The Mystery of the Lost Cezanne
A Verlaque and Bonnet Mystery
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- $21.99
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- $21.99
Publisher Description
A beguiling mystery that finds Verlaque and Bonnet searching for a murderer—in a crime tied to Provence’s greatest artist
Provençal Mystery Series #5
Watch the series! Murder in Provence is now on Britbox.
A friend in his cigar club asks Antoine Verlaque to visit René Rouquet, a retired postal worker who has found a rolled-up canvas in his apartment. As the apartment once belonged to Paul Cézanne, Rouquet is convinced he’s discovered a treasure. But when Antoine arrives at the apartment, he finds René dead, the canvas missing, and a mysterious art history professor standing over the body.
When the painting is finally recovered, the mystery only deepens. The brushwork and color all point to Cézanne. But who is the smiling woman in the painting? She is definitely not the dour Madame Cézanne. Who killed René? Who stole the painting? And what will they do to get it back?
Like Donna Leon and Andrea Camilleri, M. L. Longworth’s enchanting mysteries blend clever whodunits with gustatory delights and the timeless romance of Provence. The Mystery of the Lost Cézanne adds a new twist by immersing Antoine and Marine in a clever double narrative that costars Provence’s greatest artist.
“Art theft is a hot topic on the mystery scene, and no one’s heist is livelier than Longworth’s.” —Kirkus Reviews
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Longworth's charming, if talky, fifth Verlaque and Bonnet mystery (after 2014's Murder on the le Sordou) looks at the art world. The book alternates between the now troubled relationship between Antoine Verlaque, the chief magistrate of Aix-en-Provence, France, and his girlfriend, law professor Marine Bonnet, and flashbacks to the 19th-century life of artist Paul C zanne, who resided for years in Aix. The investigation starts with the violent death of a retired postal worker and discovery in his apartment of a putative C zanne painting, unknown to the art world, which leads to an American art history professor with secrets of her own. C zanne's presence infuses the whole story, and the relationship between the painter and a sympathetic young bakery clerk is the highlight, whereas the main story is marred by long passages on art history, lengthy descriptions of the city, and the self-absorption of some of the main characters.
