Giveaway Time! Murder on the Ile Sordou

M.L. LONGWORTH has lived in Aix-en-Provence since 1997. She has written about the region for The Washington Post, The Times (U.K.), The Independent (U.K.), and Bon Appetit Magazine. She is the author of a bilingual collection of essays, Une Américaine en Provence published by La Martinière in 2004. She divides her time between Aix and Paris, where she teaches writing at NYU's Paris campus. NPR included her in its summer "Crime in the City" features, about her mysteries set in the southern French town of Aix-en-Provence.

The fourth installment in that series is Murder on the Ile Sordou, once again featuring Antoine Verlaque, the "handsome and seductive" chief magistrate of Aix. Judge Verlaque and his girlfriend, law professor Marine Bonnet, are hoping to enjoy a relaxing holiday at the Locanda Sordou, an opulent hotel reopening after being closed for several decades, but someone has other plans.

Ex-financier Maxime Le Bon and his wife, Catherine, have spent years and their life savings restoring the hotel, which lies in an archipelago of glittering islands just off the coast of Marseille. A motley crew of guests arrive by boat for the grand opening. In addition to Antoine and Marine, there’s Marine’s best friend Sylvie; a fading film star, his much-younger wife and her disgruntled teenage son; an aspiring poet; an American couple; and a French couple trying to save their marriage. The murder of one of the guests casts a shadow over everyone’s vacation, but things go from bad to worse when a a violent storm cuts off all communication with the mainland. Will the killer strike again?

The publisher is offering a copy of this book to one lucky reader of this blog, so if you'd like to be entered in the random drawing, just drop me a note at bv@bvlawson.com with "Book Giveaway" in the subject.

Learn more about the author, her books, and her time in France via her website and blog.