I was really hoping that the second book in this series would show an improvement of the character development, but no luck. The Characters didn't seem to really have any life and they were very 2 dimensional. Beside the lack of character development there are also too many characters to keep everything straight.

I will not be continuing this series.

A welcome addition to a wonderful series. Susan Shea continues to delight with her colorful cast of characters and masterful depiction of the French countryside.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher
I realized that at this point in my life cozy mysteries are not for me.
Thank you for the opportunity.

I honestly thought this book was related to wine so I expected a light hearted cozy and this turned out to be a somber serious murder mystery. I also did not expect the dual story line/dual perspective shown through both Pippa and Katherine. On the plus side I was not able to figure out who took the life of the butcher's wife and Pippa did a great job going around and finding clues, while Katherine wrestled with relocation and a husband who's music career was taking off again. An interesting read and who doesn't like a little French now and again.

Dressed for Death in Burgundy by Susan C. Shea is book 2 in the French Village Mystery series. While it is book 2 in the series, I think it can definitely be read as a standalone novel. The characters include an ex-pat and other locals in a French village. This is definitely a cozy mystery and I think it would definitely appeal to readers that enjoy cozies set in a small village. Overall, the story is a good read, although it did move slowly at times. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher with no obligations. These opinions are entirely my own.

Set in a small village in France, American ex-Pat Katherine introduces us to her world. Social settings, interesting characters and of course, murder.

The second book in the series finds the butcher's wife dead and Katherine is on a mission to find out who did it. Katherine is finding her footing living in France and finding a social circle.

The murder mystery was good but I think a little more focus could have been placed on building up the tension and the action surrounding the murder and solving the case.

Overall, good book!

Galley via NetGalley for review

This is the second book in the French Village Mysteries. I can tell that by not reading the first book, I definitely missed items about the characters backgrounds. I have read books that have done a worse job catching up, but I have read books further along in the series where I felt better updated. I loved that this book was set in France, but, the winter setting was not as much fun as the other cozy mysteries I have read set in the other three seasons. I am not a winter gal, and being cold just made this not as much fun for me. I am also not enjoying the relationship between Katherine and Michael. I sense tension and even if that is not what the author had intended, that is what came across to me. I am not a reader of romance, but I prefer my cozies with budding or strong relationships, not those that give me tense feelings. All that being said, I enjoyed the mystery and would be willing to give another book in this series a go to see if that relationship gets better and perhaps the next mystery will be set in a lovely French spring. I am giving this book a solid 3 star rating.

The museum seems like a good place to hide a body, but I can't imagine finding one. I love Katherine, she's smart and resourceful. It took me awhile to get into the story, but once I did, I raced along with Katherine and Pippa as they tried to solve the case and clear Pippa's name.

This is the second installment in the French Village Mystery series. Katherine Goff, an American, has been living in this small town for a few years now and after last year’s mystery, she feels she is starting to finally fit in. Her husband is back in the US for a few weeks and she has been helping with local tours. On one of these local tours and when she discovers a body at the local museum, she is once again pulled into intrigue. She is trying to keep herself and her friend Pippa from being the top suspects. This was a good read and many characters locals and expats, and interesting to see how that plays back and forth. Really enjoy the setting and hope there are more in this series.

I had not read the first book in this series, but I definitely will be doing so over the Summer! This is a fun fun chick lit style mystery, and perfect for reading while on vacation, or during Summer break, when you WISH you were on vacation! It will have you pining away for the cobbled streets and alleys of the Burgundy region! It's a tangled little mystery, with memorable characters (seriously, who hasn't wished for a rock star husband? LOL), and Susan does a great job in getting you hooked from the first chapter! Don't skip this book!

This is book 2 in the French Village Mysteries, but it reads okay as a stand alone. The story drags somewhat in the beginning and I never did get caught up by any of the characters. They all seemed rather shallow. Pippa was very immature, and the fact that she didn't take the time to learn the French language or at least a few common words or phrases bothered me.

The plot line was plausible, but I would have liked to see a little more action and less of Katherine's constant translating for those who didn't speak French even though she had below average fluency herself. Since this was a small village, I would have liked to have seen Katherine have a few unique characteristics that made her stand out more like Agatha Christie's Miss Marple. The mystery itself sometimes got lost in the midst of the village and the inhabitants, and then wrapped itself up rather quickly towards the end.

**I received a complimentary copy of this book from Minotaur Books through NetGalley. Opinions are mine alone. I was not compensated for this review.

I really want to like these novels more than I do. This is the second story in the French Village Mysteries. Another body has been discovered and our amateur town sleuths are on the case. The stories are just ok...there is nothing particularly outstanding about the characters or the plot. I love small, village mysteries, but this series is lacking the complexity of a Louise Penny story or a G.M. Malliet story. I use Agatha Christie as my measuring stick, and unfortunately, these stories just aren't measuring up for me.

I received a copy of this title from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review. If it were possible, I would give this book a 2.5. Unable to do that, I have given it a 2 because I can't really say I liked it.

The book offered a view of France that was somewhat different from what is typically written. It was not the warm, sunshine filled romantic place typically found in books taking place in France, but of a colder, grittier place that was somewhat depressed in nature. The town seemed to be impoverished, as did the protagonist. The overall feel of the book was cold, both the weather and the opportunities afforded the towns residents. While this felt like an accurate portrayal of the book's world, it left me lacking someone and something to want to champion. The one exception for this might be the best friend, Pippa, but I had some difficulty picturing her and therefore developing much sympathy for her.

The pacing of the book seemed somewhat uneven. There were times when it moved along at a reasonable speed, then an unexpected shift from one chapter to the next would take me by surprise and I would momentarily be taken out of the book. There were also characters in the book that seemed extraneous to the story in that they didn't really advance the plot. It is possible some of them may appear in future books within this series so this was exposition, but that was unclear to me as a reader.

There were frequent references to occurrences that had happened before, I'm assuming in the first book in the series. Having not read that book, these references were not beneficial to me in that there wasn't enough explanation in this book to help me understand what had happened, nor was there enough t make me want to pick up the previous book to read.

Overall, I found it difficult to develop a fondness for any of the characters or the town, which detracted from my enjoyment of the book. (less)

a strong second addition to a promising series. I love how just when everything seems to be settling down, the author shakes things up and chaos, gossip, run amok again. This series is really starting to hit its stride, and I cannot wait to see what the author comes up with next.

Summary from Goodreads:

"After finding herself mixed up in a murder investigation the previous Summer, Katherine Goff’s life simply has not been the same. Her husband has been in the US recording a new album, the Burgundy region locals are finally starting to see her as a real neighbor, and Katherine has even started helping out with “tourist” excursions. It seems she’s finally found her place in the small community of Reigny-sur-Canne.

But when Katherine stumbles across a body in the local museum during a tour, she finds herself caught up once again in a whirlwind of gossip and speculation. When the police zero in on her friend Pippa as a suspect, Pippa and Katherine team up to find the real killer and clear her name.

However, the more clues they discover, the more the real killer wants them off the trail. When Katherine and Pippa start receiving threats, they must decide what they are more afraid of—the police getting it wrong, or possibly becoming the killer’s next targets."

My Thoughts:

Last year I read and adored the first book in this series Love & Death in Burgundy. I remember wishing and hoping that it was going to be the beginning of a series because I had found it to be such an enjoyable read. I was so thrilled when I saw this book and realized it really was part of a series. It was an absolute joy to jump back into Katherine's world and Burgundy yet again. One of my favorite things about these books is the sense of place that you get while reading them. I've never been to France but reading books like this sure makes me want to go. I can't get enough of just the little every day details that are included about Katherine's life there. The small specialty shops she goes to in order to by certain foods and her distaste for big shopping centers is so much fun to read about. This book is actually told from two separate viewpoints - Katherine's and a secondary character from the first book named Pippa. I was just thinking that we got more of the details I was mentioning before in the previous book but I think that is because the time was split between Katherine and Pippa. I preferred Katherine's point of view myself but I did mostly enjoy both. It's funny but I was less worried about the mysteries when reading these books and more just immersed in the every day life that Katherine was living. I will say that the mystery in this book had me more intrigued in comparison to the first book. I also really liked the ending. I felt like it was just the perfect feel to this cozy series and left me wishing and wanting a third book!

Overall, I enjoyed my time with this book and these characters so much! It was such a delight to dive back into this world that the author has created with characters that I've grown to actually care about. I love the little details that the author adds to each book that makes you feel like you are actually there while reading. I just found myself so completely immersed in this book that I was almost sad to see it end. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to Katherine and her friends quite yet! I will say that I skimmed a few Goodread's reviews after finishing this one and it looks like readers may benefit from reading this series in order. It's only two books so not too overwhelming to think about and I think that those details that carry over from the first book will only enhance your enjoyment of this one! In the meantime, I will just be sitting over here pining and wishing for book three. A solid four star read and a series that I can easily recommend!

Bottom Line: A wonderful follow-up to the first book and has cemented my love of this series!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher and NetGalley. Thoughts are my own.

I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, atmosphere, and characters. I would recommend the book to friends and family for their reading pleasure.

I didn't feel like I missed too much in this second book since the characters that were the main ones were well explained but I probably should have read the first book for a little more background information. At times I was just a little bit confused about a secondary character or two. I enjoyed reading about the French provincial life, could sort of picture this little town getting ready for Christmas and thought that along with Katherine and Michael, their friends Pippa and Jeannette were people that I would also enjoy knowing.

I was a little distracted from the main mystery by so much detail to social life but I imagine that sets the stage for imagining the town scene. It was a good mystery and just as in the US, the police seemed to think that Katherine and Pippa may have had something to do with it since they were there when the body was found. It wasn't a huge stretch to guess the killer but I have to admit I was fooled and thought it was someone else until the reveal.

The ending was fairly exciting knowing that Katherine was safe and the police had things under control. I do like the friendship between Katherine and Jeannette. Jeannette could nearly be her granddaughter but I think Katherine likes to mother her since the girl has no mom. With Pippa it's a bit different but Katherine did prove to be a good and faithful friend to her. Pippa was pretty fun, sometimes to paraphrase Katherine, with the sense of a toddler. She was a budding mystery author so I could definitely see why she was drawn to the murder and wanted to poke around and find out things she could write about.

What a neat series, and I am ashamed to say I haven’t read the first book yet. That will be remedied, but I am so happy I read this latest from an author that sounds like my kinda of gal. I mean she loves France, as do I but Susan C. Shea has also given readers the ability to go there through her books and solve mysteries. It is certainly my kind of book with this combination.

Dressed for Death in Burgundy is the second book in the French Village Mysteries. I have not read the first book in the series and I was hoping this book would have a little more information about previous events. It was a little hard to read as a standalone. I did catch on in the end but the book was a little slow moving. The story was well written and maybe I would have enjoyed it more had I read the first book.

Dressed for Death in Burgundy is the second book in the French Village Mysteries series by Susan C. Shea. I did read the first book in the series and highly recommend Dressed for Death in Burgundy.

Katherine, is an American, is living in a small French village, Reigny-sur-Cannes. She is just learning to live in France and does not speak very good French. While her husband is away in the US, Katherine helps with local excursions to try to find her niche with the townspeople. . She finds a body and Katherine and her friend Pippa set out to find the killer.
I enjoy the regional location of a small town in France. This is a well crafted mystery with interesting characters. I love the ex pat aspect of these books and learning how Katherine and her family cope with living in France. The regional culture , food and unique heritage of France are such a delight to read. I look forward to the next in series. Thank you for the ARC which does not influence my review.;