No one would have considered that Peter Mayle had exhausted the wonders of Provençal life, and so here he returns to France and puts behind him cholesterol worries, shopping by phone, and California wines. Here Mayle gives us a glimpse into the secrets of the truffle trade, a parfumerie lesson on the delicacies of scent, an exploration of the genetic effects of 2,000 years of foie gras, and a small-town murder mystery that reads like the best fiction.