Customer Reviews

Death In the Truffle Wood

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Having read the blurbs and reviews calling this book delightful, charming, and pastoral, I expected something... different. A bit more genteel, perhaps. So with the early introduction of a band of hippies who are stereotypically and quite literally filthy and constantly high on pot, I was a bit taken aback. Not exactly what I thought I'd see in picturesque Provence, but then, the hippies are all foreigners and haven't been in the area long when we come into the story.

When it comes to the villagers themselves, we do get a bit of the promised charm, though interestingly enough, the most sympathetic characters are a pig and a dog. Human-wise, however, I don't like Magnan's treatment of women, as most of them are characterized in terms of their swaying hips, amazing eyes, and effect on men, and are made out to be petty and jealous in their relationships with other women. I suppose one could disregard these as being quirks of the women populating this particular village, but what really left a bad taste in my mouth was a description of an incident that could be seen as attempted rape, and for fighting off her would-be attacker and then threatening him should he try to touch her again, a woman is thought to have gone "a bit far."

All this aside, the mystery was fine enough, and I would likely rate the novel higher were it not for what must be poor translating or shoddy editing, as a previous reviewer noted. There are several passages that make little sense, though I don't know where exactly the blame should be placed.

Death in the Truffle Wood, by French writer Pierre Magnan, is loaded with delightfully eccentric characters and an even more delightfully eccentric plot. This book puts me in mind of Twin Peaks, an equally eccentric TV evening mystery/drama popular sometime in the late 1980's or early 90's.

However, I wasn't a fan of Twin Peaks and I'm really not much of a fan of Death in the Truffle Wood either. It's not that there aren't some charming moments--for example the truffle seeker Alyre Morelon's fondness for his truffle-finding pig Roseline is both sweet and poignant. And when a doting husband discovers his material-girl wife really does love him--the scene is truly touching. But there simply isn't enough to love.

I spent the entire time reading the book wondering what was wrong. I enjoy both Mystery Theatre and Masterpiece Theatre on PBS, so I'm used to working a little for my entertainment. And I readily accept the fact that I won't understand all the cross-cultural references. Still in all, the book simply didn't work for me.

I reread the first forty pages twice and still wasn't engaged. And the rest of the book wasn't any better. I took a second and even third look at passage after passage trying to make things fit but I never seemed to quite grasp what was being written. The pronouns seemed obscure and the references vague. An enigma wrapped in a mystery!

I am happy to say though that my own astute powers of observation have prevailed. Death in the Truffle Wood, although written by Pierre Magnan has been translated from the original French by Patricia Clancy--which incidentally is not mentioned on the cover. Even though I can't be positive that translation is the problem I do believe it's highly likely. I suggest you should either read it in French or Monsieur Magnan should find a new translator.

Armchair Interviews agrees.

Unlike other readers who wrote reviews I was gripped from the start and had a hard time putting this down. Loved the characters and the atmosphere. Will look forward to reading the next one.

Five young people have disappeared in the vicinity of Banon in Provence. When Commissaire Laviolette comes to investigate, villager Alyre Morelon immediately demands that the police officer looks into a recent incident when someone tried to kill his Roseline, the best truffle-sniffing pig in the entire area.

Laviolette has been sent to Banon because there's nothing remarkable about his appearance and he can blend in anywhere. Well... that's what he tells people. What he's not telling anyone is that his unremarkable visage hides a very observant and intelligent man. When Laviolette obliges Morelon and looks into the incident concerning the pig, he stumbles across something that ties right into the missing persons case he is investigating.

Originally published in 1978, some of you young whippersnappers who read Death in the Truffle Wood may miss your computers and cell phones, but this old fogey found their absence refreshing. (It is nice to remember the "good old days" once in a while when detecting didn't seem to rely on gizmos.) Magnan's sense of pacing is sure, and his characterizations show flashes of brilliance. The various plot lines of injured pig, missing young people, heirs to fortunes and philandering spouses were woven together into an intriguing mystery.

As much as I enjoyed the mystery, it was Magnan's humor and his depiction of the culture of Provence and its people that really won me over. The "forensic lads from Criminal Records" who loved to race between Marseilles and Banon, the relationship between Roseline and her owner Alyre, the description of a local wedding and the behavior of the guests... these are only three instances that made me laugh and made me feel as though I was getting a feel for the real Provence.

Combine all that with a very ordinary-looking and extraordinarily observant policeman, and I find myself with a new and delightful mystery series to continue reading. C'est magnifique!

This was a book that I really enjoyed. Intertwined with a look at another place in another time is a marvelous writer telling a police procedural murder mystery. Half the fun in reading this book is that look at another place in another time. It's a place that we can only visit through books like Magnan's. Leave your prejudices, attitudes and feelings of superiority behind. The real world is not sweetness, light and political correctness. There is lust, envy, venality, gluttony and even a spot of murder. I won't go back and recount, but I believe all the cardinal sins are present.

The feeling for the countryside and the people gave me a sense of reading a Jack Aubrey novel by Patrick O'Brien. Enjoy the flow of descriptive passages, try to understand what motivates a culture and people that you probably have not experienced and then try not to let the clues pass by unnoticed. And, like the patter of a shell game man, Magnan is going to take your eye off the pea and suddenly it's under a different shell. Murder, murder, who committed the murders and why. I so enjoyed reading the book that I missed some of the clues. It was fun, it read quickly and I was sorry that it was over in about 200 pages. May I have some more sir?

While I agree with Harriet Klausner that "Death in the Truffle Wood" is a wonderful story (I hope all of Magnan's books will be translated to English), I have a quip with her repeatedly identifying in her review Roseline's (the pig) owner, Alyre Morelon, as a "she"; well, Alyre is a man, and husband to Francine who plays an important role in the story.

More Magnan, please!

In Provence, France, Roseline the truffle-finding pig escapes from her owner, Alyre Morelon. She follows her "pet" into the nearby woods. When Alyre catches up to Roseline, she finds someone hurt her sow, but that human beast vanished even deeper into the woods.

Marseille-based Commissaire Laviolette comes to Provence to lead the investigation into the vanishing of five young people. However, Alyre, learning that a professional detective is in town, demands Laviolette work her case; identify Roseline's mugger. She insists the criminal has cost her money as Roseline's nasal inclination is how she makes a living and besides the animal was cruelly injured . Other villagers place demands on the Commissaire, who wants rapid resolution to the disappearances so he can quickly return home to the safety of Marseilles and be away from village politicians.

Although containing a humorous undercurrent mostly caused by the urban cop out of his element in the rural village filled with eccentric townsfolk, DEATH IN THE TRUFFLE WOOD is a strong police procedural with contrasting darker elements. The local "wars" are cleverly designed to provide amusement and insight as Laviolette struggles with tugs on his efforts to locate the missing people and a killer who sliced a throat and left a corpse in deep freeze. Written in the late 1970s, but just translated, Pierre Magnan provides a fabulous French police procedural that will have American readers seek other translations of his works by Patricia Clancy (see BEYOND THE GRAVE; not yet read by this reviewer).

Harriet Klausner