The Marseille Caper by Peter Mayle Recipe from Allrecipes
Peter Mayle was a British businessman turned author who moved to France in the 1980s. He wrote a series of bestselling memoirs of his life there, beginning with A Year in Provence (1989).
Born in Brighton, Sussex, the youngest of three children, Mayle and his parents moved to Barbados in the aftermath of World War 2, where his father was transferred as a Colonial Office employee. Mayle returned to England after leaving school at 16 in Barbados.
His first job in 1957 was as a trainee at Shell Oil, based in its London office. It was there that he discovered that he was more interested in advertising than oil and he wrote to David Ogilvy, the head of the advertising agency that had the Shell account at that time, asking for a job.
Ogilvy offered him a job as a junior account executive, but Mayle's interest was more on the creative side of the business and he subsequently became a copywriter in 1961 based in its New York City office.
In due course another agency, Papert Koenig, Lois, poached him from Ogilvy and sent him back to London to head up the creative team in its UK office, where one of his colleagues was Alan Parker.
When the US parent hit trouble in the mid-1960s, he and a colleague bought the London operation.
They developed the business with accounts that included Watneys, Olivetti, and Sony and after five years, it was bought by BBDO, one of the top American agencies.
He then commuted between the U.S. and the UK as its creative director.
A 1972 advertising slogan written by Mayle for Wonder-loaf Bread was used as a football chant by supporters of Tottenham Hotspur, and became the basis of the song “Nice One Cyril”.
By 1974, Mayle had had enough of advertising and transatlantic commuting, and quit the business to write full-time.
Mayle started off by writing educational books, including a series on sex education for children and young people.
He also penned, in collaboration with illustrator Gray Jolliffe, a series of humorous books about the character Wicked Willie, based upon a personification of the male organ.
He relocated from Devon to the Luberon, southern France, in the late 80s but his plans to write a novel were overtaken by an account of life in his new environment.
This resulted in his 1989 book A Year In Provence which became an international bestseller, chronicling his first year as a British expatriate in Menerbes, a village in the southern department Vaucluse.
Several more books followed, which have been translated in more than twenty languages.
He also wrote for magazines and newspapers.
A Year In Provence was subsequently produced as a TV series starring John Thaw and screened in 1993.
The novel A Good Year was the basis for the 2006 film of the same name directed by Ridley Scott and starring actors Russell Crowe and Marion Cotillard.
Mayle relocated to Amagansett on Long Island, New York, to get away from fans and sightseers at his home in Provence.
He subsequently returned to France and at the time of his death in 2018 resided in Vaugines, also situated in the Luberon, in Provence.
He died in hospital near his home in January 2018
British Book Awards named A Year in Provence Best Travel Book of the Year (1989) and him Author of the Year (1992).
The French Government made him a Chevalier de la Legion d’honneur (Knight of the Legion of Honor) in 2002, for coopération et francophonie.
And what is the book about?
Set in Marseille, and part of the Sam Levitt Capers series, The Marseille Caper follows Sam Lewitt a corporate lawyer turned “fixer” and his interactions with locals amidst a mysterious property deal.
Writing in The Washington Post, John Wilwol praised the novel as "delightful" while in the Denver Post Tucker Shaw, described the book as "like an excellent meal at a beloved restaurant, you’ll savour every morsel, and you’ll be sorry to see it end.
"Taken from Bookfinder.com - Lovable rogue and sleuth extraordinaire Sam Levitt is back in another beguiling, as-only-Peter-Mayle-can-write-it romp through the South of France.
At the end of The Vintage Caper, Sam had just carried off a staggering feat of derring-do in the heart of Bordeaux, infiltrating the ranks of the French elite to rescue a stolen, priceless wine collection. With the questionable legality of the adventure and the threat of some very powerful enemies! Sam thought it’d be a while before he returned to France, especially with the charms of the beautiful Elena Morales to keep him in Los Angeles.
But when the immensely wealthy Francis Reboul the victim of Sam’s last heist but someone who knows talent when he sees it asks our hero to take a job in Marseille, it’s impossible for Sam and Elena to resist the possibility of further excitement . . . to say nothing of the pleasures of the region. Soon the two are enjoying the coastal sunshine and the delectable food and wine for which Marseille is known. Yet as a competition over Marseilles valuable waterfront grows more hotly disputed, Sam, representing Reboul, finds himself in the middle of an increasingly intrigue-ridden and dangerous real-estate grab, with thuggish gangsters on one side and sharklike developers on the other.
Will Sam survive this caper unscathed? Will he live to enjoy another bowl of bouillabaisse? All will be revealed with luck, savvy, and a lot of help from Sam’s friends in the novels wonderfully satisfying climax.
October Read - The Marseille Caper by Peter Mayle
A big 4 egg rating from me
I’m a bit of a fan of Peter Mayle, so this 4 egg rating was bound to be ok with me. Having read some of his other books and seen the film adaptions, i wasn’t disappointed by the book at all. Let me know your thoughts and if he’s a new author to you?
Cheesy Asparagus Caper Muffins by Phoebe Taken From Allrecipes
Bit of a cheat this month, although the recipe with capers in the ingredients to go with this months read, The Marseille Caper by Peter Mayle, sounds absolutely fabulous.
The recipe is By Phoebe - and i’ve taken it from Allrecipes
Cheesy Asparagus Caper Muffins by Phoebe Recipe on Allrecipes
Ingredients
¾ cup chopped fresh asparagus
2 cups plain flour
¾ teaspoon dried marjoram
¾ teaspoon ground thyme
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon melted butter
2 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
½ cup finely chopped green onions
3 tablespoons drained capers
Instructions
Preheat Oven to 220c, 425fPlace asparagus in a bowl with a small amount of water , cover and cook in a microwave ion high, 30 seconds at a time, just until tender.
Drain the asparagus , set aside until cool
Whisk flour, marjoram, thyme, baking powder, baking soda, pepper and salt together in a bowel; beat in the buttermilk, melted butter and olive oil.
Stir cheddar cheese, green onions, capers and asparagus into the buttermilk mixture.
Stir buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture until dry ingredients are moistened; spoon mixture into prepared muffin cups 2/3 full.
Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted near the centre comes out clean, about 15 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack for a few minutes; serve warm
