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Daniel Jacquot #2
The Master
In the heat of a Provençal summer, Chief Inspector Daniel Jacquot is called to a luxury hotel on the slopes of the Grand Lubéron. One of the guests, a high class call-girl from Marseilles, is missing. Her bedroom is drenched in blood, but there is no body. Jacquot soon discovers that among the remaining guests there are those who have both the means and the motive to be her killer, people with personal secrets, hidden agendas, and their own dangerous liaisons to protect. When a violent summer storm and raging flash floods isolate the hotel, passions start to run even higher when not one, but two bodies are found.
416 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2007
About the author
Martin O'Brien
19 books41 followersAfter graduating from Hertford College, Oxford, Martin O’Brien was Travel Editor at British Vogue for a number of years, and as a travel and life-style correspondent he has contributed to a wide range of international publications. As well as writing the Daniel Jacquot detective series ("Rich, spicy, and served up with unmistakeable relish" - The Literary Review), he has also written straight-to-paperback thrillers under the names Louka Grigoriou and Jack Drummond ("Big, high-pitched disaster novels don't come much more thrilling than this" - The Daily Mirror). Martin's books have been translated into Russian, Turkish, French, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Hebrew. He lives in the Cotswolds with his wife and two daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 8, 2019
Here's a puzzle. Of the first four Jacquot books, Waterman and Angel were published in 2005, Master and Fifteen were published in 2007. One would assume that the order of publication and the chronology of the series would be the same, but one would be wrong. In fact, Master, the third to be published, is the second installment of the life and times of Daniel Jacquot, Detective Chief Inspector of the judiciare and former rugby star. And the events in Angel follow the events in Fifteen.
Four very good books out in three years is quite an accomplishment. So maybe somebody got confused?
At any rate, the story begins when Jacquot, posted to the small Provencal town of Cavaillon following a major dustup with his crooked but politically connected partner in Marseille, is called to handle - discreetly - an apparent missing person case at a former monastery turned luxury resort hotel in the country. All but one corner tower of the building has been renovated and updated, is ready for a Michelin star or two. The remaining tower is leased for the lifetime use of the reclusive and fairly repugnant Vilotte, a second tier contemporary of Picasso, Matisse,and Dali.
The Master is the magnet which has drawn the current crop of guests - his agent, who hopes to acquire the rights to his latest and perhaps last paintings, a painting group hoping for an audience, and a wealthy publisher who hopes to acquire the rights to the Master's private collection (most of which he stole from his contemporaries)for his own up and coming museum in Marseilles. It is the publisher's companion, a beautiful call girl who has been groomed to remind the Master of his old lover and bait him into delivering the goods to the publisher, who has gone missing - her blood drenched bed is empty and she has disappeared.
Jacquot has come to stay at the hotel in the guise of a journalist, to nose around and see what has become of her. When a second murder is discovered, his disguise becomes irrelevant and the police investigation begins in earnest.
Motives and suspects abound - jealousy, greed, old enmities. There is a great cast of minor characters - the hotel owners and staff including the gorgon housekeeper who sells access to the Master, the architect who needs the commission for the final stage of renovation, the amateur painters, the Croatian documentary film maker fresh from Cannes with his ditzy American movie star companion.
The descriptions of the working of the hotel and kitchen are really well done, as is the picture of the countryside, the landscapes being painted, the torrential storm that isolates the hotel in the middle of the investigation.
In the midst of this, Claudine Edde, a talented artist whom Jacquot met briefly a year earlier, appears as one of the minders of the painting group. The blooming of a romance between the two of them is a light and happy note in counterpoint to the murder and mayhem.
Four very good books out in three years is quite an accomplishment. So maybe somebody got confused?
At any rate, the story begins when Jacquot, posted to the small Provencal town of Cavaillon following a major dustup with his crooked but politically connected partner in Marseille, is called to handle - discreetly - an apparent missing person case at a former monastery turned luxury resort hotel in the country. All but one corner tower of the building has been renovated and updated, is ready for a Michelin star or two. The remaining tower is leased for the lifetime use of the reclusive and fairly repugnant Vilotte, a second tier contemporary of Picasso, Matisse,and Dali.
The Master is the magnet which has drawn the current crop of guests - his agent, who hopes to acquire the rights to his latest and perhaps last paintings, a painting group hoping for an audience, and a wealthy publisher who hopes to acquire the rights to the Master's private collection (most of which he stole from his contemporaries)for his own up and coming museum in Marseilles. It is the publisher's companion, a beautiful call girl who has been groomed to remind the Master of his old lover and bait him into delivering the goods to the publisher, who has gone missing - her blood drenched bed is empty and she has disappeared.
Jacquot has come to stay at the hotel in the guise of a journalist, to nose around and see what has become of her. When a second murder is discovered, his disguise becomes irrelevant and the police investigation begins in earnest.
Motives and suspects abound - jealousy, greed, old enmities. There is a great cast of minor characters - the hotel owners and staff including the gorgon housekeeper who sells access to the Master, the architect who needs the commission for the final stage of renovation, the amateur painters, the Croatian documentary film maker fresh from Cannes with his ditzy American movie star companion.
The descriptions of the working of the hotel and kitchen are really well done, as is the picture of the countryside, the landscapes being painted, the torrential storm that isolates the hotel in the middle of the investigation.
In the midst of this, Claudine Edde, a talented artist whom Jacquot met briefly a year earlier, appears as one of the minders of the painting group. The blooming of a romance between the two of them is a light and happy note in counterpoint to the murder and mayhem.
August 18, 2016
This second book of the Jacquot series was more enjoyable to read than the first, and I am so delighted to have found it and this author. This is a beautifully constructed plot populated by marvelously imagined characters and places filling the mind with layers of beauty and danger in Provence. Our Chief Inspector is now stationed in a new location where the living is a bit more restful with the benefits of good eating and new wines for Jacquot to try after the horrors of Marseilles featured in the first book. Nevertheless, murder does call. A very delightful cast of "artsy" characters arrive at a Michelin rated resort where "the master" resides in a 16th C tower. Several creative plots unfold in attempts to gain access to Vilotte, the master, and his works of art. Jacquot resolves three murders here and the reader is left smiling.
July 12, 2020
There is something about a mystery that commends it to dramatization in a play, movie, or television show. Some can be dealt with in a half-hour, others require a full two-hour movie, but this one Jacquot and the Master requires a mini-series, even if only to give the actors enough screen time to merit their salaries. The mystery here is not complicated although it actually happens towards the end of the book rather than the beginning. What complicates the story and what adds to its enjoyment is the myriad motivations of a large and somewhat diverse cast. To the best of my knowledge, the Jacquot novels have not been brought to American or British television but they certainly lend themselves to the medium. One can easily imagine the cast populated by familiar actors who may be past their prime box office appeal who are willing to take a small, not overly demanding part to keep busy.
The story takes place in a former monastery turned into a luxury hotel in the Luberon region of France. (imagine the visuals!). Daniel Jacquot, a former star rugby player, is sent to the hotel to investigate a report of a missing person. He is to investigate quietly, without drawing attention to himself, since one of the interested parties has highly-placed connections and a scandal is to be avoided as far as possible. This concern is shared by the owners of the hotel who fear a loss of business if the hotel acquires a reputation for foul play. As I've written, there is a large cast, each of whom has a backstory and a reason for being in the hotel. At the center of the story is "the Master" a painter, perhaps past his prime, who lives in a tower of the hotel; a tower that stands in the way of the complete refurbishment of the monastery to a luxury hotel. Then there is the art dealer intent upon acquiring the latest paintings by the Master; he has something of a shady reputation; he also has a chauffeur who is a former member of the French Foreign Legion. His rival is a rising businessman with political ambitions who is seeking to obtain the Master's collection for a museum he is creating. He has brought with him a high priced "escort" who he remakes to look like one of the Master's former models. She disappears which is the reason for Jacquot being called in. Also present are: a Croatian filmmaker and an American actress who hooked up at the Cannes Film Festival; a Dutch architect who is planning the redesign of the monastery tower; and a local tour guide with his group of twelve tourists on a painting holiday, at least one of whom is more than she purports to be. Also included are the various workers in the hotel, some of whom have their own interest in the Master, like the housekeeper who acts as his doorkeeper, collecting a hefty fee from anyone who wishes to see him.
When Jacquot arrives at the hotel, he assumes the role of a journalist to keep his investigation under wraps. As he examines the room used by the missing lady, he discovers a great deal of blood under the blankets at the foot of the bed. There's no body to be seen but he begins to suspect, especially as he talks to the other guests, that his investigation will soon turn into a murder inquiry. And so it does; not once but twice. Two bodies are found in quick succession and then the Master's tower catches fire. Jacquot solves the mysteries in quick order but the book does not end with the guilty being carted away in handcuffs. I won't tell you why; you'll have to read the book.
Martin O'Brien writes a very atmospheric book. He describes scenery with the flair of a travel brochure. He spends such a great deal of ink describing meals one almost wishes that recipes were included in an appendix. I enjoy French food and the French countryside; this book makes me want to experience it again. But I think I will probably avoid monastery/hotels; they can be dangerous.
The story takes place in a former monastery turned into a luxury hotel in the Luberon region of France. (imagine the visuals!). Daniel Jacquot, a former star rugby player, is sent to the hotel to investigate a report of a missing person. He is to investigate quietly, without drawing attention to himself, since one of the interested parties has highly-placed connections and a scandal is to be avoided as far as possible. This concern is shared by the owners of the hotel who fear a loss of business if the hotel acquires a reputation for foul play. As I've written, there is a large cast, each of whom has a backstory and a reason for being in the hotel. At the center of the story is "the Master" a painter, perhaps past his prime, who lives in a tower of the hotel; a tower that stands in the way of the complete refurbishment of the monastery to a luxury hotel. Then there is the art dealer intent upon acquiring the latest paintings by the Master; he has something of a shady reputation; he also has a chauffeur who is a former member of the French Foreign Legion. His rival is a rising businessman with political ambitions who is seeking to obtain the Master's collection for a museum he is creating. He has brought with him a high priced "escort" who he remakes to look like one of the Master's former models. She disappears which is the reason for Jacquot being called in. Also present are: a Croatian filmmaker and an American actress who hooked up at the Cannes Film Festival; a Dutch architect who is planning the redesign of the monastery tower; and a local tour guide with his group of twelve tourists on a painting holiday, at least one of whom is more than she purports to be. Also included are the various workers in the hotel, some of whom have their own interest in the Master, like the housekeeper who acts as his doorkeeper, collecting a hefty fee from anyone who wishes to see him.
When Jacquot arrives at the hotel, he assumes the role of a journalist to keep his investigation under wraps. As he examines the room used by the missing lady, he discovers a great deal of blood under the blankets at the foot of the bed. There's no body to be seen but he begins to suspect, especially as he talks to the other guests, that his investigation will soon turn into a murder inquiry. And so it does; not once but twice. Two bodies are found in quick succession and then the Master's tower catches fire. Jacquot solves the mysteries in quick order but the book does not end with the guilty being carted away in handcuffs. I won't tell you why; you'll have to read the book.
Martin O'Brien writes a very atmospheric book. He describes scenery with the flair of a travel brochure. He spends such a great deal of ink describing meals one almost wishes that recipes were included in an appendix. I enjoy French food and the French countryside; this book makes me want to experience it again. But I think I will probably avoid monastery/hotels; they can be dangerous.
January 21, 2020
Chief Inspector Daniel Jacquot is called in to investigate the disappearance of a visitor to a spectacular and luxurious hotel in France. He has to keep a low profile as some visitors are high-profile. The story unfolds and it is a good read. It took a while for me to get into the story as the first few chapters were all about introducing the characters, but then an interesting story unfolded. Towards the end I got the feeling that the author hurried the plot and almost took the easy way out. Still, a good mystery read.
May 4, 2018
Evocative of the Provencal, rural idyll. Beautifully descriptive writing, it just falls flat at the end. The author seems to run out of steam tying it all together and so plumps for the painfully obvious suspects in an ending I could see coming from Grand Luberon...
November 26, 2018
Superb, a very enjoyable read. One of the murders was obvious but the other did have me thinking, I was surprised by twist towards the end but a good read and ending.
Looking forward to reading the next book in the series
Looking forward to reading the next book in the series
August 4, 2019
Tohle byla pro mne pravá francouzská lahůdka. Luxusní hotel , odříznutý od světa během bouře, zalidněný pitoreskními postavičkami, sympatický detektiv, dobré jídlo a pití - co lepšího si můžete přát? Detektivka, která se jen rozplyne na jazyku, děsivé sny z ní mít rozhodně nebudete.
September 18, 2011
While this is listed as the third in the Jacquot sees, temporally it is second. The story takes place in Provence hotel that was a monastery a few hundred years ago. It has a classic taste with a large caste of characters, a missing person presumed dead in a beautiful location cut off from the rest of the world by a storm. I enjoy Martin O'Brien and the ex-football player policeman, who in this story gets a girl.
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January 21, 2013Think I'm in love with Inspector Jacquot...enjoyed this adventure, even if I did read it out of sequence (should be read second, before Jacquot and the Angel). Martin O'Brien sets the scene so well and his restaurant-based scenes are wonderful - no pretension about French cuisine, just good home cooking describe to a mouth-watering T. And the plots are pretty good too!
February 4, 2015
The beginning was a bit dull where he introduces all the characters, but of course, this being a mystery, I should have known that all the threads would pull together at the end and make it worth it. I suspect Francophiles will enjoy this a lot.
April 17, 2012
Against the backdrop of murder in an ancient monastery in Provence, O'Brien has written a nicely paced plot with well drawn characters. The bonus is the last chapter - I'm still laughing
July 8, 2012
Brilliant
August 23, 2013
A very good book. I have read a couple of the others in this series and I've like them all.
April 3, 2015
This is a nice change from city crime stories as a detective investigates a mountain artists' retreat to find a killer. Set in France with some odd characters and some merely arrogant ones.
July 26, 2014
Loved this book and would love to go to the south of france. My guesses were all wrong, but restaurant menu was to die for. The murder and Inspector was alright too.
February 8, 2015
Have read all the Jacquot books. Some on more than one occasion. Love them.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews