The Messengers of Death: A Mystery in Provence (Commissaire Laviolette Mystery) - Hardcover

Magnan, Pierre

3.4

181 ratings by Goodreads

9780312387563: The Messengers of Death: A Mystery in Provence (Commissaire Laviolette Mystery)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0312387563 ISBN 13: 9780312387563

Publisher: Minotaur Books, 2008

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“Stylish . . . Magnan blends elegant clue laying and deft characterizations that strike to the core of human frailties, all within a detective tale with a theme as old as Cain and Abel, as new as tomorrow's headlines and as eternal as the Greek myths that inspire Magnan's fiction.”
---Publishers Weekly (starred review), Best Mysteries of 2008

Last year Death in the Truffle Wood introduced renowned French crime writer Pierre Magnan to rave American reviews. Now the celebrated Commissaire Laviolette is back in a second delectable mystery set in Provence.

Emile Pencenat is in a cemetery, designing his own ornate tomb. In a disused postbox by the gate he discovers an envelope addressed to a Mlle Veronique Champourcieux. He is puzzled, but being a former postman, he dutifully purchases a stamp and posts the letter. When the body of this same Mlle Veronique is later discovered---pinned to her own piano by a bayonet attached to an ancient ri?e---Commissaire Laviolette is coaxed out of retirement to solve one of the most bizarre crimes imaginable.

Tautly plotted and brimming with suspense, The Messengers of Death is a story of dark vengeance and avarice that will thrill and intrigue Magnan’s ever-growing audience in the English-speaking world.

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About the Author:

Pierre Magnan is an award-winning French crime writer. Death in the Truffle Wood was his first Commissaire Laviolette mystery to be published in the United States; the third, The Murdered House, is forthcoming from Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Minotaur.

Review:

Unanimous Praise for Death in the Truffle Wood

“Delightful . . . brings to life the quirky, earthy peasant culture of the Provence region.”
- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“An intellectual feast . . . worthy of that other master of the French mystery, Georges Simenon. A winner.”
- Richmond Times-Dispatch

“Amusing...truly chilling...Magnan should easily ?nd a niche with American readers who enjoy atmospheric, well-plotted mysteries. The Gallic charm doesn’t hurt either.”
- Denver Post

“Delightful and unusual . . . successfully combines elements of Christie’s old-fashioned gentility and Mayle’s French pastoral. . . . [W]ill please both mystery readers and Provence lovers.”
- Booklist

“Whether you like truf?es or pigs, it is dif?cult to imagine anyone not relishing this savory dish of a book.”
- Washington Times

“Delectably venal . . . consistently excellent and exquisitely descriptive. Vive Laviolette! Vive Magnan!”
- Mystery Scene Magazine

“Deliciously rambles among quirky members of the populace and often macabre aspects of the case. . . . Smartly sublime entertainment.”
- Kirkus Reviews

“A classic murder mystery.”
- Indianapolis Star