Murder in the Rue Dumas: A Verlaque and Bonnet Mystery: 2 (Provençal Mystery)

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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? While life seems to be going well for the pair, it all of a sudden comes crashing down when a professor is murdered just before he was due to retire. 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.

If you’d like an intriguing mystery story peopled with unique characters, enhanced with descriptions of mouth watering edibles and lush pictures of the Italian and French country side Murder in the Rue Dumas is the book for you. 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.

Voor mij was dit niet de eerste kennismaking met M.L. Longworth. Ik las een tijdje geleden al ‘Dood op kasteel Brémont‘ van haar hand en had hier nogal wat op- en aanmerkingen op. Maar toch was ik nieuwsgierig naar dit vervolg. Ik was vooral benieuwd of dit verhaal spannender zou zijn. Dat was ‘Moord in Rue Dumas’, gelukkig wel. In Sept. 2011, I first discovered Mary Lou Longworth and her first mystery ( Murder at the Chateau Bremont) set in Aix-en-Provence. I waited, impatiently at times, for her follow up books. It is worth the wait.

This is clearly an author who loves that region, and wanted to write about it, and invented these characters so they could explore. I soon felt at home in Aix with Judge Verlaque and Marine Bonnet thanks to the descriptive writing. My weakness for french cuisine did cause hold ups in the reading as I diverted from the text to look up the recipe of a particular delicious morcel ( in case it had anything to do with the plot - you understand!)

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

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 Verlaque and Bonnet mysteries . . . plunge you into a languid world of epicurean pleasures and good living.”—Eleanor Beardsley, NPR 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. However, what I won't overlook and this annoyed me big time, is that the (laughably tiny) faculty doesn't include a single member of the clergy. Considering the plot involves an examination of the department's funding (the separation of church and state in France means that no public funds can be provided for the study of religious subjects and so public universities do not have theology departments, a paradox which is brushed aside in a single paragraph which makes only limited sense) , the only way colleges can afford to maintain such courses is with the help of the Catholic Church. Priests and nuns with academic credentials, while just as qualified, are significantly cheaper to employ than their lay counterparts , and are more able to provide support and advice for students planning to emulate them. The Church can also provide direct funding, funnel students , and offer opportunities for placements and other benefits.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. Aided by his on-again, off-again girlfriend, law professor Marine Bonnet, Berlaque must turn Provence upside down, uncovering a world far more complicated than university politics, to find the killer before it’s too late.