NO SANCTUARY

A lawyer vacationing in France finds himself in the middle of a murder mystery that shocks a small Provence community in Chambers’ novel.

Max Dempsey is a successful English attorney who lives in the United States and likes to spend his summers in the south of France. This time, though, the trip is a melancholy one, as Max’s wife Emma has tragically died. He and his son, Luke, who has enrolled in a local soccer camp, are still trying to enjoy themselves. Haunted by Emma’s passing, Max does not believe that she can ever be replaced: “And each time another woman smiled at him that way and he was tempted to flirt, the devastating sense of loss, and guilt, bubbled to the surface.” One night, Max hears a scream of terror from a neighboring apartment pierce the evening’s peace. He asks around, and the maintenance man, Hassan, tells him that one Madame Borrell lives in the apartment. Soon enough, Lieutenant Louis Dupre and Capitaine Idrissa Jacques are investigating Madame Borrell’s murder. It’s discovered that she was killed without any sign of forced entry to her apartment, which gets Max thinking about the multitude of possibilities. There is also the possibility that Madame Borrell was not who she said she was, which leads to startling implications for Max and other people in the neighborhood. Claire Lejeune, who, though Scottish, is a French judge, appears on the scene; she’s an old colleague of Max’s and complicates matters both personal and professional. Chambers’ mystery novel captures the laissez faire attitude of the south of France very well, and his 2CV6-driving protagonist joins in with the local culture as much as he can. The investigation, which runs simultaneously on different narrative tracks (one from a police perspective, the other from the lawyers’ and judges’ points of view), is handled well. There is not, however, very much tension in this mystery, and some of the sordid details are only disclosed close to the conclusion. It is, though, a pleasant read with believable, contemporary characters.

A low-key, charming mystery novel that effectively evokes the sights and flavors of the south of France.