To Die in Provence

Jennifer Bowen, a young art history professor, agrees to chaperone the spoiled daughter of a successful TV producer during a trip to Provence and finds a young woman with a depraved ex-con boyfriend who will do anything to control the wealthy heiress

Commander Michel Danton, descendant of bickering restaurateurs and the detective-hero of Seventh Avenue author Bogner's welcome return to fiction after a long hiatus, resides in a Provence that Peter Mayle would have trouble recognizing. Amid the well-documented bucolic splendor and pastis, there are laptops and lattes as well as a serial killer on the loose. It falls to Danton?newly broken up with his crime reporter girlfriend and under departmental suspension?to nose out the killer, who has just murdered two Americans in particularly grisly fashion. The villain is identified early to the reader as Boy, a native Oklahoman and former child porn star who's left a trail of misery wherever he's lived. Helping the forces of evil is Boy's girlfriend, dumb, vulnerable Maddie Gold, daughter of an entertainment mogul. Among the novel's standout strengths are a richly detailed setting, psychologically accurate character portrayals and an attractive and engaging hero?and there's enough stomach-churning carnage to satisfy even the most sanguinary tastes. True, whenever Maddie talks, Yogi Berra might advise readers to put blinders on their ears, but the other female?Danton's hot-tempered American love interest?makes up for it. Agent, Susan Crawford; editor, Natalia Aponte. (Sept.) FYI: Before he turned his hand to writing fiction, in the 1960s, Bogner was editorial manager at Jonathan Cape.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The author of the best-selling California Dreamers (1981, etc.) returns after 15 years in the Hollywood salt mines with a strongly plotted family novel/Frenchified thriller that crosses over into territory well mined by Peter Mayle and others. Chez Danton, a succulent and favored restaurant in the town of Aix-en-Provence, is owned by the parents of Commander Michel Danton, chief investigator of the Special Circumstances Section of the Judicial Police, who works only on the most difficult homicides when hes not helping stock the restaurant and perform his other filial duties. Michel grew up in the restaurant trade and only abandoned it when he became bewitched by the rhapsody of the process and solution of unsolved murders. Now, hes on sick leave, recovering from four shotgun blasts, when his girlfriend Yvette, a TV crime reporter, abandons him for Detective Sergeant Paul Corbel, whos investigating a double homicide that Michel feels he himself should handle. Someone has beheaded a young man, then raped and strangled his girlfriend. We soon find out that the someone is American psychopath and serial killer Darrell Vernon Boynton, nicknamed Boy, ``a ringer for Brad Pitt'' who feels penniless and adrift in France after following his college girlfriend, Maddie Gold, there. For Boy, each murder is a taste treat. So, when Maddie turns some tricks at Madame Louise's brothel to bring in some cash, but Madame stiffs Maddie and doesn't pay her for her labors, Boy grows a fatal dislike for Aix's sole procuressand Madame Louise becomes what for Boy is a feast of giggles. Boy looks forward to giving Maddie's pretty French tutor and chaperone, karate-trained Jennifer Bowen, a roll on the grass, but first he and Maddie must bond by formidably violating Louise with a curling iron, while Michel finds himself falling for Jennifer. No higher aspirations than the bestseller lists, but swaggeringly well-written. Smart, magnetic dialogue, suspenseful but very ghoulish, scenic, and filmable. Some pages you'll read through your fingers. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Not exactly a Provence novel in the Peter Mayle mold, this tough, violent, sexy thriller concerns a French detective who must catch a "vacationing" American serial killer and his girlfriend. Bogner, who took a 15-year break from fiction writing to work as a Hollywood "script doctor," seems to have a movie adaptation in mind here, but the story doesn't read like a screenplay treatment. This is a rich, atmospheric novel with a cast of characters--policemen, criminals, prostitutes--who would make Victor Hugo proud. Watching Chief Inspector Michel Danton pursue the killers while simultaneously outwitting his own slow-witted colleagues is a constant delight, and if watching the evil Darrel Vernon Boynton, known as Boy, ply his murderous trade is hardly delightful, it is certainly compelling. The serial-killer-and-his-moll scenario is hardly new, and the excessive violence may offend some, but Bogner wins us over with a tightly constructed plot and those endlessly fascinating, full-bodied characters. David Pitt

California art history professor Jennifer Bowen is hired by college student Maddie Gold's mega-wealthy Hollywood industry parents to "baby-sit" their immoral, spoiled daughter while she studies French for the summer in Aix-en-Provence. Part of Jennifer's duties consist of keeping Maddie away from her love interest, baby-faced blond Darrell "Boy" Boynton who, unknown to all, is a psychotic, sadistic killer. Maddie lies to Jennifer and secretly brings Boy to Provence, where he begins to torture and slaughter innocent victims. Police commander Michel Danton, recovering from severe job-related injuries, is drawn back to his work, convinced that behind these killings is an experienced murderer. Boy's character is well delineated albeit repugnant, and his violent forays with Maddie as his accomplice are believable, fitting well into the story line. However, Michel's passionate affair with Jennifer amid the carnage is a distraction. Andrew Vachss's fans will love To Die in Provence. For larger collections.
-?Alice DiNizo, Raritan P. L., NJ
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.