5 Addictive, New (and from Last Year) Mysteries We Can't Put Down
Looking
to travel far, far away—and solve a few murders? Pick up these fresh,
smart reads for fall.
1 of 5
Death in the Vines: A Verlaque and Bonnet Provencal Mystery
By M. L. Longworth
304 pages;
Penguin Books
In the mood for a jaunt to Provence before the
weather
cools off? On the itinerary: A dinner of porcini
mushroom tarts,
fresh-radish-and-white-rose-petal salad,
monkfish in black olive
oil—oh, plus some wine theft
and a serial killer. In this delectable
whodunnit, the trouble
starts when half the bottles vanish from the cellar of
a
generations-old winery. Before examining magistrate Antoine
Verlaque can find
the thief, a young female bank clerk dies from
injuries suffered during a
vicious sexual assault, and then
more women begin turning up dead. Though the
plot is
hair-raising, what keeps you glued to this mystery is its
vivid
portrait of everyday life in Aix, which deftly juxtaposes
the elegance of the
city—designer shops, fancy
restaurants, art galleries—with
quotidian woes and
pleasures (one example: how to drive on a narrow,
centuries-old
street). Verlaque and his French city are so absorbing that
you
might forget you're reading a mystery and relax into a
reverie about driving
out to a restaurant in the country with
him and his pals—but would
that be so bad?
Read...and dream.
— Nathalie Gorman
Published 09/17/2013