Death in the Vines: A Verlaque and Bonnet Provençal Mystery

Longworth throws a variety of puzzles at investigating magistrate Antoine Verlaque and his significant other, law professor Marine Bonnet, in their enjoyable third outing (after 2012’s Murder in the Rue Dumas). A few hours after Pauline d’Arras—an older woman who may be displaying the onset of Alzheimer’s—disappears, her frantic husband shows up at police headquarters in Aix-en-Provence. In addition, an inventory of an always-locked wine cellar, part of a winery where a police official’s wife works, reveals that someone has been looting the cellar of its most precious contents. Finally, a 28-year-old bank employee, Suzanne Montmory, is raped and severely beaten. Two of the mysteries end up involving murder, and it falls to Verlaque and Bonnet to track down the killer or killers responsible. The solutions are less interesting than the byplay between the leads, but the book’s real strength is its evocation of place. Agent: Katherine Fausset, Curtis Brown. (June)