Christmastime in the south of France is as beautiful as ever, but when a shady local businessman drops dead in the middle of the festivities, Verlaque and Bonnet must solve the case while keeping the holiday spirit alive. Provençal Mystery Series #8 Watch the series! Murder in Provence is now on Britbox. Antoine Verlaque, examining magistrate for the beautiful town of Aix-en-Provence, doesn't like Christmas. The decorations appear in the shops far too early, festive tourists swarm the streets, and his beloved Cours Mirabeau is lined with chalets selling what he regards as tacky trinkets. But his wife and partner Marine Bonnet is determined to make this a Christmas they can both enjoy, beginning with the carol sing at the Cathedral Saint Sauveur, a beautiful service in a packed church. Just as the holiday cheer is in full swing, a man is poisoned, sending the community into a tailspin. The list of suspects, Verlaque and Bonnet quickly discover, almost fills the church itself, from the visiting vendors at the Christmas fair to the victim’s unhappy wife and his disgruntled business partner. In A Noël Killing, with the help of an ever-watchful young woman named France, the pair must solve the murder while the spirit of the season attempts to warm Verlaque’s stubborn heart. “Full of gourmet meals, silky wines, and sumptuous homes, these cozy mysteries transport you to the south of France . . . Perfect for the gourmands or Francophiles in your life.” —Slate

Argues that the death of Princess Diana was not accidental, examining events and circumstances surrounding the car accident and the subsequent investigation.

Christmastime in the south of France is as beautiful as ever, but when a shady local businessman drops dead in the middle of the festivities, Verlaque and Bonnet must solve the case while keeping the holiday spirit alive. Provençal Mystery Series #8 Watch the series! Murder in Provence is now on Britbox. Antoine Verlaque, examining magistrate for the beautiful town of Aix-en-Provence, doesn't like Christmas. The decorations appear in the shops far too early, festive tourists swarm the streets, and his beloved Cours Mirabeau is lined with chalets selling what he regards as tacky trinkets. But his wife and partner Marine Bonnet is determined to make this a Christmas they can both enjoy, beginning with the carol sing at the Cathedral Saint Sauveur, a beautiful service in a packed church. Just as the holiday cheer is in full swing, a man is poisoned, sending the community into a tailspin. The list of suspects, Verlaque and Bonnet quickly discover, almost fills the church itself, from the visiting vendors at the Christmas fair to the victim’s unhappy wife and his disgruntled business partner. In A Noël Killing, with the help of an ever-watchful young woman named France, the pair must solve the murder while the spirit of the season attempts to warm Verlaque’s stubborn heart. “Full of gourmet meals, silky wines, and sumptuous homes, these cozy mysteries transport you to the south of France . . . Perfect for the gourmands or Francophiles in your life.” —Slate

The first installment in the beloved, sumptuous mystery series set in Provence, featuring chief magistrate Antoine Verlaque and his old flame Marine Bonnet, who must team up to solve a pair of murders Provençal Mystery Series #1 Watch the series! Murder in Provence is now on Britbox. When local nobleman Étienne de Bremont falls to his death from the family château, it sets the historic town of Aix-en-Provence abuzz with rumors. Antoine Verlaque, the charming chief magistrate of Aix, suspects foul play, and when he discovers that Bremont had been a close friend of Marine Bonnet, his on-again off-again girlfriend, Verlaque must turn to her for help. The once idyllic town suddenly seems filled with people who scould have benefited from Bremont's death—including his playboy brother François, who's heavily in debt and mixed up with some unsavory characters. But just as Verlaque and Bonnet are narrowing down their list of suspects, another death occurs. And this time, there can be no doubt—it's murder. A lively mystery steeped in the enticing atmosphere of the south of France and seasoned with romance as rich as the French cuisine that inspires it, this first installment in the acclaimed Verlaque & Bonnet Provençal Mystery series is as addictive and captivating as Provence itself. “Longworth’s voice is like a rich vintage of sparkling Dorothy Sayers and grounded Donna Leon. . . . Bon appétit!” —Booklist

When a shocking murder rocks the theology department at Aix-en-Provence’s university, chief magistrate Antoine Verlaque is on the case Provençal Mystery Series #2 Watch the series! Murder in Provence is now on Britbox. When Dr. Georges Moutte is found mudrered, investigator Antoine Verlaque is stumped. Certainly the director of theology at the Université d’Aix had his enemies. Moutte was just about to name the recipient of an elite fellowship as well as his own successor—a highly coveted position—when his lips were sealed permanently. But Verlaque isn't convinced that anyone in the tiny community of academics is capable of murder. 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. A page-turning mystery that transports you to the south of France with its lush portrait of a charming historic town, this continuation of the Provençal Mystery series captivates. “What really makes Longworth’s writing special is her deep knowledge of French history, landscape, cuisine, and even contemporary cafes and restaurants. This is that rare atmospheric mystery that is street-wise and café-canny.” —Booklist (starred review)

When theft escalates to murder at a French vineyard, a crime wave sweeps over the tranquil town of Aix-en-Provence Provençal Mystery Series #3 Watch the series! Murder in Provence is now on Britbox. Winery owner Olivier Bonnard is devastated when he discovers that a priceless cache of rare vintages has been stolen from his private cellar. Soon after, Monsieur Gilles d’Arras arrives at Aix-en-Provence’s Palais de Justice to report another mysterious disappearance: his wife, Pauline, has vanished from their lavish apartment. Madame has always been as tough as nails, but in recent weeks she’s been wandering around town in her slippers, crying for no reason. As the mistral arrives to temper the region’s late-summer heat, Commissioner Paulik receives an urgent call from Bonnard: he’s just found Pauline d’Arras—dead in his vineyard. Verlaque and Bonnet are once again investigating, in what will prove to be their most complicated case yet. Fans of Donna Leon and Andrea Camilleri, Francophiles, and foodies alike will adore this captivating whodunit. In her riveting follow-up to Death at the Chateau Bremont and Murder in the Rue Dumas, M. L. Longworth masterfully evokes the sights, sounds, and tastes of late-summer Provence, where the mistral blows and death springs up in the most unexpected places. “Judge Antoine Verlaque, the sleuth in this civilized series, discharges his professional duties with discretion. But we’re here to taste the wines. So many bottles, so many lovely views. A reader might be forgiven for feeling woozy.” —The New York Times Book Review

In January 1954, about eighteen months prior to young Emmett Tills' murder and only forty miles away, a young black man named Eddie Noel shot and killed a white honky-tonk operator named Willie Ramon Dickard. Dickard's killing by Noel led to formation of perhaps the largest posse in Mississippi history, its members fueled by hatred, outrage, and in some cases, white lightning. Noel took on elements of the posse in two gunfights, killing two more white men and wounding three others. Noel was never caught, never tried, never convicted, and never went to prison. This is the story of how and why these things happened. It is the story of a time and a place and a social system that are long past. And it is the story of a young man, who defied extraordinary odds and a system that had condemned him to a certain death from the moment he stood up to a white man. The Time of Eddie Noel is a rich history filled with colorful details of a time and a place when the Deep South stood at the threshold of the civil rights movement, which would forever change both the region and the social system that governed the lives of its people, both black and white.