The Vanishing Museum on the Rue Mistral

Something strange has happened at the unassuming Musée de Quentin-Savary in Aix-en-Provence. When the director, Monsieur Achille Formentin, walks in one beautiful April morning, he is shocked to find the whole museum emptied of its contents--only a bench, the reception desk, and a lowly fern remain. Distressed, he calls the local police, and Aix's examining magistrate Antoine Verlaque sets out to discover the thief's identity. But it's the most baffling case Verlaque has ever encountered. Why would someone want to steal porcelain dessert plates, some old documents, and a few small paintings? Could this have something to do with the mysterious robbery of Madame de Montbarbon's apartment a few weeks earlier? And how can Verlaque possibly concentrate on the theft when he and his wife, Marine Bonnet, are going to have a baby? Breezy, charming, and perfectly escapist, The Vanishing Museum on the Rue Mistral brings us back to the heart of sun- and wine-soaked Aix-en-Provence, where murder investigations are always put on hold for lunch and the only thing more sweeping than the story is the Mediterranean coastline.

M. L. Longworth has lived in Aix-en-Provence since 1997. She has written about the region for The Washington Post, The Times (London), The Independent (London), and Bon Appétit. She is the author of a bilingual collection of essays, Une Américaine en Provence, published by La Martinière in 2004. She is married and has one daughter.