The Mystery Of Mont Saint Michel

Reproduction of the original: Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres by Henry Adams

Remote. Mysterious. Deadly. Situated off the Normandy coast, Mont Saint-Michel has been many things in its history: a prison, a siege fortress and an abbey. When Maggie and Laurent--who are struggling with the revelation of a family secret that threatens their marriage--take part in a couples' counseling weekend on the island, they are thrust head first into the setting for a brutal double murder. Because a once-in-a-century storm is bearing down on the island preventing communication with the outside world, their small group of six is trapped on the island--with a murderer. And the clock is ticking. Maggie has only one night to find the killer and elicit a confession before the police arrive and go with the obvious evidence--all of which points directly at Laurent.

When her sister dies, Atlanta copywriter Maggie Newberry flies to the south of France to find the little niece that no one in the family even knew existed. Along the way, she finds handsome sexy Frenchman Laurent Dernier to help with the search. Meanwhile, her sister’s murderer sets his sights on the little girl—and Maggie.

Remote. Mysterious. Deadly. Situated off the Normandy coast, Mont Saint-Michel has been many things in its history: a prison, a siege fortress and an abbey. When Maggie and Laurent—who are struggling with the revelation of a family secret that threatens their marriage—take part in a couples’ counseling weekend on the island, they are thrust head first into the setting for a brutal double murder. Because a once-in-a-century storm is bearing down on the island preventing communication with the outside world, their small group of six is trapped on the island—with a murderer. And the clock is ticking. Maggie has only one night to find the killer and elicit a confession before the police arrive and go with the obvious evidence—all of which points directly at Laurent.

An Edgar Award–winning mystery featuring the forensic anthropologist hailed as “a likable, down-to-earth, cerebral sleuth”—from the author of Switcheroo (Chicago Tribune). “With the roar of thunder and the speed of a galloping horse comes the tide to Mont St. Michel,” goes the old nursery song. So when the aged patriarch of the du Rocher family falls victim to the perilous tide, even the old man’s family accepts the verdict of accidental drowning. But too quickly, this “accident” is followed by a bizarre discovery in the ancient du Rocher chateau: a human skeleton, wrapped in butcher paper, beneath the old stone flooring. Professor Gideon Oliver, lecturing on forensic anthropology at nearby St. Malo, is asked to examine the bones. He quickly demonstrates why he is known as the “Skeleton Detective,” providing the police with forensic details that lead them to conclude that these are the remains of a Nazi officer believed to have been murdered in the area during the Occupation. Or are they? Gideon himself has his doubts. Then, when another of the current du Rochers dies—this time via cyanide poisoning—his doubts solidify into a single certainty: Someone wants old secrets to stay buried . . . and is perfectly willing to eradicate the meddlesome American to make that happen. Voted one of the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association’s 100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century, and featuring “a thrilling final scene,” Old Bones will captivate fans of Kathy Reichs and Tess Gerritsen as well as readers of Aaron Elkins’s popular Alix London series (Publishers Weekly). Old Bones is the 4th book in the Gideon Oliver Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Quelle horreur! A French holiday leads to disaster for American Anglophile Dorothy Martin in this engaging new cozy mystery. When Dorothy Martin goes to France – alone because Alan is stuck back home in Sherebury with a broken ankle – she worries about her ability to get along in a language she barely speaks, and in a country she hasn’t seen for over fifty years. But by the time Alan joins her a week later, Dorothy has found herself embroiled in one mystery after another: a woman drowning in quicksand; a man suffering a near-fatal fall in the abbey at Mont Saint Michel; and a missing American archaeologist – all seemingly connected to a monk named Abelard who has been dead for almost nine hundred years. It isn’t until another body is discovered that Dorothy’s ability to ‘think outside the box’ finally unravels the threads of a despicable scheme.

A fifteenth-century portrait painter, grieving the untimely death of his unrequited love, takes refuge at the monastery at Mont Saint-Michel, an island off the coast of France. He haunts the halls until the monks assign him the task of copying manuscripts – though he is illiterate. His work heals him and grows the monastery's library into a beautiful city of books, all under the shadow of the invention of the printing press. Dominique Fortier is an editor and translator living in Montreal. She is the author of five books, including On the Proper Use of Stars and Wonder. Rhonda Mullins is an award-winning translator and writer living in Montreal, Quebec.

"The Da Vinci Code" meets Nancy Drew in this galloping middle-grade mystery about 12-year old Colophon Letterford and the ancient treasure left to her literary publishing family. Illustrations.