Mercy, mercy me

When art historian Nora Barnes returns to France for a Van Gogh conference in the charming medieval village of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, she s expecting a vigorous debate about whether the famed artist s suicide was actually a homicide. But on the night before the conference, an elderly French woman who d promised to reveal important evidence is found face down in the village fountain, and her Chanel briefcase is nowhere to be seen.

During a week of academic squabbling, dining, romance, and suspense, the quirky conference members, one by one, fall under police suspicion and the amused gaze of Nora s husband, Toby Sandler. But someone wants to stop Nora and Toby's amateur sleuthing, and what happens next is no joke.