I'm not sure whether this was just a poor choice for me to begin reading this series with (although the choice was determined by book availability) or whether I would have found other stories in the series too far fetched and improbable too. Fans of the series will tell me that I should have found it all a hoot, but I didn't find it all that amusing.

The plot was complicated by the appearance of Monsieur Pamplemousse's doppelganger, the television personality Ananas on the train going down to the health spa, and then again at the spa itself. I presume he has made an appearance in earlier books.

Monsieur Pamplemousse seems to travel with an unlikely amount of equipment, photographic, cooking, notemaking as well as a blow up kennel for the blood hound Pommes Frites.

The blurb from Publisher's Weekly said

readers may have trouble following Pamplemousse's intricate thought processes and understanding exactly what was going on at Chateau Morgue

so it certainly sounds as if I was not an orphan. I certainly didn't manage to make the connections. The concept is without doubt a spoof on detective series. A quote on the back cover says "There is more than a touch of Peter Sellers". I was reminded myself of Alexander McCall Smith's Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, although of course he is a much more recent creation.

If you are interested in checking the Pamplemousse series see this page at Fantastic Fiction.
Michael Bond of course was the person who gave us Paddington Bear. ( )

Not my favorite of the Monsieur Pamplemousse books, since there's so little food in it. Still good, however, if you like the series. ( )