Maggie Newberry, an independent woman and entrepreneur as a freelance advertising copywriter in Atlanta, is not used to being vulnerable or helpless. However, needing answers in a country where you don’t speak the language is only the start of complications after identifying her sister Elise’s body in a French morgue. As a dutiful daughter, Maggie had accepted her father’s request to fly to France to make the identification and bring her sister home. Maggie has multiple questions, and the police give her very little information. How did this happen? Why? Who? Will she ever learn the truth?

An armchair traveler’s delight from Atlanta to Cannes and intrigue leads to Nice, Montmartre, and Paris. Air and rail travel, taxis, walks, and well-known landmarks add to the scenes. Maggie is persistent, courageous, resolute, trying to reconcile memories of her sister with the descriptions and facts learned and baffled by her responses to a man named Laurent. There are twists and turns building suspense, and although some of my armchair sleuthing was accurate, not all was correct. I’m intrigued to read more of the series.

Note: I recommend the mystery but disagree with marketing it as a cozy mystery. ( )

I read this as a free Kindle selection. It was just okay, a quick read, with writing lacking depth and nuance. The supporting characters were not well developed. Although I could suspend disbelief about parts of the murder storyline, I shook my head at the denouement of the romance. Clearly, it only ended up that way to enable a sequel. Goodreads ratings for this series get better for the latter installments, I hope that is the case. I might be tempted to pick up another at a deep discount - it's the kind of book you would read on an airplane, if you know what I mean. ( )

4 of 75 for 2015. Light and frivolous. My mother asked for them, and now I'm spending my time with them. This book definitely fits. Fun and suspenseful, but badly in need of an editor. My biggest concern (and here comes the French teacher in me) is the number of errors in the French. I don't mind so much if a non-native speaker uses incorrect French, but to have a Frenchman say "desolée," using the feminine form when speaking of himself, or "promis" instead of "promets" just drives me bonkers. I also noticed a continuity error that made me want to go back and reread earlier sections to see if the error was mine, but enough quibbling. Other than those issues, I enjoyed the book and look forward to reading more Maggie Newberry Mysteries in the future--with any luck her French will improve.

Maggie heads to France to identify her sister's body. She falls in love, comes home with her niece and then, well . . . That would give away the story. Truth is I just couldn't get into this book. I didn't feel like any of the characters came to life and I never got caught up in the story like I like to do. ( )

The book I read was titled Murder on the Côte d'Azur
Maggie Newberry, employed at an advertising agency, went to France to bring back her four-year-old niece, Nicole. Neither she nor her parents knew the girl existed. Maggie’s sister, Elise, a free-thinking artist who didn’t fit in to their ritzy Atlanta area, had left home several years ago to develop her art and style in France. While there, she became involved with a seedy group and was a junkie. Gerard, her sister’s boyfriend, a not very nice person, had kidnapped the girl a few months previously.
Maggie’s father received a letter saying that he could get the child if he paid $15,000. Maggie went to France to complete the transaction and, after spending more time there than anticipated, was able to sneak Nicole back to the US with the help of Laurent, a man she met there. She also managed to fall in love with him.
Nicole did not look like the Newberry family, but Maggie’s parents welcomed her into their home. She was quite unresponsive.
Soon thereafter, Gerard called Maggie and said he wanted money or he would get Nicole back and report how she got into America. She met him in a dark parking lot and, after taking the money, dumped a large parcel out of his car before driving away. The parcel was Elise. Maggie took her sister to her own apartment and decided to get her cleaned up before letting her parents or Nicole know that she was there.
Unfortunately, things did not go smoothly. When Maggie got home from work the next day, there were police all over the building. Elise had been killed.
After not hearing from him for six months, Laurent showed up at Maggie’s home. He thought the police are not doing enough to solve Elise’s murder. Maggie’s attempts to find the killer took her back to France where she hoped to learn more about both Elise and Nicole. She promised Laurent that she would not try to find Gerard, whom she believed was the murderer.
Meanwhile there are complications at work, partly because the owner is thinking of selling the business and moving away and, later, because of another murder.
The book has a lot of descriptions of people and locations. There are French words sprinkled in, mostly without translations.
The book has several inconsistencies: A partial description of Maggie on page 7 reads, “Almost elfin face, heart-shaped and perfect. Her mouth was small but sensuous and her large green eyes missed very little.” On page 12 it tells us “Her eyes were a pale blue, set in a heart shaped face, lips full, the chin strong and resolute.”
It’s a quick read.
This book was a free Amazon download. ( )