Contact
Publisher
Penguin Group USA, Inc.
375 Hudson Street
New York, NY 10014-3657
U.S.A.
Media inquiries, Review copy requests and Author appearances
Literary Agent
Katherine Fausset
Curtis Brown, Ltd.
10 Astor Place
New York, NY 10003
U.S.A.
I love your series Verlaque and Bonnet. I have read all 7 books. I am looking forward to your next book! I hope that it will be published soon!
Linda Harrison
Thank you Linda! The next book will be released in late October.
Enjoy the rest of your summer!
Mary Lou
Dear Mary Lou,
What a joy to discover your blog and to learn about your life story on moving to Provence! So fun to read and such a great resource! Thank you!
I am planning on moving to the South of France from the Bay Area as I have a lifelong connection to France, and I just learned I can retire early in five years on a limited pension (I am a French teacher at Los Altos High School). More importantly, I am also Choice Mom of a two year old and she’s my motivation to leave this area and move to France to give her a more balanced lifestyle.
Her Dad would also be closer as he is Dutch (also a writer!) and so we could see him more often.
If you don’t mind me asking, after all these years, are you glad you left the Bay Area and brought up your daughter in the south of France? On a more practical side, do you think the two of us could survive on my pension of 2000 Euro a month indefinitely?
THANK YOU SO MUCH and I look forward to reading your novels!
Warmly, Stephanie
Dear Stephanie,
Thanks for your email. I do hope that you enjoy the novels!
Yes, we are very happy with our move here, (so much that we have become French citizens) but that is a very personal opinion. I can’t say or know if it would be good for you, but I can say that yes, you can live on 2000 Euros a month. That’s the salary of a high school teacher here (but now that I think of it, most teachers I know have a spouse who also works, usually another teacher). You’d have to be careful, very careful, with spending, but it’s possible. Rents vary in France, so you can rule out Paris, Aix, Nice, Bordeaux, and Lyon. They would be too expensive on your pension.
My big question is: how old is your daughter? The French school system is very old fashioned and strict. It makes very little accommodation for learning disabilities, or behavior/discipline problems. If your daughter is scholastic and disciplined, then your move could work. That said, we loved the public schools here.
I hope this helps!
Mary Lou
Hello again Stephanie,
I see that you did tell me your daughter’s age; sorry! So she would be seven when you move here. Again, I’d look into French schools…read everything you can about them. There may be expat blogs that discuss schools here; there was no such thing when we moved, so we really lucked out that everything worked out well.
Good luck!
ML
Hello! I am very pleased and amazed with our meeting in the jewelry store in Warsaw, Poland where I work. I am so curious of Your books and I want to read them right away! I love my work because of the extraordinary people that I meet. I wish You the best and I can’t wait to enjoy Your work 🙂
Thank you so much, Paulina! I wore the Anna Orska necklace while interviewed on Polish television, but you couldn’t really see it!
I enjoyed meeting you, and looking around the shop. Warsaw is such a beautiful and interesting city; I keep telling everyone about it!
I will be coming back in August with my family and will pop in to the shop!
Warmly,
Mary Lou
Dear Ms. Longworth,
I very much enjoy reading your books and am looking forward to reading the newest one when it is released in 2017.
In Death on the Ile Sordou, did you base the island and hotel on an actual place or places? It seems so realistic and pure Agatha Christie, as one of the characters mentions!
Hello Alison,
There are many islands off the coast of Marseille, but Sordou was invented by me!
Thank you so much for your email. I’mm glad you enjoyed the book; it’s still one of my favourites.
Mary Lou
Quelle horreur! We have to wait until March for the next installment! I guess it is something to look forward to after another long NYC winter no doubt in store.
Bonne chance!
Thank you, Anthony! I’m sorry it will be a long wait!
Good evening,
I am a student at Aix-Marseille University, performing a degree in Tourism,Language and Heritage. As a final exam, 5 of my classmates and me have to create a tour for our teachers, tour we will eventually go through, as real “guides”. We chose to work on the writers of Aix, and we found the quite different but very interesting series you wrote. Thus, we would like to have information about you, more precisely, about some places that inspired you while writing, or even places you went to in order to write. It could be places you like to go to, or on the contrary places you hate. If interested, you may participate to our tour that will last one hour.
Sincerely,
Sarah Bendriss
Hi Sarah, I sent you an email. See you soon? ML
Hello, I am sorry but I didn’t receive any email from you. Could you please resent it to bendriss.sarah@gmail.com
Sincerly
Hello, Ms. Longworth, I am a mystery aficionado (I’ve read many hundreds over the years) and also a Francophile. We’re traveling to Aix this week to visit our Aixois friends(arriving Wednesday). A few weeks ago, wanting to get a feel for Aix, and having come across your books, I have now read and enjoyed all of them. Thanks for the pleasure of them. I hope we come across each other on the Cours Mirabeau. Tom
Hello Tom,
I hope you received my email via your French friend in Aix. We were travelling in Canada for three weeks when you were in Aix. Maybe next time…
Mary Lou
could come….. We were really thinking meeting you would be a highlight for our group.
Our group is visiting Aix in October 2015. We would love to have you talk to our group of legal scholars if you are in Aix during our visit. It would be a highlight! Most are reading your books now that we have discovered them!
Hello Diane,
Thank you for your email! I would love to meet with your group, but will be in Cuba from October 9 to 19th. And on Monday through Wednesday evening I teach in Paris. Complicated!
What are your dates?
Cheers,
Mary Lou
We are in Aix October 19, 20, and 21. That will overlap your teaching nights. We leave Thursday morning for Arles.
Too bad. 🙁 Thank you so much for thinking of my books. Have a great trip!
Wonder if there is anyway you come meet our ship at one of the ports along the Rhone?
Bonjour Mary Lou,
grâce à toi et à Caroline, je viens aussi de terminer les 4 livres, presque d’une traite ! je me suis régalée, vivement septembre 2015, amitiés ps la jambe est presque guérie
Merci Véronique! Trop gentille à trois! A bientôt j’éspère.
Mary Lou
Véro: à toi! pas à trois! haha
Just finished reading the four published Bonnet and Verlaque books for the seconf time. Love the books as much as I loved Provence. Can’t wait for the next
Thank you Mary Ann! I can’t believe you read them all twice! Could you please send me your address? I’ll send you a signed copy of the next one. It’s due out in Sept 2015. Best wishes from a rainy Provence,
Mary Lou
I’ve spent most of my adult life reading mystery after mystery, and after learning about your books on NPR, I had to find out for myself….Death at the Chateau Bremont was awesome! Wonderfully and realistically drawn characters, a most convincing sense of place, and above all, a story that had me – a lifelong whodunit addict – guessing until the very end! Bravo! Certainly on a par with the late, great P.D. James! The other books are already on my nightstand waiting their turn! Thank you, Ms. Longworth!!
Wow, Mike, what a glowing review! And to be compared to PD James!
Many thanks and I hope that you enjoy the rest. I’ve just finished the fifth, a story where Cézanne makes an appearance.
Happy Holidays! Where are you from?
Cheers,
Mary Lou
And I have read all four of your Bonnet and Velaque books within the last month!
Glad to see that you have sent another to the publisher, but I’ll have to wait for the paperback.
Thank you for four very enjoyable reads.
You’re like me, Amy! When I read an author that I like, I go through all of the books at once!
Happy holidays!
Mary Lou
My husband gave me the gift of your 3 first books because we loved Aix and the other towns in Provence when we visited in 2002. Also, we are both New York NYU grads, and have visited the NYU campus in Florence but not yet in Paris. When would be a good time to visit?
I’m anxiously waiting for book number 4.
Hi Jacqueline,
Sorry for the delay in replying, but I missed a whole bunch of early Nov emails when I switched cell phones.
Spring and fall are the best times to visit Provence, and Paris! We have a swanky new NYU building, on the blvd St Germain. If you give me warning I can take you up to the top floor, where there are speculator views of Paris.
Happy holidays!
Mary Lou
I don’t know what happened to my previous comment, but I don’t see it. Excuse me if I’m repeating myself but I just wanted to join the chorus of “bravos” and “congratulations” upon hearing the news on NPR that Book No. 4 is on its way. I’ve missed the Judge and Bonnet:)
Hi M.L. – I heard your NPR interview too, and immediately went looking for your books. We are coming to Provence in April for a “gustatory” tour – Flavors of Provence 🙂 so I have already noted your favorite café for one of our free times in Aix. My Francophile son-in-law (in Oz) wants to know if your books have been translated into French – he needs the practice 🙂 Looking forward to reading all your books, and to our tour in Provence. Cheers, AMH
Hello Anne!
Thank you for your note! I hope that you have a great vacation in Provence. Tell your son-in-law that the books haven’t yet been translated into French; only German. 🙁
Enjoy the rest of the summer!
Mary Lou
Mary Lou- You made my day. I just heard your 5 minute interview segment on National Public Radio this morning. You were terrific in the interview, and I am sure that as a result of the publicity, you will capture many more devoted readers in America . I can’t wait for the next book which I believe is coming out in September. What a wonderful coup for you.
Irwin you always make my day!!!
I enjoy your mysteries enormously! Read the first a few weeks ago and am almost done with the second, before I turn to the third — and then the long wait for the next one.
Part of my interest in the series is because I will be spending 4 days in Aix-en-Provence at the beginning of April (from the 4th to the 8th). I will be looking for Antoine and Marine on every street corner…
Any suggestions for restaurants would be most welcome.
Thanks you — Joanne Schlichter
Thanks, Joanne! Let me know how you like it! 🙂
Hi, reading crime fiction is a bit of a busman’s holdiday for me but your stuff is definitely on my list now having found a copy of Death at the Chateau Bremont. A life long francophile and a senior brit police officer I work closely with the French and lecture / examine for the Gendarmerie, Police Nationale and the INFPN / INHESJ. Some of what my French master called ‘Howlers’ tho’ in the book. Commissaire is used interchangeably (in the US edition I picked up an an Oxfam shop recently ) with Commissioner. Commissaire is either Superintendent or Chief Supt depending on the grade (Divisionnaire / Principal etc) On the whole I prefer the French designation and nomenclature. One other thing re JC Auvieux’s sister. She is referred to as Mme Auvieux, if married, would she nmot have a different surname ?
Hello Jon Morgan,
Thanks so much for taking the time to read the book! Glad you enjoyed it.
Mme Auvieux is not married, but she is ‘of a certain age’ as the French say, so is politely referred to as Madame (as is any single woman over 40 or so, or who has grey hair, etc).
All my best,
Mary Lou Longworth
SO enjoyed all the books.
You are awesome. LOVE the books. am ready for Number 4, please tell me when Number 4 coming out?
can’t wait..can’t wait!
Each book is exquisite. Thank you.
Dear Mary Ann,
Thank you for your lovely email!
The forth book, set on an island off the coast of Marseille, will be released in September 2014; sorry about the wait!
All my best,
Mary Lou
Dear Ms. Longworth- I have just finished reading “Death at the Chateau Bremont”, and so thoroughly enjoyed it that, I felt that I had to post this comment.
My wife and I are coming to Provence for 8 days on October 1st. Your book made us both even more excited about our choice of Provence for our annual holiday.
Either you are the Donna Leon of Provence, or Donna Leone is the Mary Lou Longworth of Venice.
I am about to start Murder in the Rue Dumas tomorrow, and then Death in the Vine. I want to finish those two books before we arrive in Provence next month.
Dear Mr. Birnbaum,
Thank you so much for your enthusiastic email! It made my day (or, morning here in France), as I have a full day of writing ahead of me (book four, which will take place on an island off the coast of Marseille).
Have a great trip…I will be in Paris teaching (NYU) at that time. I hope you enjoy Provence. I’d be happy to recommend some good restaurants in Aix and Marseille, if you need them.
Thanks again,
Mary Lou
ps My husband thinks that ‘Death in the Vines’ is the best of the three. Let me know what you think…
Mary Lou- I am about halfway through “Murder in the Rue Dumas, and already have “death in the Vines as my next read.
Would love your restaurant recommendations, as we plan to spend time in bot places.
BTW- I am a graduate of NYU School of Law, Class of ’61. (before you were born)
Dear Mary Lou,
Yes, I do have French ancestry. My grandfather, Jules D’artagnan Verlaque was born in the Seychelles. His great great grandfather sailed from Marseilles, around the Cape of Hope, stopped by the island of Mauritius, married a beautiful woman then sailed and settled in the Seychelles. My Grandfather, Jules, hopped on a three masted schooner and traveled around the world. He jumped ship in NYC and that’s where he stayed. How’s that for adventure!
I have been to Paris many times but never the Provence region. I will soon though. I named my first daughter Margaux in honor of my French history. By the way, thank you for getting back to me.
Best regards,
Susan
While Googling my name, Susan Verlaque, your book, “Death in the Vines” came up. While reading the summary, I realized why. One of your main characters, Antoine, shares his surname with me, Verlaque. How did you come about the surname “Verlaque” for Antoine? The synopsis of the story has me very intrigued. Death in the Vines will be my next read!
Hello Susan,
I found the name Verlaque posted on a sign just outside of Aix-en-Provence (where I live and where the books are set). I liked the sound of it; I thought it suited the character that I had in my head for an examining magistrate. Do you have French ancestry?
Let me know how you like Death in the Vines!
Have a great day,
Mary Lou
Loved “Death at the Chateau Bremont” – particularly the chapters that Included Cannes. I spent the entire summer of 1962 there…not much traffic 50 years ago. It was lovely. Next to the Carlton was a cafe called Au Festival and we spent hours there people watching. So much fun (and good for our tans!)
For your next reprinting – there is a difference between a “rifle” and a “shotgun”. Auvieux is carrying either one or the other. I’d recommend your first choice “a hunting rifle” for the sangliers not a shotgun which is for birds.
Thank you, Wayne! Your help about the gun has been noted! I hope you enjoy the second novel, and the third which will be released in May. Let me know! All my best from a rainy Provence, Mary Lou.