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A review by julan1027
Murder on the Ile Sordou by M.L. Longworth
4.0
Judge Verlaque and his girlfriend, Dr. Bonnet, head for a vacation at a newly renovated hotel on an isolated island off the coast of France. They are there with 9 other guests and a small staff of 8 for the opening week, and everyone is enjoying the sun, swimming, and pampering until one guest goes missing and another is murdered. Suddenly Judge Verlaque finds himself on the trail of a killer.
This book was like a mini-vacation. Longworth did a fabulous job of setting the stage and making me feel like I was in a luxury hotel in the Mediterranean. The descriptions of the food and drinks were mouth-watering perfection; I still find myself craving a goat cheese creme brulee with caramelized onions.
Murder on the Ile Sordoue felt very French. It was very different from when my favorite British detectives travel to France, and very enjoyable.
I found the book to be well-paced, and although the murder didn't take place until after 100 pages, the first part of the book provided a deeper understanding of some of the characters. Verlaque and Bonnet were both very likable. I feel she did a wonderful job making the primary characters seem very human. The one who was most one-dimensional was intentionally so and was a rather loathsome person.
Longworth kept me guessing at the identity of the murderer until the very end, which I loved! Clues were scattered about liberally, but were not obvious. The detectives were intuitive and intelligent.
There was a good bit of French language scattered throughout the book. Most of it was translated in context, but on occasion I had to translate it to see if I was missing anything important.
For those who are bothered by such things, there was also a very brief, but somewhat explicit sex scene. It felt rather out of place in this book.
I received this book a goodreads first-reads giveaway, and I will absolutely now look into others in the series.
This book was like a mini-vacation. Longworth did a fabulous job of setting the stage and making me feel like I was in a luxury hotel in the Mediterranean. The descriptions of the food and drinks were mouth-watering perfection; I still find myself craving a goat cheese creme brulee with caramelized onions.
Murder on the Ile Sordoue felt very French. It was very different from when my favorite British detectives travel to France, and very enjoyable.
I found the book to be well-paced, and although the murder didn't take place until after 100 pages, the first part of the book provided a deeper understanding of some of the characters. Verlaque and Bonnet were both very likable. I feel she did a wonderful job making the primary characters seem very human. The one who was most one-dimensional was intentionally so and was a rather loathsome person.
Longworth kept me guessing at the identity of the murderer until the very end, which I loved! Clues were scattered about liberally, but were not obvious. The detectives were intuitive and intelligent.
There was a good bit of French language scattered throughout the book. Most of it was translated in context, but on occasion I had to translate it to see if I was missing anything important.
For those who are bothered by such things, there was also a very brief, but somewhat explicit sex scene. It felt rather out of place in this book.
I received this book a goodreads first-reads giveaway, and I will absolutely now look into others in the series.