The Diamond Caper

From the engaging first sentence, bestseller Mayle’s fourth novel featuring American detective Sam Levitt (after 2014’s The Corsican Caper) delights—more because of the French local color than any hardcore mystery solving. Sam and insurance investigator Elena Morales are on the hunt for a jewelry thief in the South of France. The thefts, which began small in 2002, have gradually escalated to include a two-million-euro necklace stolen from a party at the Cannes Film Festival. But the book’s strength lies in the great descriptions of characters (“even [Sam’s] voice sounded suntanned”) and of all things French. As he does in his memoirs, Mayle excels at evoking French cuisine: the croissants and cafe crème, the sauce mousseline, and the shopping trips to the outdoor market, where even the peaches, apparently, taste better than anywhere else. Fans of his caper series will enjoy finding out how Sam and Elena’s romance develops (hint: a house is purchased, and the phrase kept woman is invoked). Agent: Ernest Chapman, Escargot Productions (U.K.). (Oct.)