"The Killing Song"

"The Killing Song" is the first book I've read by P. J. Parrish. Parrish turns out to actually be two sisters (Kristy Montee and Kelly Nichols) who co-author books. They have a series of books whose lead character is a South Florida detective, Louis Kincaid. One of the books in this series was nominated for a 2009 Anthony Award for Best Novel and another one won the Shamus Award as well as the International Thriller Writers Award.

"The Killing Song" introduces what I hope will be a new series. Their new hero is Matt Owens, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist. At a time when investigative reporters are being let go at most newspapers, Matt Owens is reevaluating his future. He's restless and wondering if he should finally finish that novel he hasn't really been working on lately. However, when his younger sister is murdered while visiting him to celebrate her birthday, he turns his investigative skills to finding her killer. It leads him to France and a woman police officer willing to listen to his theories. Together they uncover a serial killer that no one had a clue about previously.

Not only is this a great thriller it's a story about relationships -- Matt's with his American ex-fiance police detective and the woman detective he works with in France and her niece. Although it would have been easy for the authors to set up a romance with Matt and his French cohort, I loved that the authors didn't follow that "predictable" route but used it to help him work through his past with his ex-fiance and bring some resolution to that relationship.

I liked this book well enough that I want to read more by Parrish and I recommend it to anyone who loves a good mystery.

pazt

Death at the Chateau Bremont

"Death at the Chateau Bremont," A Verlaque and Bonnet Mystery, by M. L. Longworth was just published this year. My spouse picked it up on the "best picks" shelf at our local library then passed it on to me because he thought it was a book I'd enjoy, too.

He was definitely right about that! I thoroughly enjoyed this new mystery (in what I hope will be an ongoing series) which was rich in details about the countryside as well as the cast of characters.

A local nobleman, Etienne de Bremont, falls to his death from the family chateau and Chief Magistrate of Ais, Antoine Verlaque, suspects it might be foul play. When he learns Bremont was a close childhood friend of his ex-girlfriend, Marine, he enlists her help to seek answers from the family that she knows so well -- his brother, Francois -- in debt and maybe in some other trouble, too. Then there's the widow and her sister and the chauteau caretaker and his sister. When another murder occurs, Verlaque's suspicions about the fall possibly being murder are heightened.

In the meantime, Verlaque is enjoying an excuse to spend time once again with Marine, a law professor at the local university. Will they be able to solve the cases? Will they be able to rekindle their romance and work out all the issues that kept it from being a success before?

M. L. Longworth writes well and, although this is her first work of fiction, she has written about the Aix-en-Provence region where the novel is set for the Washington Post, the Times (UK), the Independent (UK) and Bon Appetit magazine. She has authored a bilingual collection of essays, Une Americaine en Provence" that was published in 2004. She divides her time between Aix (where she writes) and Paris (where she teaches writing at New York University.)

If you enjoy a mystery with lots of twists and turns, this one is for you!

pazt