The Secrets of the Bastide Blanche

January 1, 2018

Life in Aix-en-Provence gets a little more interesting when infamous author Valere Barbier buys the Bastide Blanche, a grand estate that has sat empty for years. Barbier's desire for a quiet life is dashed by unexpected visitors and voices that haunt him in the night. When he isn't the only one to have terrifying encounters in the bastide, Judge Antoine Verlaque begins to dig into Barbier's history for answers while his wife looks into rumors that the early owners of the bastide were hiding some shocking secrets. Is someone from Barbier's past out to get him, or is he simply a convenient target for ghosts? VERDICT Longworth (The Curse of La Fontaine) once again transports readers to the South of France, peppering the story with sensory details that bring the setting to life. Antoine and wife Marine are as delightful as ever, and the compelling mystery keeps you wanting more.--Julie Ciccarelli, Tacoma P.L.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2018
Strange doings at a country home in Provence.Examining magistrate Antoine Verlaque (The Curse of La Fontaine, 2017, etc.) and his bride, Marine Bonnet, have a new neighbor. Goncourt prizewinner Valere Barbier has moved into La Bastide Blanche, a formidable home in Puyloubier just outside Aix--and coincidentally, adjacent to the vineyard owned by Helene, wife of Bruno Paulik, Verlaque's commissaire. The Pauliks soon befriend the writer, who's entranced by their talented young daughter, Lea. They invite him to a lovely meal of grilled lamb chops and sausages, accompanied of course by some of Helene's fine wine, and Barbier reciprocates to the best of his ability given that his electricity isn't yet turned on and his kitchen is at the mercy of his flighty housekeeper, Sandrine Matton. Soon he's smoking at Antoine's cigar club and chatting cozily with Marine. But Valere's welcome by his Aixoise neighbors is spoiled by the arrival of his Parisian friends. Fellow writer and childhood frenemy Michele Baudouin shows up, shouting at her Japanese publisher over her cellphone. Michele's lazy lout of a son arrives, then promptly disappears. Even more unnerving, voices call out to Valere in his sleep. Unseen hands shake his shoulder. The locals, long convinced that the bastide is haunted, are unsurprised. But Antoine, suspecting that Barbier's troubles may be connected to the death of his wife years ago in a boating accident, resolves to reopen the long-cold case. Longworth's latest, told in part as a memoir and in part as a straightforward mystery, gains nothing by its fragmentation.As usual, the strength of Longworth's tale is its depiction of the good life in Provence, with the detection providing an excuse for some splendid meals.

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Starred review from February 26, 2018
Framed as a conversation, Longworth’s stellar seventh Provençal mystery (after 2017’s The Curse of La Fontaine) offers elegant prose and a juicy plot. Over dinner at an upscale Manhattan restaurant on Sept. 22, 2010, mega-bestselling French author Valère Barbier auditions wine-savvy publishing tyro Justin Wong as the editor of his likely last book. Mesmerizing, manipulative Barbier keeps Wong and the reader on edge: is his book to be a confession or a cover-up? His wife, the famed potter Agathe Barbier, died mysteriously in 1988. Was it an accident or murder? Flash back to France earlier in 2010. Barbier has bought an abandoned château, La Bastide Blanche, up the road from police commissioner Bruno Paulik; his wine maker wife, Helene; and their precocious 10-year-old daughter, Léa. Barbier and the Pauliks develop a social relationship—rich with details of daily life in Aix-en-Provence—that grows tense with suspicion, until a terrifying fire clears the air. Series sleuth Antoine Verlaque looks into Valère’s shady past, while his wife and fellow sleuth, Marine Bonnet, investigates why La Bastide Blanche was abandoned. Francophiles will be enthralled. Agent: Katherine Fausset, Curtis Brown.