It is with mixed emotions and thoughts that the hotel guests made the boat crossing. Some excited and some nervous, especially about the waves on the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Marseille, France on their short trip to the small island of Sordou where a newly renovated luxurious hotel awaited them. After being closed for decades since the 1960s, the new owners, hoteliers Maxime and Catherine (Cat- Cat) Le Bon, are hoping that all will like their privileged stay and spread the word for others to come. They had sunk their life savings into this venture and are wanting to do their best with the new and young staff they hired.

Warmly welcomed to the Locanda Dordou by Niki Darcette, the manager of the hotel, the guests start to settle in. Marine Bonnet, a well-respected law professor in her own right, is thrilled that her male friend and lover, Antoine Verlaque, is not introduced by his title as they are planning to have a relaxing and sensuous week together. As all supplies had to come in by boat, the menu for dinner is limited a bit to what is available from the sea and on the island, yet, Verlaque is very happy when he sees the impressive wine list that he eagerly reads.

The hotel guests in the elegant 1960s style dining room as a mixed bag, including a washed up film star and his family, a retired American couple, a bachelor retired French literature teacher along with a few other selected guests, including Marine's free spirited and vivacious artist friend Sylvie. Marine teases Antoine about how they will mingle with or not with the various guests.

That laughing choice unfortunately soon get short circuited when a hotel guest is discovered murdered on a beach. Verlaque knows he has to take up the mantle of his role as an examining magistrate and take charge of an investigation. How did it happen? Who did it? Did someone come from another place or was it one of the guests? Who could they trust? Now, with the power out and a storm surging, tensions are running higher. Will someone else be a victim as well?

MURDER ON THE ÎLE SORDOU is the fourth book in M.L. Longworth's delightful Verlaque-Bonnet Provencal Mystery series. Longworth, who has been living in France since 1997, works there both as a writer as well as a professor in Paris. She is well-known for her love of (and writing about) good food and wine which she lusciously describes in MURDER ON THE ÎLE SORDOU and deftly integrates into her vivid descriptions of the hotel, the Mediterranean island, the experiences of the various guests which she artfully interweaves into the plot.

While MURDER ON THE ÎLE SORDOU is written as part of an ongoing series, the novel can easily be read as a stand- alone story as the main characters are well described. One of Longworth's key talents is her gift for bringing together a motley collection of eccentric characters that ring true as their mannerisms and speech are authentic to who they are. The storyline gets developed with lots of backcasting into the characters' past. Overall, this works very well, though at times, it seems to languish and you can identify with the characters in the heat of the sun on the island looking at each other and all trying to think who might be the murderer.

Fans of Verlaque& Bonnet series are sure to delight in MURDER ON THE ÎLE SORDOU. New readers will definitely want to check out the previous book and all will be glad that another one will be on its way in the near future. Due to Verlaque being stranded on the island with less access to technology, more emphasis is placed on how Verlaque can intuit out the murderer from the clues he has. Can you do the same? For a sophisticated murder mystery with a five star investigative sleuth, definitely check into this hotel story and enjoy MURDER ON THE ÎLE SORDOU! Paired with the right wine... you will be glad of this reading indulgence!

Book Summary

The fourth book in the series finds Verlaque and Bonnet on vacation on a remote island in the glittering Mediterranean Like Donna Leon and Andrea Camilleri, M. L. Longworth’s books enchant mystery lovers with a taste for good food and gorgeous landscapes. In Murder on the Île Sordou, Judge Antoine Verlaque and his girlfriend, law professor Marine Bonnet, are hoping to enjoy a relaxing holiday at the Locanda Sordou, an opulent hotel that is reopening after decades, but someone has other plans. Maxime and Catherine Le Bon have spent their life savings restoring the Locanda, which lies on an archipelago just off the coast of Marseille. The murder of one of the guests casts a shadow over everyone’s vacation, and Verlaque and Bonnet are once again called to investigate. But things go from bad to worse when a violent storm cuts off all communication with the mainland. Will the killer strike again?