Life in a small French village is far more complicated than one might suppose, and memories are long. In the end, what happened couldn’t precisely be blamed on the collision of different cultures, although Burgundians will tell you their wines, cheeses, and history set them apart from the rest of the world. The truth is, tragedies ultimately are individual, and this one was no different, except perhaps that the people involved were oblivious to the import of the thunderclouds gathering over their village. That someone would soon be dead did not occur to anyone.

—P. L. Vickers,
The Mysterious Death at the Château