Murder in the Rue Dumas (A Provençal Mystery Book 2)

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Mystery and romance served up with a hearty dose of French cuisine. I relished every word. Longworth does for Aix-en-Provence what Frances Mayes does for Tuscany: You want to be there—NOW!”—Barbara Fairchild, former editor in chief, Bon Appétit The head of Aix University’s Theology is expected to announce both the winner of the prestigious Dumas fellowship, and, with his retirement, the appointment of his successor—who will acquire his very luxurious apartment. Before any of this occurs, he is found having been murdered in his office. Police commissioner Bruno Paulik, his boss examining magistrate Judge Antoine Verlaque, and the judge’s lover, law professor Marine Bonnet, seek the killer Who is responsible for the murders? Are they related to the art forgeries? Will Judge Antoine Verlaque, his on again/off again lady friend law professor Marine Bonnet and Commissioner Bruno Paulik of the Aix police unravel these mysteries? Samen met zijn rechterhand Bruno Paulik wordt Antoine Verlaque aangesteld om deze zaak te onderzoeken. Ze ondervragen faculteitsmedewerkers, docenten en studenten, trekken alibi’s na, doorzoeken zijn kantoor en woonruimte en komen erachter dat Moutte een man was die mensen regelmatig tegen elkaar uitspeelde en niet door iedereen aimabel werd gevonden. Daarnaast ontdekken ze dat hij naast zijn werk nog een andere passie had, die een extra onderzoekslijn oplevert. De ondervraagden hebben allemaal hun eigen verhaal, laten niet direct het achterste van hun tong zien en het verdachtenlijstje wordt niet vlot ingekort, er worden eerder mensen aan toegevoegd.

As one character knowingly observes, “It’s very Agatha Christie”. But that’s all part of the charm for lead actor Roger Allam, a three-time Laurence Olivier Award-winner who is perhaps best known these days for his role as Detective Inspector Fred Thursday in the Inspector Morse prequel series Endeavour. For the general plot and mystery I can't say I love it because the book is bogged down with too many characters. There are too many changing POVs and the mystery proceeds slowly because so much is going on. Furthermore, a suspect with Church connections would have made a very worthwhile and entertaining addition to the mix of potential wrong-doers (and motives), an opportunity lost through bad preparation. Spoiler: the who-why-how is one of the weakest I have ever encountered in a murder mystery.When Dr. Georges Moutte is found mudrered, investigator Antoine Verlaque is stumped. Certainly the director of theology at the Université d’Aix had his enemies. Moutte was just about to name the recipient of an elite fellowship as well as his own successor—a highly coveted position—when his lips were sealed permanently. But Verlaque isn't convinced that anyone in the tiny community of academics is capable of murder. What I love about this book is the other stuff. I love the characters, they are really well written and interesting. I also love the travelogue (author was a journalist and travel writer(?) before she wrote this series) and the food and wine. Apart from that, there is also romance, some literature, art and philosophy - some very interesting stuff that sometimes I would put the book down and start looking up some of the stuff she talks about in the book. Some stuff makes me think and some stuff that is just really cleverly written. So you can see how busy this book is. The head of philosophy department at the nearby college is planning to retire and several of his colleagues are hoping to be his replacement. The position not only comes with prestige and a raise, but also included is a fabulous apartment suite on the campus itself. Some actually believe the apartment if more valuable than the title itself and there is the fact that once awarded, it is a lifetime position. Things go awry when at a party in his apartment, Prof. Moutes tells his friends he has changed his mind and is not going to retire. The next morning he is found dead in his office, his head smashed in. Professor Moutte, the Doyen of the School of Theology at the University of Aix, is found murdered in his office. The murder occurred just after he announced that he would not be retiring. His announcement affected three of his colleagues who thought they in the mix for his prestigious position. Also affected were 4 post-graduate students in the competition for the lucrative Dumas Fellowship. Two days later, the professor’s secretary was killed in a hit and run accident. Coincidence or related to the murder? Into this turmoil, another crime is added – art glass forgery. The pair investigate murders, mysteries and the dark underbelly of their idyllic home in the south of France.

Although the author is British, her absolute love of all things French and Italian, shines through. Almost more than anything else, the book is a delight to read for its detailed descriptions of foods and wines, while art—I’d not known before of Gallés glass and ex-votos--, history—during the plague, the town fathers of Aix closed the city gates resulting in the plague passing without the loss of a single life in Aix--, literature—“What will survive of us is love.”--, and the French countryside receive their fair share of attention, as well. The last thing you should do as an actor is to actually eat anything while filming because you’re stuffed a few takes in – and the wine is some sort of diluted prune juice. The setting is a smallish picturesque town in southern France named Aix-en-Provence. The main characters are Verlaque (a criminal judge) and his assistants and Marine Bonnet, a law professor and his girlfriend. The latest book in the Verlaque & Bonnet Mystery series, The Curse of La Fontaine, is available now from Penguin Books!In het eerste hoofdstuk is te lezen dat Yann en Thierry, twee goede vrienden, op weg zijn een feestje. Het begint allemaal heel “cosy” en Longworth neemt uitgebreid de tijd om de personages voor te stellen en de omgeving te omschrijven. Hieruit blijkt maar weer dat ze hier een kei in is.

When Dr. Georges Moutte is found mudrered, investigator Antoine Verlaque is stumped. Certainly the director of theology at the Université d’Aix had his enemies. Moutte was just about to name the recipient of an elite fellowship as well as his own successor—a highly coveted position—when his lips were sealed permanently. But Verlaque isn’t convinced that anyone in the tiny community of academics is capable of murder. Not that Allam had the opportunity to test out his own cooking skills while filming however – and nor does the onscreen cuisine sound all that appetising either. In 2021, it was announced that BritBox planned to adapt Longworth’s novels into a series titled Murder In Provence. [1] The series debuted in March 2022 with co-stars Endeavour actor Roger Allam in the lead role of Antoine Verlaque, alongside Nancy Carroll ( The Crown) as his romantic partner Marine Bonnet. [2] De spanning is niet het hele verhaal aanwezig. Maar hier staat het genre “cosy crime” ook bekend om. Daarom heb ik daar ook totaal geen problemen mee, want hier stel ik mij altijd al op in als ik een verhaal in dit genre ga lezen. Wel had ik de hoofdstukken graag iets korter gezien. Doordat ik al wat moeite had met dit verhaal en het boek eerder aan de kant wilde leggen, helpt het ook niet als de hoofdstukken lang zijn. Als ze korter waren geweest was ik eerder geneigd nog een hoofdstuk(je) te lezen.The Brits sure do love a good murder mystery – even one set in France, as is the case with Murder In Provence, a sort of Midsomer Murders clone but with better food, better scenery, more sunshine and a lot more wine. Mary Lou Longworth, known as M. L. Longworth, is a Canadian author best known for her Verlaque and Bonnet series of detective novels set in Aix-en-Provence. Another tedious repetition was the author showing off her knowledge of Aix, providing detailed steet-by-street, turn-by-turn routes various people walk through the city (sometimes including non-existent street names for no apparent reason). Enough! Enter Judge AntoineVerlaque and Inspector Bruno Paulik to systematically interview the usual suspects from among the faculty and student body. Longworth never rushes the plot along and some readers may be disracted by several of her musings on travel, cooking and love, but we found each delightful. Each of these digressions enhanced our overall enjoyment of the story. Of course the mystery is solved in the end, both by intuition and solid clues but honestly, with “Murder in the Rue Dumas,” it is the journey to it we appreciated most. Still, I enjoyed this book even though it was often hard to concentrate on it. I'm now on the next one.

I think this is the first murder mystery I have read with references to Persian Letters by Montesquieu - a discussion I enjoyed so much I plan to read it again very soon. Making a return appearance in Longworth’s second mystery are magistrate Antoine Verlaque and his girlfriend law professor Marine Bonnet. He has been called to investigate the murder of Dr. Georges Moutte, chair of the Theology Department at the University d’Aix. Moutte’s soon-to-be retirement has become a permanent one, hastened by blows to his head delivered by a blunt instrument. Verlaque is assisted by Paulik in interrogating faculty members, students, and those in attendance at a party the night before. Verlaque is, mede door de invloed van Marine Bonnet, iets milder geworden, en hoewel hun relatie nog in een wat aftastende fase zit, zijn ze duidelijk wel gek op elkaar. Marine heeft een kleinere rol, maar zodra zij samenwerken krijgt het onderzoek die sprankeling en de vaart die het nodig heeft, dus meer Marine in een volgend boek, graag! Dit is een licht, sfeervol en vermakelijk mysterie met een leuke setting, interessante personages en soms net iets te veel details, maar ook een mooi afgerond onderzoek en nieuwe vraagtekens die je nieuwsgierig maken naar een volgend boek.M. L. Longworth who also penned Death at the Chateau Bremont (2011) has lived in Aix-en-Provence for the past 15 or so years, and has written for major publications regarding this region. One can only assume that she loves her adopted home from the warm descriptions of places and food included in her story. Rather than hindering the mystery they simply serve to enrich and vivify it. The book, if anything, was considerably worse. At least the TV adaptation had the sense to move the action from a theology department to medieval history and so saved itself from some of the pitfalls of this dreadfully badly written and incompletely edited tome.