The Mystery of the Lost Cezanneby M.L. Longworth
Rating: ★★★
isbn: 9780143128076
Series: Verlaque and Bonnet Provencal Mystery #5
Publication Date: September 15, 2015
Pages: 320
Genre: Fiction, Mystery
Publisher: Penguin Crime
Something went wrong somewhere in this book, and I don’t know what it was or where it happened. Ok, yes, I know where part of it went wrong; I knew who the murderer was reaching page 80, but that shouldn’t have mattered much to my overall enjoyment.
The book is about the discovery of a lost painting of Cézanne’s, which right away I love; I even enjoy the flashback POV chapters, a device that I’m at best ambivalent about. The setting is Aix en Provence and it sounds as wonderful as it always has in Longworth’s books, and Verlaque and Bonnet get more and more likeable with each book.
But at some point after about 2/3 of the way through, it fizzled. I don’t like to say it’s because there was no perilous climax, but it might be. Everything was tied up neatly at the end, but it still felt unfinished, or more accurately, un-satisfying.
Still an enjoyable read I always wanted to get back to, but not nearly as well constructed as the previous 4.