Murder in the Rue Dumasby M.L. Longworth
Rating: ★★★★
Series: Verlaque and Bonnet Provencal Mystery #2
Publication Date: September 25, 2012
Pages: 296
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Penguin Crime
The second in a (so far) 6 book series, this one started off much more slowly for me, as the author takes the time to set the murder scene, introduce the suspects, and hint at motivations before we ever hear from our two MCs. I recognise the value of this, but I mostly find it tedious.
Once the body drops, the pace starts to pick up, albeit slowly, and Bonnet makes very few appearances until the last half of the book. From this point on, I once again fell into Aix-en-Provence – and Umbria Italy! – and lost myself in the mystery, the setting and the characters.
The mystery plotting was very good, although I think Longworth could be accused of over-complicating it. But I totally didn’t see that ending coming and when it came it was tense.
Murder in the Rue Dumas wasn’t quite as good as the first one, but it was still better than most cozies available now – it’s got a much more ‘traditional mystery’ feel and I can’t wait for book three to arrive in the post.
This was my Free Friday Read #5 and was 296 pages long.