books, as a matter of fact. (City of Darkness and Light.) And someday I'd like to go to Galway, Ireland, where my sis-in-law is from originally. I'm captivated by all things Irish - the writers, poets, the music, the legends, etc.

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  19. I hate to be bourgeois, but honestly, the places abroad I most dream of seeing since the pandemic reduced most of our horizons to our own four walls all have three things in common: heat, beaches, and crystal blue waters. Take me to the Greek Islands or the Adriatic Coast of Croatia and Albania. I want to laze about at resorts in the Maldives and the Seychelles. Or just go full-on tourist in the Caribbean at Aruba or the British Virgin Islands. Give me a trip where I can eat luscious local food, see a few ruins or a craft center, shop and then spend the rest of my time with a fruity drink, reading a good book.

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    1. Hawaii is like an international destination with sunny skies, beautiful beaches with white sand, warm water. Oahu has a distinct Native Hawaiian feel and NO passport required!

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    2. Ah Julia, I sense a theme: ocean views and beaches! Hard to argue with that. I loved my only sailing trip in the Bahamas and another in the Caribbean, thanks to friends with a gorgeous catamaran. Your ideal vacation sounds good to me too!

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  20. What a fun post! I love to travel. Everywhere I go I develop a new appreciation for the location. I have fond memories of visiting France and staying in the Montmartre district. One evening I ate a side dish of very oily peas then threw up in the tiny hotel bathroom. Suffice it to say that night was over for me. Our taxi cab driver had a Bouvier in the passenger seat (he took up the entire seat) – he said was his guard dog. :-)

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    1. Oh dear. Coincidence: the friend who inspired my first two French village mysteries had a huge black Bouvier that worked its wsay into my stories. How could it not? It insisted on sitting in her lap and was bigger than she was!

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  21. Susan, your new series sounds fun! I've had many wonderful travel experiences. I am planning to visit Elizabeth Varadan in Portugal next year. I have never been to Portugal, but I hear it's lovely.

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    1. We are certainly looking forward to it, Karen! I'm also looking forward to your new book.

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    2. A friend just got back from a month in Portugal, her first visit, and she is raving about it! She was there awaiting the birth of her first grandchild because her daughter is married to a Portuguese man. The baby was late (but arrived perfectly) so she had more time than planned to wander, take days trips, eat, eat, eat.

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    3. Siusan, the food in Portugal is pretty good. We're vegetarians, although we eat fish & seafood (which makes us "pescadarians," I guess) but we eat well. And meat eaters love Portuguese dishes.

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  22. I hope to do something about my lack of international travel in the next two years. I'm still gathering information about a trip to England, and while I have some contacts there that will make things easier, I am, logistically speaking, wanting to see too many places. The only place I've been that requires a passport is Canada, when a friend and I went to Niagara Falls after the Albany Bouchercon. I've been to Mexico, to Acapulco, over 40 years ago, but no passport was required. Now when I look up Acapulco, there are a multitude of different beaches and beach names for the Acapulco area. We stayed at the Princess Hotel/Resort and had a large outdoor balcony to our room that was so nice. Funny note on our Acapulco trip. Tammy Faye and Jim Baker, the TV evangelists, were staying at our hotel, and being at breakfast the same time as they and their children allowed me to ascertain that Tammy Faye really did wear that much makeup.

    Susan, congratulations on your new book. It sounds like such a great read. I've been eyeing some river cruises around France, but it sounds like I need to consult you before booking anything.

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    1. Kathy, Although I haven't been on one, quite a few of my friends have and recommend the river cruises in France - small boats, lots of stops at charming villages, some focused on wine tours, others on walks and bike trips. The Seine and the Rhone are major rivers that wander through great stretches of the country. I looked at one that goes from Paris to Rouen and stops at Giverney - sounded like a winner!

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  23. Oh my, Susan, another newly discovered book set in France. A must-read for me, since the settings almost always invoke memories of the college year I spent there. Most of the year I was in Paris, but I also cherish the first six weeks in Burgundy. Debra, you must make it a side trip next time you're over there.

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    1. Gay, Al three of my French mysteries are set in Burgundy, and you might have visited that area - the Yonne department of Burgundy? It has a dramatic WWII Resistance history, beaucoup des fromages, and many châteaux that played a role ibn the medieval warfare between duchies.

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    2. I lived in Dijon before moving on to Paris, but I'm sure we drove through that area several times. Heard many stories of the resistance when I was there. I'm definitely putting your series on my TBR list, Susan. You had me at fromage.

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  24. Oh, how delightful! I love visiting France even if only fictionally. I will go anywhere any `day anytime, just give me a sec to grab my passport.

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    1. Passport or not, visiting these historic places is a joy. I get almost as much fun writing about France - yes, I'm a Francophile - as I do dusting off my passport and going!

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  25. Very late today. I'm like Jenn. I'll go almost anywhere! My dream trip would be flying to Cairo, staying in a couple of the historic hotels, and embarking on a cruise up the Nile to see tombs and pyramids.

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  26. Congratulations on your new series, Susan! Can’t wait to read it, Karin Fitz Sanford

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  27. I would love to visit the Perigord region of France, home of the Martin Walker mysteries featuring Bruno, Chief of Police, now 17 books. I believe it was about 1970 when we drove our little old Austin Traveler through France on our way to Munich, the wrong direction for visiting the Perigord. We stopped at some old village inns for delicious dinners as we went through the Alsace regionn.

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