During his time as an inspector with the Paris Sûreté Monsieur Pamplemousse had been ‘in at the death’ on more than one occasion, but even he had to admit that the phrase took on an entirely new meaning when he was present at the spectacular ending to Cuisine de Chavignol, France’s premier television cookery programme.

Seated in the front row of an invited studio audience, he watched in silent horror as the eponymous host, having downed an oyster in close-up, uttered a strangled cry and slowly but surely sank from view behind a kitchen worktop.

Pommes Frites, sniffer dog extraordinaire, has his own views on the matter: Claude Chavignol was a bad egg if ever he’d seen one. Subsequence events prove him right, and soon he and his master find themselves caught up in a bizarre world of unrequited lust, murder and blackmail in high places.

Colourful, comical and deliciously entertaining, it is no wonder that in this new adventure Monsieur Pamplemousse Hits the Headlines.