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A breezy, charming, and perfectly escapist mystery set in the heart of sun- and wine-soaked Aix-en-Provence—where murder investigations are always put on hold for lunch and the only thing more sweeping than the story is the Mediterranean coastline.

Something strange has happened at the unassuming Musée de Quentin-Savary in Aix-en-Provence. When the director, Monsieur Achille Formentin, walks in one beautiful April morning, he is shocked to find the whole museum emptied of its contents—only a bench, the reception desk, and a lowly fern remain.

Distressed, he calls the local police, and Aix’s examining magistrate Antoine Verlaque sets out to discover the thief’s identity. But it’s the most baffling case Verlaque has ever encountered. Why would someone want to steal porcelain dessert plates, some old documents, and a few small paintings? Could this have something to do with the mysterious robbery of Madame de Montbarbon’s apartment a few weeks earlier? And how can Verlaque possibly concentrate on the theft when he and his wife, Marine Bonnet, are going to have a baby?

Published 13 April 2021

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.

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.

When a scandalous author moves to the outskirts of Aix-en-Provence, Verlaque and Bonnet are called in to investigate whether he’s haunted by more than just his past, in this delightful new mystery from M.L. Longworth.

One hot summer night, Aix-en-Provence is aflutter with news that controversial author Valère Barbier, who once shared dinners with French Presidents and all-night drinking bouts with rock stars, has moved into La Bastide Blanche, a grand house left empty for decades. But Valère’s ideas of a peaceful retirement are quickly dashed. Rambunctious neighborhood children, a fast-talking gossip of a housekeeper, and a rival novelist filter through the home at all hours of the day—and by night there are unseen visitors with more sinister intentions.

While Antoine Verlaque investigates Valère’s sordid history, his wife and partner, Marine Bonnet, questions why the estate was abandoned in the first place—and what they both find raises more questions and answers. Is Valère imagining the ethereal cries that fill the bastide at night? Is he losing his mind? Or have these ghosts returned from Valère’s checkered past to haunt him?

In the sixth book of M. L. Longworth’s series, Verlaque and Bonnet contend with a centuries-old fountain that just might be cursed.

Chef Sigisbert “Bear” Valets has just opened his own restaurant, La Fontaine, in Aix-en-Provence. It’s a success—great reviews and a loyal clientele, including Verlaque and Bonnet. But when he decides to extend his restaurant’s seating into a historic courtyard, some very powerful neighbors rise against him. The historical society wants the courtyard, which had witnessed a sixteenth-century hanging and two World War II-era murders, to remain untouched.

Valets charges on, even after a skeleton is found buried next to the courtyard’s ancient fountain. But when the chef begins receiving threatening letters, he becomes convinced that his life is in danger. And then the fountain inexplicably stops running. By disturbing the garden, has Bear triggered an age-old curse? And newlyweds Verlaque and Bonnet solve mystery before someone ends up dead?

A friend in his cigar club asks Antoine 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 has discovered a treasure. But when Antoine arrives there, 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 Mme Cézanne. Who killed René? Who stole the painting? And what will they do to get it back?

Judge Antoine 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?

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, M. 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 and 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.

Murder in the Rue Dumas finds Verlaque stumped. The director of theology at the Université d’Aix was just about to name the recipient of an elite fellowship, as well as his own successor, when his lips were sealed permanently. Yet Verlaque isn’t convinced that any of the academics are capable of murder. Aided by Bonnet, Verlaque turns Provence upside down, uncovering a world far more complicated than university politics.

Set in charming and historic Aix-en-Provence, France, Death at the Château Bremont introduces readers to Antoine Verlaque, the handsome and seductive chief magistrate of Aix, and his on-again, off-again love interest, law professor Marine Bonnet. When local nobleman Etienne de Bremont falls to his death from the family château, the town is abuzz with rumors. Verlaque suspects foul play and must turn to Marine for help when he discovers that she had been a close friend of the Bremonts. This is a lively whodunit steeped in the rich, enticing, and romantic atmosphere of southern France.

Published July 2011 by Penguin.