Door County’s Belgian Heritage Spawns A New Poirot

Perhaps the first Belgian sleuth since Poirot debuts this September in Wisconsin, setting up shop in a combo bait-and-fudge shop in Door County in a series written by Christine DeSmet, a Belgian and a writing teacher at University of Wisconsin – Madison.

The new Fudge Shop Mystery series from Penguin Random House, New York, debuts Sept. 3 with First-Degree Fudge.

First-Degree Fudge is set in a fictional village called Fishers’ Harbor (near Peninsula State Park).

DeSmet says, “This book has been a labor of love, starting with a wonderful trip last August to meet with members of the Peninsula Belgian American Club in Namur, where I got a tour of the church and school. (I’ve been to Door County many times over the years.)

We haven’t had a Belgian sleuth since Poirot came onto the scene in the 1920s, so I thought it was time to bring one back and put us all “on the literary map” in what’s called the ‘cozy mystery’ genre.”

Ava Oosterling is protagonist who, with her grandfather Gil, operates Oosterlings’ Live Bait, Bobbers, Belgian Fudge & Beer on the shore of Lake Michigan. DeSmet continues, “Like many Belgians, they’re thrifty people, stubborn perhaps at times, but skilled at many things and ready for a good bit of fun at the fall kermiss (harvest festival).”

DeSmet has already begun writing other books in the series, including Hot Fudge Frame-Up and Five-Alarm Fudge. For more information visit christinedesmet.wordpress.com.