“Beguiling . . . Longworth evokes the pleasures of France in delicious detail—great wine, delicious meals, and fine company.” —Publishers Weekly
When a scandalous author moves to the outskirts of Aix-en-Provence, Verlaque and Bonnet are called in to investigate whether he’s haunted by more than just his past, in this delightful new mystery from M. L. Longworth
Provençal Mystery Series #7
Watch the series! Murder in Provence is now on Britbox.
One hot summer night, Aix-en-Provence is aflutter with news that controversial author Valère Barbier, who once shared dinners with French presidents and all-night drinking bouts with rock stars, has moved into La Bastide Blanche, a grand house left empty for decades. But Valère’s ideas of a peaceful retirement are quickly dashed. Rambunctious neighborhood children, a fast-talking gossip of a housekeeper, and a rival novelist filter through the home at all hours of the day—and by night there are unseen visitors with more sinister intentions.
While Antoine Verlaque investigates Valère’s sordid history, his wife and partner, Marine Bonnet, questions why the estate was abandoned in the first place—and what they both find raises more questions than answers. Is Valère imagining the ethereal cries that fill the bastide at night? Is he losing his mind? Or have these ghosts returned from Valère’s checkered past to haunt him?
A departure from the format of the first 6 mysteries, I had doubts at first (as always), but it's possibly one of the best in the series.
Longworth tells this story from two angles, a few months apart. One is set over a dinner in NYC, between an editor and a world famous, Nobel-level author, ostensibly discussing the possibility of the great man's newest book, a memoir. But over dinner, at the editor's prompting, he tells the story of events that took place 3 months previously, in France. The second angle is set 3 months back in time, focussing on Verlaque, Bonnet and Paulik as they find themselves in the middle of events as they unfolded.
The events surrounding the author's purchase of the Bastide Blanche are the culmination of several past events and include haunting, gaslighting, kidnapping, and a missing woman. Verlaque and Bonnet each delve into different parts of the house's - and the author's - histories to try to untangle the mess of events.
Longworth created a story to get lost in; one of those where I should probably have liked some of the characters a lot less than I did. It was well plotted, bringing an end that even though it was foreshadowed early on, was both unexpected and tragic for almost everyone. My only complaint was a sketchy resolution concerning the house's history; the reader gets enough to fill in the broad strokes, but I'd have liked to have known how much of the legend was real: was anyone buried in the basement? (not a spoiler, btw) But I did particularly like the ending, the editor's advice to the author; yes, there was a mercenary aspect to it, but truth, redemption and justice won too.
An excellent cozy series that isn't anything like cute and fluffy, but rather intelligent and well-written, and one that seems to be getting better as it goes.
Reading updates
-
Started reading
-
18 April, 2018:
Finished reading
-
18 April, 2018:
Reviewed