Sacre Blue by Christopher Moore

400ish? Pages Trade Paperback

Historical Fantasy Fiction

My wife gave this to me as a gift. I had never heard of Christopher Moore. I have a huge interest in art history and a murder mystery set with the Post-Impressionists seemed very appealing. 

The book is set in the late 1800's and starts with the death of Vincent Van Gogh. We know that instead of killing himself, as history tells us, that he is killed by someone else. The main character is Lucian Lessard and he is surrounded by some of the most talented artists of his age. He too attempts to create art and finds himself enamored with a young lady who becomes the focus of his work. He creates his best work ever, until he runs out of the color blue. He and Henri Toulouse-Lautrec soon find themselves trying to figure out a warning delivered in Van Gogh's last letter. Who is the color man and is he connected to Vincent's death?

I was immediately drawn into the book. Moore has a light hearted style that is easy to digest, but still takes time to describe what is happening clearly. It is advertised as "A Comedy D'art" and though I did find parts of it funny; I felt it was a more like a murder mystery with humor, rather than a humorous book about murder. Either way, I liked it and have bought a few of his other books and look forward to reading them.

3 Intellectual/Emotional - This plays on real events and a good portion of it is made up, but I really liked Lucien and cared about his adventure.

4 Style/Readability - Although I was a bit unsure at times about how the story came together, as a package it was enjoyable and entertaining. I think Moore writing is perfect for me and I am pleased I found another author I can delve into.

2 Long Term Impact - I hadn't ever heard of Moore before and from most accounts Sacre Bleu isn't considered his best work. I look forward to seeing what his other work offers.

9 out of 13 seems like a poor score from me. But I feel that it is about right. Before making a recommendation I hope to read some of his other work.

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