S13:Ep259 - A Fashionably French Murder with Guest Colleen Cambridge - 7/9/25

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You can find Colleen Gleason/Colleen Cambridge at her website www.colleengleason.com or on IG @colleengleason

 

Typically Amy has not been a cozy mystery reader, but this week’s guest, Colleen Gleason who also writes as Colleen Cambridge, may have single-handedly converted her.  She is the author of over 57 books in numerous series but her “American in Paris” series has been a delightful escape over the last year. It is a cozy mystery set in postwar 1950s Paris with a dynamic mystery-solving duo featuring none other than Julia Child. Book 3 in the series titled A Fashionably French Murder was published in April.  So we were thrilled when Colleen agreed to chat with us about this series as well as several of her other books.

 

Colleen’s style of writing often includes a pairing.  She has a mystery series that involves Agatha Christie and her housekeeper, another series featuring Abraham Lincoln and his aide, and even a steampunk paranormal YA series involving an imaginary crime-fighting pairing of Bram Stoker’s younger sister and Sherlock Holme’s niece. As we know from doing this podcast, having a partner-in-crime makes things much more fun. 

 

In our book rec section of the episode, we are all about gardens. We are not reviewing gardening books, however. Rather, we’re talking about books in which gardens, gardeners, flowers and shrubs are part of the story in some format. We’ve got thrillers, middle grade, fantasy, contemporary family drama, murder mysteries, and Appalachian gothic. 

 

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

 

1- A Fashionably French Murder (American in Paris series) by Colleen Cambridge   2- Food People by Adam M. Roberts   3- The World’s Greatest Detective and Her Just Ok Assistant by Liza Tully   4- Dept Q by Jussi Adler-Olsen   5- A Murder Most French (American in Paris series) by Colleen Cambridge   6- In the Spirit of French Murder by Colleen Cambridge   7- Paris Noir: The Secret History of a City by Jacques Yonnet   8- The Seven Rings (The Lost Bride Trilogy #3) by Nora Roberts   9- The Rosie Result (Don Tillman #3) by Graerme Simsion   10-The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion   11-The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion   12- Forged by Danielle Teller   13- A Five Star Read Recommended by Fellow Book Lover Betsy Tomszak @bookswithbetsy - Reservoir Bitches by Dahlia de la Cerda   14- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett   15- The Bog Wife by Kay Chronister   16- June in the Garden by Eleanor Wilde   17- A Botanist’s Guide to Parties & Poisons by Kate Khavari

 

18- The Enchanted Greenhouse by Sarah Beth Durst

 

19- Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

 

20- The Summer of June by Jamie Sumner 

 

Media mentioned--   1- Hacks (Max, 2021 - present)   2- Dept Q (Netflix, 2025)   3- Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (2022)   4- The New Look (Apple Plus - 2024)