Tod am Cours Mirabeau (2016)

This was the first of the series that I read and it is unlikely that I would seek out the rest. A cute story but not interesting enough for me to continue to read. ( )

Actually 3.5 Stars

Judge Antoine Verlaque & Marine Bonnet have just gotten married. He is a Magistrate of Aix (France) and she is a Professor of Law who has just finished writing a book on the relationship between Beauvoir & Sartre. They share two apartments, but it is Marine's that overlooks the garden & "La Fontaine".

La Fontaine is the source of water for those living around its garden and is said to be cursed due to the hanging of a French peasant who refused to hail Louis XIV and the murder of two WW II partisans by the Nazis. Whenever murders have taken place, La Fontaine has stopped flowing until justice has prevailed.

When the new tenant, Chef Sigisbert "Bear" moves in & opens a small restaurant, the past is stirred. While working in the restaurant's herb garden the skeleton of a young man is dug up, and La Fontaine immediately stops flowing. To further add to the mystery, Bear begins to receive threatening letters, the local racists & pro-nobility group gets riled up and begin making threats as well...

There are other quasi-interesting sub-plots, but for those you must read the book.

At first I really didn't know what to think about the book... It was odd in the fact that I really couldn't be sure that this was a mystery; Antoine's & Marine's life was just going along just fine (I was like: "where the heck is the murder?") and then in the 8th-9th chapter the bones were dug up in the garden. From that point, the book picked-up and became much more interesting, which gave it the extra 1/2 star.

The writing has a nice comfortable flow and it held my interest. Although I enjoyed the characters, I held no pronounced feeling for them one way or another. ( )

The best thing about "firsts" is discovering new authors. That is what happened to me in this case. I not only found a new author but a new series of books as well. After having such an enjoyable time reading this book, I want to go back and check out all of the prior novels.

Verlaque and Bonnet were good together. They were the right balance. Verlaque is a bit more serious and Bonnet is free spirited. Although, Verlaque and Bonnet were not the only ones that I had the pleasure of meeting in this book. There is Chef Bear and his staff as well as the other Aixois of the historical society.

It was like I was transported to this quaint city in France. Everyone I met throughout this story was so interesting. The mystery regarding the death played nicely in tying in the story and bring out the relationships involving the characters. A nice cozy mystery. If you are in the mood for a new author to try, then, you have to check this book out. ( )