Anything Considered [Hardcover]

Peter Mayle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 28, 1996

Bennett is an English expatriate living in France with a champagne taste and a beer bankroll. Happy-go-lucky and a bit roguish, he places an ad in the International Herald Tribune offering his services -- any services. He pursues a response from a wealthy Englishman named Julian Poe who has developed a means of producing truffles and is close to cornering the immensely lucrative truffle market. Bennett signs on and finds himself in Monaco, where he is able to live in a style to which he has always wished to become accustomed (including eating to his heart's content -- a Mayle trademark!). Soon the Sicilian and Corsican Mafiosi intrude and Bennett is joined by the beautiful and experienced (in all ways) Anna. Ham-fisted goons, gendarmes working at cross purposes, French village busybodies, and an order of monks dedicated to the god Bacchus all play a role in the surprising, and more than a little satisfying, denouement.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Peter Mayle continues to mine the romanticism of Provence for his literary success. A former advertising executive, his Year in Provence told of his time there and brought him unexpected acclaim. Then came three more tales from Provence, Toujours Provence, Hotel Pastis and A Dog's Life. In his latest work, Mayle finds another good reason to write about Provence: its food and wine. This tale is an adventure that manages to send its heroes through a series of wine-tastings and excellent restaurants as they seek to save the black truffle. It's an adventure many of us would love to take.

From Publishers Weekly

Again venturing into the wryly humorous thriller territory of Hotel Pastis, Mayle has produced another caper heavily larded with local color and gastronomic adventures. And again, as in his novels and his nonfiction evocations of Provence, truffles play a crucial role. Here his protagonist is Bennett, a Brit expatriate on his uppers. Having lost his savings in an investment scam, he is intent on finding the means to reside in Saint-Martin in Provence. He advertises his services: "Anything considered except marriage"-and is hired by Julian Poe, a stupendously wealthy fellow Brit, who needs help in evading the French income tax. Pretending to be Poe in the latter's Monaco apartment, Bennett becomes involved in the hijacking of a case containing the secret formula for the successful cultivation of the elusive black truffle. When the Italian Mafioso who stole the formula auctions his loot aboard his yacht, Poe, scheming to substitute a fake, sends Bennett to steal it back. He also sends Anna, a savvy and sexy mercenary enforcer from New York, to help protect his interests. After they recover the formula, Anna persuades Bennett to up his fee to a cool million. With the furious Italians joining Poe in the hot pursuit, the now romantically involved extortioners gormandize their lusty way across the south of France while outwitting their pursuers. Mayle makes froth highly palatable in this larky chronicle of sybaritic pleasures and larcenous activities. 150,000 first printing; BOMC and QPB selections.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 303 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; 1 edition (May 28, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679441239
• ISBN-13: 978-0679441236
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,215,440 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Peter Mayle.....always considered!, November 3, 2001

By 

douglas barton "emotions in motion" (Arlington, Va.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Anything Considered: A Novel (Paperback)

Being a fan of Peter Mayle's Provence series I was slightly apprehensive about his diving into the work of fiction but at the same time looking forward to his offerings. And, since after reading "Hotel Pastis" I was certain that he was still the author that I had come to enjoy so very much. With the addition of "Anything Considered" his literary skills, at least for me, remain intact! Thank goodness!

This book simply catches all of the magic of his previous offerings. A mystery, love story and comedy I can think of fewer books that I enjoyed so much that I picked up a copy in hardbound to keep and read again...and again. Set, once again, in the French country-side plus Monaco our protagonist Bennett, an English expatriate,lives out his meager existence until placing an ad in the Intl. Herald Tribune where he's offered the chance to live the "high-life" by providing services to Julian Poe, who delves into the illegal truffle trade. What ensues is truly high-comdey with a sprinkling of romance and French travelogue thrown in for good measure.

Overall, the characters are well-thought out and brought fully to life...plus, who could not enjoy a novel where the author is simply having such a wonderful time as Mr. Mayle obviously is! Highly recommended this is...and is there any chance of having this made into a film or BBC series?

A generous,delicious serving of Mr. Mayle!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Better at non-fiction, but interesting just the same, January 26, 2003

By 

Glen Engel Cox (Columbus, Ohio) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Anything Considered: A Novel (Paperback)

Having thoroughly enjoyed Peter Mayle's best-selling non-fictional (mostly) account of life in Rural France (A Life in Provence), I long meant to give his fiction a try. I'm not a real dog-lover, so A Dog's Life didn't intrigue me, and the jacket copy for Hotel Pastis didn't lend it to immediate reading, either. But the cover for Anything Considered, showing a cast of characters straight out of a CLUE game, and the premise--an Englishman in France, desperate for a job, places an advert in the international paper saying that he was looking for employment and "anything considered"--sounded so close to a Wodehousian experience, that I could not resist it. Even the title was similar to Wodehouse.

Unfortunately, while comic and filled with mistaken identities and misunderstood intentions, Mayle's touch with the material is quite different. I enjoyed the novel, but there's something missing to it, as if Mayle had all the ingredients at his fingertips, but didn't turn the temperature on the oven up high enough. There's no faulting his craftsmanship--the words flow smoothly enough, and nothing is so jarring as to ruin the plot--but the art seems forced, rather than organic.

Bennett is the Englishman who is desperate for anything, who finds himself hired by a fellow who simply wants him to live in the style to which Bennett has become accustomed, with the slight deviation of returning a different name than his own when asked. He goes to Monaco, using this man's credit cards, living in this man's apartment, basically enjoying the life of Riley. But there's trouble lurking, something to do with the truffle market and the Mafia. It's all grand fun, but Mayle never quite convinces the reader that his world is an innocuous one, and so the reader keeps expecting the worst to happen, rather than just another close shave.

Rereading the above, it sounds like I hated the novel, which I did not. In fact, I bought Hotel Pastis based on my impression of this book. I just had expected more from Mayle, and was letdown by my expectations, not by his actual book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book with lots of twists and turns, December 2, 1999

By 

Matt - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anything Considered (Hardcover)

Anything Considered is written very well. Another great masterpiece from Peter Mayle. The idea of a poor Englishman on an adventure in France is riveting. All of the characters are well thought out and descriptions are wonderful. This is my first Peter Mayle book and I am hooked on his writing. It is different from the normal fiction that I read, but it is a very, very welcome change.