Murder in the Rue Dumas by M.L. Longworth

Murder in the Rue Dumas by M.L. Longworth ISBN-13: 9780143119524 Trade Paperback: 304 pages Publisher: Penguin Books Released: September 25, 2012

Source: Review copy from the publisher.

Book Description from Back Cover:
When Dr. Georges Moutte is found murdered, Judge Antoine Verlaque is stumped. Certainly the director of theology at the Universite d'Aix had his enemies. Moutte was just about to name the recipient of an elite fellowship as well as his own successor--a highly coveted position that includes a lavish apartment in a seventeenth-century mansion--when his lips were sealed permanently. Yet Verlaque isn't convinced that any of the academics are capable of murder. Aided by his on-again, off-again girlfriend, law professor Marine Bonnet, Verlaque turns Provence upside down, uncovering a world far more complicated than university politics.


My Review:
Murder in the Rue Dumas is a "detective"/cozy mystery. While Judge Verlaque has legal right to investigate the murder, the level of everyday detail was more like a cozy mystery. It certainly had more mystery and less travelogue than the previous novel, Death at the Chateau Bremont. Murder in the Rue Dumas is the second novel in the series, but it didn't spoil the previous mystery and you don't need to read the previous novel to understand this one.

The details about the university, France, etc., were woven into the story and didn't slow the pacing more than in a cozy mystery. The mystery was clue-based, and I had accurate suspicions (though not a firm idea) about whodunit before the reveal. The characters were interesting and reacted realistically to the various situations. The suspense was from curiosity about whodunit, relationship tensions, and some threat of physical danger.

There were no graphic sex scenes. There was some explicit bad language. Overall, I'd recommend this mystery novel.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.