FICTION

HOTEL PASTIS by Peter Mayle. (Knopf: $23; 389 pp.) Peter Mayle, professional bon vivant, Mr. Good Life, Mr. Drop Out and Hang the Consequences now combines all his talents in this fictional account of an advertising executive who leaves it all to open a hotel in Provence. So what if he’s got so many stocksandbonds that the word risk has no more meaning. So what if Mayle makes the same mistake again and again and again of making locals look like buffoons. It’s still a pleasant fantasy, peopled with stereotypes and fueled with good food. Bon appetit.