A Year in Europe Cozy Mystery Bundle: A Murder in Paris (#1) and Death in Florence (#2)

Written by Blake Pierce

Narrated by Kathleen Strecker

A bundle of A MURDER IN PARIS (BOOK #1) and DEATH IN FLORENCE (BOOK #2) in Blake Pierce’s A Year in Europe Mystery series! This bundle offers books one and two in one convenient file, with over 100,000 words of reading.

In A MURDER IN PARIS (Book #1), Diana Hope, 55, is still adjusting to her recent separation when she discovers her ex-husband has just proposed to a woman 30 years younger. Secretly hoping they would reunite, Diana is devastated. She realizes the time has come to reimagine life without him—in fact, to reimagine her life, period. Devoting the last 30 years of her life to being a dutiful wife and mother and to climbing the corporate ladder, Diana has been relentlessly driven, and has not taken a moment to do anything for herself. Now, the time has come. Diana never forgot her first boyfriend, who begged her to join him for a year in Europe after college. She had wanted to go so badly, but it had seemed like a wild, romantic idea, and a gap year, she’d thought, would hinder her resume and career. But now, with her daughters grown, her husband gone, and her career no longer fulfilling, Diana realizes it’s time for herself—and to take that romantic year in Europe she’d always dreamed of. Diana prepares to embark on the year of her life, finally turning to her bucket list, hoping to tour the most beautiful sights and sample the most scrumptious cuisines—and maybe, even, to fall in love again. But a year in Europe may have different plans in store for her. Can A-type Diana learn to go with the flow, to be spontaneous, to let down her guard and to learn to truly enjoy life again?

In DEATH IN FLORENCE (Book #2), Diana arrives in Florence, ready to shake off the events of Paris and fulfill her lifelong dream of being proposed to on the romantic Ponte Vecchio bridge. But Diana can never possibly anticipate what she is about to find on that bridge, and how it may just turn her romantic dream into a ridiculous nightmare!

A YEAR IN EUROPE is a charming and laugh-out-loud cozy mystery series, packed with food and travel, with mysteries that will leave you on the edge of your seat, and with experiences that will leave you with a sense of wonder. As Diana embarks on her quixotic quest for love and meaning, you will find yourself falling in love and rooting for her. You will be in shock at the twists and turns her journey takes as she somehow finds herself at the center of a mystery, and must play amateur sleuth to solve it. Fans of books like Eat, Pray, Love and Under the Tuscan Sun have finally found the cozy mystery series they’ve been hoping for!

Book #3 (VENGEANCE IN VIENNA) in the series is now also available!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lukeman Literary Management
• Release date: Nov 4, 2022
• ISBN: 9781094326580

Blake Pierce

Blake Pierce is author of the #1 bestselling RILEY PAGE mystery series, which include the mystery suspense thrillers ONCE GONE (book #1), ONCE TAKEN (book #2) and ONCE CRAVED (#3). An avid reader and lifelong fan of the mystery and thriller genres, Blake loves to hear from you, so please feel free to visit www.blakepierceauthor.com to learn more and stay in touch.

Reviews for A Year in Europe Cozy Mystery Bundle

[NNEAMAKA PAYNE · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Over the last four months, I have read four books by author BLAKE PIERCE in three different series. The most recent that I read was A MURDER IN PARIS, book one in the series A Year in Europe. In all three series, the protagonist (all different characters) is a strong female amateur or professional detective forced by circumstances to solve a mystery out of her comfort zone.

Diana St. James is the VP of Marketing for a cosmetics company in New York City and has been with the company since its creation some 20 or 25 years earlier. Diana is about 50 years old, is separated from her surgeon/husband (Evan), and is soon to be divorced. She has two daughters in their mid-twenties, one a graduate student in California and one a married real estate agent on Long Island (New York) not far from where Diana lives. St. James is the perfect candidate for a mid-life crisis, which she embraces.

When she was a student at New York University, she had a love affair with Stephane de Vallier du Fonblanque, Duc de Beauville. Stephane told her all about Paris and a masked costume ball held every year at the Palace of Versailles open to anybody who could afford the fees (very large). On a whim, Diana decides to take a sabbatical from her job and spend up to a year traveling in Europe. Her first destination is going to be Paris and the Ball at Versailles. Perhaps, she may even try to find Stephane.

Madame St. James is a control freak. She plans her days, vacations, and meetings to the minute. Before she leaves for Paris, she plans her three or four-day stay with sites, sights, and meals with no room for additions. As soon as she lands at Charles de Gaulle Airport, her schedule for the first day becomes irrelevant. She had estimated 45 minutes to get to her hotel, Le Bonne Auberge near the Eiffel Tower, but it was more than an hour and a half, and the driver could not find it. It was raining as well. In an irrational moment, she decides to leave the taxi and get to her hotel on foot using her GPS (satnav). Diana is now upset because this is not the Paris she had been dreaming about for 25 years.

She tries to find Stephane’s address and is once more disappointed as it is a hole in the ground, the building having been torn down for new construction. Oh well, there is always the Ball. Diana goes to Versailles on the day of the Ball and rents her costume including a diamond necklace that belonged to Marie Antoinette, a National Treasure. The clothing costs her 4,000 Euros and the necklace 10,000 Euros. However, the customer decides to let her have it at no cost because it suits her.

While at the Ball, Diana has three experiences she was not counting on. First, she meets Lucien (call me “Luc”) Beauchamp, Comte de Montiel de Saint Quentin. Second, she discovers his dead body. Third, her necklace is stolen. Lieutenant Pierre Bayans interviews her after she discovers the corpse at bottom of a terrace outside of the Hall of Mirrors. Turns out, she was the last person to see the Comte alive. Diana now finds herself as suspect number one in the theft and the murder. She decides to track down the murderer and the thief.

This is another wonderful story from a very prolific writer (over a dozen series and 110 books available). The author has a knack for creating likable characters with a diversity of traits. Her mysteries always have plot twists, some foreseeable, some not. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. GO! BUY! READ!

Murder in Florence Book 2
This book has a good story but it’s not the police procedural/mystery it claims to be. It’s really the story of an aging (four years from retirement), lonely police detective wandering through Florence and reflecting on his experience as an anti-Mussolini, anti-Nazi resistance fighter in World War II. It’s set in Italy in 1966 against the backdrop of the devastating Florence floods.

Yes, there’s a crime to be solved. A group of pedophiles kidnapped and killed a young boy. The detective finds a possible clue as his officers tail suspects for weeks while they report daily “nothing unusual.” For more than a hundred pages, nothing, nothing, nothing in the way of the resolution of the crime.

Yet the story works because of good writing and the author’s ability to get us interested in the main character. He reminisces on his war past as a sniper - 27 notches in his gun. He visits old friends and chats with strangers in cafes. He’s putting on too much weight; he drinks too much; he smokes too much. He reflects on Italy’s past and present (1960’s) political morass, especially the cult of men who still worship Mussolini.

The detective is not married, so mostly he chases women. His mid-life crisis takes a particular form: can I still get a YOUNG woman? The answer is yes but there’s a tragic twist to the story connected to the resolution of the crime.

The detective is surrounded by colorful characters. There’s an ex-con who takes him mushroom-hunting in the woods; an ex-prostitute who gives him massages (and only massages); his male assistant at work who battles with him daily over his smoking.

The daily lives of the people digging out from the mud and other devastation of the floods are covered in the detail that you’d expect from a journalist writing a series of human interest stories. There’s local color - real streets and real places in Florence. Some of the action is set on the road from Florence to Siena which is chianti wine country.

One last comment shows how this story is not your usual police procedural ending with the bad guys in handcuffs being taken away in police cars. Crimes can be solved but not resolved: powerful people can sometimes get away with murder and whether or not “justice has been served” can be an open question.