A Dish Taken Cold

by Anne Perry

Compellingly, with the narrative elegance that has placed her Victorian mystery novels on best-selling fiction lists worldwide, Edgar Award-winning novelist Anne Perry turns her unerring historical eye to Paris 1792. Revolution is yielding to Terror, and the city is hungry—for justice, for vengeance, for bread. So, too, is Celie Deleure, a servant in the household of the celebrated Madame de Stael, when her infant son suffers an inexplicable death.

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Historical, Fiction, French Revolution, Novella, France

80 pages, Paperback

First published March 2, 1999

About the author

Anne Perry, born Juliet Hulme in England, lived in Scotland most of her life after serving five years in prison for murder (in New Zealand). A beloved mystery authoress, she is best known for her Thomas Pitt and William Monk series.

Her first novel, "The Cater Street Hangman", was published in 1979. Her works extend to several categories of genre fiction, including historical mysteries. Many of them feature recurring characters, most importantly Thomas Pitt and amnesiac private investigator William Monk, who first appeared in 1990, "The Face Of A Stranger".

Her story "Heroes," from the 1999 anthology Murder And Obsession, won the 2001 Edgar Award For Best Short Story. She was included as an entry in Ben Peek's Twenty-Six Lies / One Truth, a novel exploring the nature of truth in literature.

Series contributed to:
. Crime Through Time
. Perfectly Criminal
. Malice Domestic
. The World's Finest Mystery And Crime Stories
. Transgressions
. The Year's Finest Crime And Mystery Stories

Reviews

[Mommalibrarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Little more than a short story. A gripping look into the French Revolution from the eyes of a young widow.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd been meaning to track down this prequel novella for Perry's French Revolution novel The One Thing More for ages. Having just re-read that book recently, I finally remembered that I still hadn't gotten around to it and promptly rectified that. It's a brief look at Celie, Amandine and Georges' lives around the time of 1792's September massacres, deepening the background story about their relationships that the novel mentions - a quick read that I enjoyed the more for already being familiar with the characters.

[Cathy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't like

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mlle Alice, pouvez-vous nous raconter votre rencontre avec Un Plat qui se Mange Froid ?
"Curieuse de tout ce qu'écrit Anne Perry, cela fait longtemps que j'attends la réédition de cette nouvelle. Ne la voyant toujours pas arriver, j'ai fini par craquer lorsque j'ai croisé cette version d'occasion."

Dites-nous en un peu plus sur son histoire...
"Août 1792 à Paris, alors que se déroule les pires actes de la Terreur, le bébé de Camille meurt soudainement. Mais son amie Sophie, qui avait la garde de l'enfant, ne lui cache-t-elle pas quelque chose ?"

Mais que s'est-il exactement passé entre vous?
"C'est une histoire courte mais qui nous accroche assez facilement et même s'il n'y a pas de véritable enquête, la tension croissante accentuée par les évènements historiques nous entraîne et nous pousse à tourner les pages à toute allure. Je dois dire que j'ai pris plaisir à découvrir une fois encore Anne Perry dans une ville et une époque différentes même si j'aurais aimé qu'elle s'abstienne de mettre sans cesse tous les actes de violence sur le dos des Marseillais."

Et comment cela s'est-il fini?
"Comme toutes les nouvelles ou presque, la fin arrive trop vite et j'aurais aimé en savoir un peu plus sur le destin des personnages mais je ne regrette pas du tout ma lecture."

http://booksaremywonderland.hautetfor...

[Andria Potter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well this starts off with the death of an almost newborn baby, and the characters aside from the mother I absolutely disliked strongly. Anne Perry is a good writer, but her stories just aren't to my taste.

Rated: 2 ⭐

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the tail end of the French Revolution, Paris is a very dangerous place to live. In that place and time, Celie, a young, widowed Parisian servant, makes the emotional journey from grief at her infant’s death first to the desire for revenge, thence to the ultimate destiny of forgiveness.

It is a master stroke for Perry to place the climax of this morality tale at the beginning of the 1792 September Massacres, a particularly bloodthirsty and dangerous event just days before France was officially declared a republic. But the story would have worked much better in a longer format: Celie is introduced as a mother grieving the absolute worst thing that can possibly happen to any parent, yet she comes to terms with the tragedy in less than eighty pages. Celie needs more time to grieve and to react to the death of her baby, and the reader needs more time to get to know both her and the other characters as people.

[Marilyn Fontane · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Dish Taken Cold by Anne Perry is more of a short story than a novella. It provides as background a fantastic view of the French Revolution (1792) from the point of the upper class that supports the changes necessary in France. Protagonist Celie is an unwed mother employed in the household of Madame de Stael, where she discovers her infant, who was being cared for by another household employee, Amandine, has mysteriously died. A third employee, Therese, suggests that the death was due to the carelessness of Amandine and her lover. Celie wishes to get vengeance on the couple. All this occurs while the multitudes are storming Paris to get vengeance on the king. In the midst of all the excitement, Celie realizes forgiveness is more worthwhile.
The story quickly involves the reader in the madness of the revolution and the mixed feelings of the participants so much that the personal revenge story takes a second place in interest. The slice of life of history is excellent. Celie's story is hasty in her changes and emotions. The ending is enigmatic, but the readers can believe what they feel is most likely.
For an hour or two read, it is excellent, especially for history lovers. Ethicists may want more detail and character study.

[Randy Tramp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paris 1792. Revolution is taking place. Fear is yielding to terror.

Celie Deleure, a servant in the household of Madame de Stael, loses her infant son in an unexplainable death.

Powerfully written. It felt real, as though I were in the midst of anarchy. (I'm glad America has peaceful transfers of authority.)

Famous names such as Layfette and Marie Antoinette were in the book. I knew a little of Layfette and the American Revolution. It's interesting to find out what he did concerning France.

What a good book. Anne Perry has become one of my favorite authors, as she makes the Victorian age come alive.

[Melissa Riggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picked this up on a whim at the library and read it in one sitting. I'm hoping there's more written about these characters!

"Compellingly, with the narrative elegance that has placed her Victorian mystery novels on best-selling fiction lists worldwide, Edgar Award-winning novelist Anne Perry turns her unerring historical eye to Paris 1792. Revolution is yielding to Terror, and the city is hungry—for justice, for vengeance, for bread. So, too, is Celie Deleure, a servant in the household of the celebrated Madame de Stael, when her infant son suffers an inexplicable death."

[Carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rounded down from 3.5**. I read this as a prequel to the novel which follows it. Despite the fact that my interest and devotion to Anne Perry’s body of work lies mainly in her Victorian novels, I thought this novella was well done and set in an interesting historical time. A Dish Taken Cold did have a slow start so if I hadn’t been such a fan I might not have continued through to the end. I’m glad I did and am looking forward to The One Thing More.

[Ruth E. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent novella. It seemed to have some detail to the time of the revolution in France. I liked how it left the ending a little to the imagination. I did feel that Madame de Stael seemed to know more about her servant's lives than would be usual for a woman of her status, but somehow they had to explain the ending.

[Flor Vasquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Narra los acontecimientos que siguieron luego de la Revolución Francesa como la violencia siempre termina engendrado mayor violencia. Célie movida por el dolor de su hijo fallecido y la envidia de su compañera Thérèse, denuncia a Georges y a Amandine ante la comuna; se termina arrepintiendo e intenta corregir su daño. Al final termina sintiendo la satisfacción de haber er hecho lo correcto.

[Stephanie Lynch · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would give this two and a half stars out of five. It was a mildly interesting novella with a slight twist at the end. It wasn't particularly clever or engaging, the characters stayed one-dimensional, and it didn't emerge the reader within the setting. Granted, it's a tall order to accomplish much emersion in a novella, but even by novella standards, this one was quite blah.

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book on a shelf in the garage with Anne Perry mysteries. I don't remember ever seeing it before. I wanted a quick read and this short novel was just the thing. It was really good and gave me more insight into the history of Paris, France.

[Lucia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't really see this as a mystery, but it was, again, a short read and I've never read this author so I thought I would try this, something I could get through over a weekend. It touched on Russian history and a revolution, servants for/against the monarch.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short little number combines all the benefits of Anne Perry's writing in a nutshell. Without being hard to follow, the narration combines the pain of the protagonist's loss with changeably dramatic survivalist character of France during its revolution.

[James Junke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very readable novella that moves quickly to its end, with the suspense sustained. Author has interesting background having served five years in prison for participating in the murder of a friend’s mother.

[Christiania Edstrom · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a short novella. I enjoyed reading it, the book kept me engaged, but honestly not much actually happened. I wish there would have been a little more, but a nice quick read!

[Leah Angstman · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF. Got about halfway through and was not even remotely hooked. Below my usual level at the line, and the characters seemed mostly stale.

[Kim]

Interesting short work. Made me want to know more about the French Revolution.

[Martine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roman court et dense, une histoire humaine.

[Amanda W · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know nothing about the French Revolution and can have a short attention span, so this was just enough to get the flavor of the times. I appreciate a twist at the end and the story moved along.

[Cedric · Rating 3 out of 5]

interesting short story about a widow's life during the revolution.

[RedSycamore · Rating 4 out of 5]

The French Revolution in microcosm in the person of Celie, a young widow desperately trying to come to grips with the death of her infant son through vengeance and forgiveness.

[Tracie Sampson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very short book with little context given . You have to have knowledge of the French Revolution because no background is given.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

just ok

[Stina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book #11 for 2015

This very short novella was an interesting glimpse into life in Paris as the Terror was gathering steam. I liked the perspective of a lower member of a once-noble and now ostensibly Revolutionary household. I also liked the quotidien details, though I must shamefacedly admit that I couldn't tell you how accurate they were or weren't.

I found this a worthwhile read, but story-wise I felt that the setup was too transparent and robbed the reader of any real suspense. The only real question was just how tragically everything would be fucked up at the end. And there, I felt the author wimped out by ending on such a positive note.

Minor quibble: The address of "citizeness" annoyed me. Yes, I know that is the correct translation of "citoyenne," but it is clunky and inelegant and made me wrinkle my nose every time I read it.

I don't think I've read anything else by Anne Perry, but this made me curious to see what her novels are like. If you are a fan of her novels, you might want to read this to see how her shorter works compare. I would also recommend this to anybody with an interest in this era in France.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good book. I could really feel the panic and collapse of, well, just about everything in 1792 Paris. Maybe that's one reason I didn't like this book more. I sort of liked that the ending was ambiguous. You could tell that the author believes/assumes that Georges will escape and get out of Paris, but I am not so sure. One theme of the of the book seemed to be that you can fairly easily undo your mistakes, but I am not so sure that's how it works in real life. That's another reason I didn't like this more. Actions (and words) aren't so easily undone once taken (and spoken). Another I didn't like this book more is that it was more of a short story than a book (only 70 pages) and I prefer a story I can stay with longer. And the final reason I didn't like this book more is that a baby has died in the book and, UGG, I do not want to even think about babies dying.

[Melissa Lenhardt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Why, yes, I've discovered Anne Perry's novellas. What of it? No, I'm not just reading them to pad my 100 books in 2013 numbers. Not totally. Perry is an excellent writer and, well, I'm verbose. I can't seem to write a MS shorter than 90,000 words and I REALLY WANT TO! That's one of the reasons I'm reading Perry's novellas. To get some tips from a writer I admire. The problem is, I keep thinking, "Wow. She could have really expanded this, that and the other" or "That was an awkward jump between scenes."

A Dish Served Cold was an interesting little book, the story of a personal journey instead of her typical mystery. Again, Perry's descriptions of Paris during the French Revolution are excellent.

[Karin Boutall · Rating 5 out of 5]

A_Dish_Taken_Cold
If you enjoy history and a quick mystery read, "A Dish Taken Cold" is a prefect fit. The story begins during the chaos of the French Revolution when mobs are feverishly angry at economic and social injustices. They seek vengeance in the streets of Paris.

Celie, a young widow and mother of an infant, also ponders revenge. Was her dearest friend, Amandine responsible for the death of her infant son? Does Amandine deserve the guillotine? Are her co-workers at the house of Madame de Stael trustworthy?

This well written story delivers a nice twist at the end that the reader is sure to enjoy.