Blurb

Pistou has opinions about everything. Fish, twine, lavender, strangers, the weather, and the precise moment a croissant becomes community property.

In twelve stories — one for each month — Elodie Marais's opinionated ginger cat navigates the canals of southern France aboard Le Livre Vagabond, the floating bookshop that is both his kingdom and his responsibility. From the markets of Avignon in spring to the Christmas carols of Strasbourg in December, Pistou supervises, investigates, rearranges, and occasionally saves the day — always on his own terms.

Along the way there are lavender heists, cassoulet thefts, water jousting, midnight jam-making, paper boat regattas, a blue umbrella in Collioure, grape harvests in the Minervois, and a clockmaker's ginger cat in Colmar. Every chapter brings a new town, a new small adventure, and a recipe worth trying at home.

No murders. No mysteries. Just a cat, a barge, a woman who talks to both of them, and a year of small, extraordinary days on the water.

A standalone companion to the Canal & Croissant Mysteries. No prior reading required — but readers of A Murder Afloat in Avignon will find a familiar deck, a familiar cat, and a great deal more croissant.