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French Fried by Chris Dolley
Filed in 2 1/2 Stars , Chris Dolley , Review , The Lit Lover Posted on August 5, 2010 @ 6:00 am
2 comments
Format Read: PDF
Number of Pages: 229
Release Date: June 2010
Publisher: Book View Cafe
Formats Available: Ebook (Kindle, epub,PDF, RTF, LRF)
Purchasing Info: Amazon, Smashwords, Book View Cafe, Author’s website
Book Blurb:
Animals behaving badly, other people’s misfortunes and the most bizarre true crime story ever. French Fried is the unfortunately true account of Chris Dolley’s first eight months in France and has been described as ‘A Year in Provence with Miss Marple and Gerald Durrell.’
Moving house with three cats, two horses and an enormous puppy is fraught at the best of times. But during a storm? Within ten minutes of Chris and Shelagh landing in France a gust of wind rips the roof off their horse transporter and they and their animals are left on a cliff top while a replacement horsebox is sent for from England. From then on it gets worse.
Their new home has no heating or hot water. The plumber prefers to use the outside wall rather than any of the five toilets dotted around the house. The police place their car under house arrest. Their animals cause mayhem. Chris causes mayhem.
And then, just when they think nothing more could possibly go wrong, they discover that Chris’s identity has been stolen and their life savings – all the money from their house sale in England that was going to finance their new life in France – had disappeared. A bank account had been opened in Chris’s name in Spain to take the proceeds.
Then they’re abandoned by the police forces of four countries who all insist the crime belongs in someone else’s jurisdiction. The French say it’s an Irish crime as that’s where the money was held. The Irish say it’s French as that’s where all the correspondence came from. The British say it’s nothing to do with them even though forged British passports were used to open the bank account in Spain. And the Spanish are on holiday – and can’t even think about investigating any bank account for at least four weeks.
So Chris has to solve the crime himself. But unlike fictional detectives he has an 80 year-old mother-in-law and an excitable puppy who insist they come along if he’s going anywhere interesting – like a stakeout.
French Fried isn’t a book that I would normally pick up but when I read it described it as “A year in Provence
It is essentially a memoir about the author’s fun and (mis)adventures setting up home in France
The main event of the story, however, comes closer toward the middle of the book. Dolley and his wife discover that all of their money has been stolen in a complex fraud that has been perpetrated against them. Using connections in England France
Dolley has tried to write a very funny book. At times he succeeds, and at times I felt a bit like the humour was very forced. For me, the story didn’t really get interesting until the big fraud was revealed and Dolley and his wife (at times with his 80 year old mother in law in tow) used their sleuthing skills to solve the crime. I was fascinated to find out how he followed each little clue to the final answer, and it’s very scary to think that this happened in real life.
I enjoyed this book at times, but it wasn’t a year in Provence
I give French Fried by Chris Dolley 2 out of 5 bookies. I was provided this book for free by the author in exhange for a review.
***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review. FYI I purchased this book from a local shop.
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You are right when you said the crime came at the middle of the read. So sorry you it's not your cup of tea.
I think if the crime had played a role from the beginning I migh have had a little more interest in it perhaps. Not to worry though