A Noël Killing Read online

  Praise for The Secrets of the Bastide Blanche

  “A fun and evocative mystery . . . best read beachside with a glass of French wine in hand.”

  —Bustle

  “Longworth’s stellar seventh Provençal mystery offers elegant prose and a juicy plot . . . rich with details of daily life in Aix-en-Provence. . . . Francophiles will be enthralled.”

  —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  “Longworth once again transports readers to the South of France, peppering the story with sensory details that bring the setting to life. Antoine and wife, Marine, are as delightful as ever, and the compelling mystery keeps you wanting more.”

  —Library Journal

  “The strength of Longworth’s tale is its depiction of the good life in Provence.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  Praise for The Curse of La Fontaine

  “Beguiling . . . Longworth evokes the pleasures of France in delicious detail—great wine, delicious meals, and fine company.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Longworth confirms her long-standing lovebirds as Aix’s Nick and Nora; their pursuit of miscreants never interferes with their enjoyment of the good life.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  Praise for The Mystery of the Lost Cézanne

  “Art theft is a hot topic on the mystery scene, and no one’s heist is livelier than Longworth’s.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “A sure thing for fans of art-themed mysteries.”

  —Booklist

  “Enchanting . . . the charming local citizens of Aix-en-Provence provide the true delights in this colorful story.”

  —Library Journal

  Praise for Murder on the Île Sordou

  “Charming.”

  —Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

  “[T]horoughly delightful . . . Longworth deftly handles what is in effect a locked-room mystery, but the book’s real strength lies in the backstories she creates for each of the distinctive characters. The puzzle’s answer, buried in the past, is well prepared by what has come before.”

  —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  “Longworth once again immerses readers in French culture with this whodunit, which will delight Francophiles and fans of Donna Leon and Andrea Camilleri. The setting will also appeal to readers who enjoy trapped-on-the-island mysteries in the tradition of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None.”

  —Library Journal

  “Longworth’s novels, set in the South of France, are mysteries for foodies, with the plot providing a table upon which the enchanting meals and accompanying wines are served.”

  —Booklist

  “[A] charming read with a well-crafted mystery and characters as rich and full-bodied as a Bordeaux.”

  —Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

  “A splendid read.”

  —Mystery Scene

  “The best thing about each novel in this series is that they are as much about lifestyle in the South of France as they are about a legal tangle, a disappearance, or a murder. . . . By this third [novel] in the series, Longworth shows the reader why those who love Donna Leon’s Brunetti and Martin Walker’s Bruno take up her novels with enthusiasm.”

  —Kings River Life Magazine

  “Longworth’s maritime version of a country-house cozy offers genuine pleasures.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  Praise for Death in the Vines

  “Judge Antoine Verlaque, the sleuth in this civilized series, discharges his professional duties with discretion. But we’re here to taste the wines, which are discussed by experts like Hippolyte Thebaud, a former wine thief, and served in beautiful settings like a three-hundred-year-old stone farmhouse. So many bottles, so many lovely views. A reader might be forgiven for feeling woozy.”

  —Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

  “Though the plot is hair-raising, what keeps you glued to this mystery is its vivid portrait of everyday life in Aix, which deftly juxtaposes the elegance of the city . . . with quotidian woes and pleasures.”

  —Oprah.com

  “As much as the mystery intrigues—in this case some intertwined crimes involving a local winery, a missing elderly woman, and a rich man’s suspicious construction project—what really makes Longworth’s books enjoyable are the atmosphere and details that she includes of the South of France.”

  —Seattle Post-Intelligencer

  “What follows is a lovely, almost cozy police procedural that deserves to be read with a glass of wine in hand. Longworth paints such a loving picture of Provence that it’s likely you’ll start planning a vacation trip to France the moment you set the book down.”

  —The Denver Post

  “This is an intelligently written police procedural with the warm comfort of a baguette with Banon cheese.”

  —Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

  “Enjoyable . . . the book’s real strength is its evocation of place.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  Praise for Murder in the Rue Dumas

  “Fans of European sleuths with a taste for good food . . . will have fun.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “What really makes Longworth’s writing special is her deep knowledge of French history, landscape, cuisine, and even contemporary cafés and restaurants. This is that rare atmospheric mystery that is streetwise and café canny.”

  —Booklist (starred review)

  “Longworth’s gentle procedural succeeds on several levels, whether it’s for academic and literary allusions, police work, or armchair travel. With deftly shifting points of view, Longworth creates a beguiling read that will appeal to Louise Penny and Donna Leon fans.”

  —Library Journal

  “French-set mysteries have never been more popular [and] among the very best is a series set in Provence featuring Monsieur Verlaque, an examining magistrate, and his sometime girlfriend, law professor Marine Bonnet.”

  —The Denver Post

  Praise for Death at the Château Bremont

  “The Verlaque and Bonnet mysteries . . . plunge you into a languid world of epicurean pleasures and good living.”

  —Eleanor Beardsley, NPR

  “This first novel . . . has charm, wit, and Aix-en-Provence all going for it. Longworth’s voice is like a rich vintage of sparkling Dorothy Sayers and grounded Donna Leon. . . . Longworth has lived in Aix since 1997, and her knowledge of the region is apparent on every page. Bon appétit.”

  —Booklist

  “A promising debut for Longworth, who shows there’s more to France than Paris and more to mystery than Maigret.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “Mystery and romance served up with a hearty dose of French cuisine. I relished every word. Longworth does for Aix-en-Provence what Frances Mayes does for Tuscany: You want to be there—NOW!”

  —Barbara Fairchild, former editor in chief, Bon Appétit

  “Death at the Château Bremont is replete with romance, mystery, and a rich atmosphere that makes the South of France spring off the page in a manner reminiscent of Donna Leon’s Venice. A wonderful start to a series sure to gain a legion of fans.”

  —Tasha Alexander, author of the Lady Emily mysteries

  “Longworth has a good eye and a sharp wit, and this introduction to Verlaque and Bonnet holds promise for a terrific series.”

  —The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

  “Death at the Château Bremont offers charming French locales, vivid characters, and an intriguing who-done-it.”

  —Kevin R.
Kosar, author of Whiskey: A Global History

  “Here’s hoping the series lasts for years.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  “Your readers will eat this one up.”

  —Library Journal

  M. L. Longworth’s Provençal Mysteries

  Death at the Château Bremont

  Murder in the Rue Dumas

  Death in the Vines

  Murder on the Île Sordou

  The Mystery of the Lost Cézanne

  The Curse of La Fontaine

  The Secrets of the Bastide Blanche

  A Noël Killing

  A PENGUIN MYSTERY

  A NOËL KILLING

  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. She is married and has a daughter.

  PENGUIN BOOKS

  An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC

  penguinrandomhouse.com

  Copyright © 2019 by Mary Lou Longworth

  Penguin supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin to continue to publish books for every reader.

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

  Names: Longworth, M. L. (Mary Lou), 1963– author.

  Title: A noël killing / M. L. Longworth.

  Description: New York : Penguin Books, [2019] | Series: A Provencal mystery | Identifiers: LCCN 2018058254 (print) | LCCN 2018058833 (ebook) | ISBN 9780525505839 (ebook) | ISBN 9780143134060 (paperback)

  Subjects: LCSH: Murder—Investigation—Fiction. | GSAFD: Mystery fiction.

  Classification: LCC PR9199.4.L596 (ebook) | LCC PR9199.4.L596 N64 2019 (print) | DDC 813/.6—dc23

  LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018058254

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Cover design: Roseanne Serra

  Cover illustration: Tatsuro Kiuchi

  Version_1

  For Ken and Eva

  Contents

  Praise for The Secrets of the Bastide Blanche

  M. L. Longworth’s Provençal Mysteries

  About the Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Chapter Twenty-seven

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  Chapter Twenty-nine

  Chapter One

  Debra Hainsby took extra care getting dressed that morning. She chose one of her best outfits: a colorful, fitted wool jacket that sort of looked like Chanel. She had bought it at Ross Dress for Less back in the States, and wore it with a bright green wool blend skirt that matched one of the stripes in the weave of the jacket. It was early spring, a cool breeze moving in, so she hoped she wouldn’t be too hot. Looking at herself in the mirror she was pleased, glad to have kept her slender figure even after the birth of her two children more than ten years ago.

  She was excited not to be working at the bilingual school today, surrounded by grumpy teachers and noisy kids, but instead spending the day with her boss, Alain Sorba. They’d be visiting the human resources offices of two of the region’s biggest employers. “Our dog and pony show,” Sorba had joked. Debra put on her pearl earrings, a gift from her mother on her wedding day, and realized that Sorba wasn’t really joking when he said dog and pony show: His private bilingual school, which accepted kids from kindergarten right through to grade twelve, relied on local companies that hired expats who arrived in France with generous foreign salaries. Who’d be crazy enough to throw their non-French-speaking kids into the old-fashioned rigorous French school system when there was a bilingual school in town, complete with tennis courts and a swimming pool?

  An hour later she was sitting in the passenger seat beside Sorba, enjoying the elevated view in the German-made SUV, a car that her sister back home would call a gas guzzler. But Cheryl lived in California and ate only organic foods, a luxury that Debra and her husband, Cole, and their kids couldn’t afford. The thought of Cole and their financial troubles—which had existed almost since the day she was given the pearl earrings—made her stomach knot up, and she turned to concentrate on what her boss was saying.

  “Most of these expat families have more than one kid, so we offer a reduced rate from the second child on,” Sorba said, gesturing with his hands as he drove the big black car.

  Debra, recently hired as Alain Sorba’s executive assistant, sometimes heard the teachers whispering about him, mimicking the way he spoke with his hands flailing around. They were just jealous, Debra had quickly decided, that the son of a Marseille fisherman now owned the school where they all had to work as hourly wage earners.

  “The companies don’t like paying tuition, so every little reduction we offer helps,” Sorba went on. “Anyway, they’re stuck!” he said, now laughing. “Pas de chance, les cons!” He hit the steering wheel with the palm of his right hand. “Les cons!”

  Debra smiled politely, knowing that con was a swear word, and not quite sure what it meant. Something like stupid, she thought. She opened a folder on her lap, trying to be professional. “Our first meeting is with HeliIndustries,” she said in careful French. Even though Alain Sorba owned a bilingual school, she wasn’t sure if he spoke much English. Hence her participation at these meetings today.

  “The world’s largest helicopter maker,” Sorba said, still smiling. “And as our luck would have it, they’re located right here in Marseille, just down the coast from where my dear papa had his boat and cabanon!”

  Yes, Debra thought, they were lucky that Marseille and Aix were only a twenty-minute drive apart, and that while Marseille had a few important companies, most foreigners preferred to live in sleepy, quiet Aix. She certainly did. “Oh, your father has a cabanon?” Debra asked, trying to make small talk. “A sea view! What a dream!”

  “It certainly was,” he said, now laughing again. “A shack that he put up in a weekend and that I sold to a Parisian television producer for five hundred thousand euros!”

  Debra cringed, trying to imagine that kind of money, and how much it would help with Cole’s travel business. It made her angry with Cole; why couldn’t he figure out how to make money, when even an old fisherman could swindle a suave Parisian? “I added the new color photos
of the school’s gardens,” Debra said, pointing to the folder. “And I think we can safely tell the HeliIndustries people that our new science lab will be constructed by the end of this school year. I spoke to the architects yesterday.”

  “Excellent!” Sorba said. “Good work, Debra. What would I do without you?” Debra felt a burst of pride and tried not to smile.

  “Plus our new science lab will be a great draw for the parents who work at Iter,” she continued. “I’m at work on their presentation right now.”

  “Oh, yes, Iter! The new nuclear power research station,” Sorba said, briefly taking his hands off the wheel and rubbing them together. “I love nuclear power! Les cons!”

  “And the employees are given international diplomacy status so they don’t pay income tax,” she added, leaning toward her boss as if passing on secret information. She had picked up the income tax fact while eavesdropping on two math teachers complaining about how little they earned at the bilingual school while having to pay income tax on top of it.

  Sorba said, “No income tax? All the more money for the expats to spend here in Provence!”

  “But Iter will be located north of Manosque,” Debra said. “That’s an hour from Aix, but a lovely part of the Luberon.”

  Sorba rubbed his chin. “Rats. Some of the families will want to live up there, given the price of housing in Aix.”

  Debra bit her lip, now feeling guilty that she had mentioned how far the nuclear plant was.

  “I know!” Sorba said, glancing at her and smiling. “We’ll offer free bus service from Manosque to our school for the kiddies! That way the moms can stay at home and do their yoga.”

  “Wouldn’t that be too expensive?” Debra asked, picturing the life of a woman who didn’t have to work and just go to exercise class and lunch with girlfriends.