The Secrets of the Bastide Blanche

Beguiling. Longworth evokes the pleasures of France in delicious detail--great wine, delicious meals, and fine company."--Publishers Weekly 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 Valere 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 Valere'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 Valere'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 than answers. Is Valere imagining the ethereal cries that fill the bastide at night? Is he losing his mind? Or have these ghosts returned from Valere's checkered past to haunt him?"--