Comedian signs first book deal as a novelist

Comedian Ian Moore has turned mystery writer – signing his first book deal for a work of fiction.

Death And Croissants is set in the  Loire region of France, where the stand-up now lives with his family.

It is intended as the first in a series of humorous ‘Folle Valley’ novels and is scheduled to be published in July.

Moore previously wrote two comic accounts of moving to France as a middle-aged English mod: A La Mod: My So-Called Tranquil Family Life In Rural France in 2013 and C'est Modnifique!: Adventures of an English Grump in Rural France in 2014.

He independently published the crime novel Playing The Martyr, also set in a small Loire Valley town, last year.

The new title has been bought by Duckworth imprint Farrago and revolves around a middle-aged Englishman who runs a B&B in the fictional Vallée de Folle, but is disturbed whne one of his older guests disappears and someone murders Ava Gardner, one of his beloved hens.

Publisher Pete Duncan told trade website The Bookseller: ‘Ian Moore’s new fiction series is the perfect summer pick-me-up: properly funny, totally charming, and coupled with an inside-out love for the Loire.’

And Moore added: ‘This has been such a fun genre to write, combing my two loves — comedy and murder.’

The comic has been commuting back and forth from France for the past 16 years, and applied for French citizenship after the 2016 Brexit referendum in anticipation of freedom of movement restrictions set to come into force at the end of this month.

Speaking to The Times today he said he had not intended to become French. ‘I’m European and that was more important to me than being British and being sucked into a state of mind and a policy that I was dead against.

‘I’ve been called a Traitor for what I’ve said about living abroad, but I don’t feel like I’ve betrayed my country. I feel my country has betrayed me.’

A circuit stalwart, Moore is a regular on BBC Radio 5Live’s Fighting Talk and has appeared on The Now Show and BBC One’s The Stand Up Show, among others. He also has a sideline in making  chutneys and jams.

Published: 15 Dec 2020