A Murder on the Côte d’Azur: A 1920s Historical Mystery

Penelope Banks Murder Mysteries #12

by Colette Clark

A riveting Riviera murder!

Antibes 1926
Penelope “Pen” Banks and friends have finally made it to the Côte d’Azur, settling into a beautiful villa in Antibes. After only one week it’s been perfect weather, beautiful scenery, welcoming French locals, and a fashionable set of American expats with whom to socialize.

The only fly in the ointment is the odious Mrs. Vera Tynehook. With her belittling words, acerbic nature, and ruthless lack of consideration for others, she has managed to make an enemy of almost everyone.

It’s enough for Penelope to wonder why so many attend the parties she hosts, no matter how swanky they are. She soon learns they all have a bit of fun at the hostess’s expense. But what happens when a night of harmless teasing ends in Vera’s murder?

There are too many suspects to count, especially when the police reveal the surprising nature of her death.

Murder on the Côte d’Azur is the twelfth book in the Penelope Banks Murder Mysteries series set in the 1920s. Join her and her friends as they begin their European adventure.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Cozy Mystery, Historical Mystery, Crime, Mystery

234 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 31, 2024

About the author

Colette Clark lives in New York and has always enjoyed learning more about the history of her amazing city. She decided to combine that curiosity and love of learning with her addiction to reading and watching mysteries. Her first series, Penelope Banks Murder Mysteries is the result of those passions. When she’s not writing she can be found doing Sudoku puzzles, drawing, eating tacos, visiting museums dedicated to unusual/weird/wacky things, and, of course, reading mysteries by other great authors.

Reviews

[Noah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I woke up this morning, Lucille was not in sight / I asked my friends about her but all their lips were tight (Lucille – Little Richard).

Ann~nnd finished... that's another one down! Also hey, we’re on book twelve and the fact that the Penelope Banks Murder Mysteries series is still strongly holding the door like Hodor is nothing short of a miracle in my eyes! Wait a minute "Hodor, ho-dor, hoo-door, hold the door!?" Wow, spectacular use of word-play Mr. George R.R.R.R.R. Martin, you've done it again!! More like hold the phone, because this guy is a literary genius! Sorry, I'm in a weird mood right now. Also, what's the limit on spoilers nowadays? Because I think I'm soft spoiling a bunch of things from, like, ten years ago. Oops, my bad! Um, I guess spoiler warning for whatever dumb reference pops into my head next? Could be anything, really, but mostly Game of Thrones, I think. Okay, I'll dial it down a bit, because I feel like I've used one too many exclamation points and I'm not used to speaking at this decibel!! This book was good, and I liked it a whole lot. It's absolutely on par with every other book in the series and I've never meant that more as compliment than I do right now. I just sincerely hope that my incessant gushing towards this book series hasn’t gotten to the point where it's been dulled in its meaning. Like, "Oh yeah, this guy loves this series, so he's obviously going to be singing its praises!" I get it, you know? Nobody likes it when something their watching or reading feels sponsored and if I'm watching a video, it doesn't matter how much I like the YouTuber, you know I'm about to skip their little sponsor segment. Square Space looks fishy and Raycon earbuds literally look like one of those products you'll see in trouble on the news in a few years for having asbestos or something like that. But nah, all of my love for this book is completely for free! And not to be Mr. “trivia night” here, but like… woah… did you know that Viggo Mortensen actually broke his foot when he kicked that Orc helmet on the set of The Two Towers? Whaa~aat? Yeah well, peep this one, Leonardo DiCaprio really shattered that cup for real while doing his little racist monologue in Django Unchained and kept acting™! Sorry if that was totally random (I’m quirky teehee), since I’m going to be repeating a lot of the same stuff for this book that I’ve already said about the past installments, I figured why not just go all out and start saying a bunch of things that everyone’s all heard before. I think why I always gravitate towards the “cozy historical-fiction” variety of mysteries is because I can take comfort in the fact that they rarely feel like they’re trying to compete with me. Like, I can rest easy knowing that I'll simply get a complete and satisfying story without any wild curve-balls specifically written in to try outsmart the reader (me), no matter the cost. And I know that that’s literally part of the job when you’re a mystery novelist, a tough brain-teaser is what keeps things interesting and engaging, but it can sometimes feel like writers have a barely contained resentment towards the readers when they’re planning out their mysteries. Like they're on some "who do they think they are," "I'll show them" type shit.

I remember when the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie came out, everybody loved it, me included! And the people obviously wanted to learn more about this ragtag group of outlaws and were really excited to do a deep-dive into the lore for these characters nobody's heard of before. You know, watch a couple YouTube videos with a guy sitting in front of his alarmingly massive wall of Funko Pops as he doles out a bunch of information to us. That's always fun, right? But apparently the experts missed something, because in never failing to prove to us that he's the most annoying kind of insufferable nerd out there, director James Gunn resolutely promised fans that there was one “easter egg” that everybody missed and would never ever ever guess in a million years! And like you can easily predict, people took to this challenge and without fail, every time someone would bring something up, obscure or otherwise, he would always answer with a resounding “nope, guess again!” to which everybody would start guessing again... I guess. It's the "I know you are, but what am I?" equivalent of annoying nerd discourse. Yeah well, this "rug pull" tactic is how I frequently feel about thriller and mystery books, because they’re often so~oo obsessed with staying one step ahead of the audience and if they catch a whiff of the fact that maybe somebody guessed at their mystery beforehand, or "beat them," then they drastically change course. But the only thing that accomplishes is just the big twist at the end feeling like it was literally pulled out of nowhere. Because maybe it was? You know, like a James Gunn easter egg. It's much better when a mystery sticks to its guns (ha ha), no matter how obvious. Anyway, as for the story this time around, everybody’s favorite harbinger of death, Penelope Banks, is back at it again with another twisted mystery to unravel. Yay! Only now her and her crew are overseas and perfectly enjoying themselves on the beautiful sunny shores of the Côte d’Azur (which I won’t even try to pronounce har har). And after rebuffing a renowned, yet reprehensible business woman’s invitation to one of her famous parties one too many times, Pen’s curiosity finally gets the best of her and with little convincing from her pals, she finally gives in and indulges in the festivities. Hey, they're on vacay, aren't they? Might as well have a little fun! But as these things tend to go, rather than a flashy evening of dancing and making the kinds of memories that exist only to be forgotten the next day, she instead finds herself knee deep in yet another murder investigation. But sticking with the genre, rather than a grizzly scene played out in front of us, the victim falls... victim to a King Joffrey type poisoning that will no doubt leave everybody scratching their heads. But then again, I can only speak for myself, I'm sure there are plenty of people who could clock this mystery right away. My Kindle has a setting where it shows me what other people who have also read the book highlighted, and every highlight I saw was what I suppose everyone else thought was a clue? And I can't lie, I felt like the one kid who forgot to do the homework. Like, "Oh, are we supposed to be taking notes!?" Was that bit important? I didn't know!

“Very good, Benny,” Pen said in a teasing voice.
“Patronize me all you want, dove, but some of us are naturally inclined to find dirt. You should include me more often.”

But yeah, other than a brief moment of intense alarm, I'm generally not ashamed to admit whenever a book gets the better of me, because again, I’ve never been very good at these kinds of things. Mysteries, that is. I often go on and on about the things that would make me a terrible detective; my inability to remember names for one, the fact that I’m totally lost once people introduce words like “east” or “west” if they happen to be giving me directions, or how I will start second guessing myself the second someone asks me a follow-up question. Those are just a few examples, but one thing I’ve got in spades is suspicion. Really though, I do the Tuco Salamanca squinted eye thing at every character in a mystery book because I think everybody’s lying! This guy's sus, that guy's sus, we're all sus! Not to get all Assassin's Creed, "nothing is true, everything's permitted," but even in real life, I kind of think it's good practice to never trust anything at face value. I'm sure there are good examples of that, but the only thing that comes to mind are those “drunk” confessional things on Twitter. You know, the ones where somebody pretends to take on a "drunk" texting affectation like "i'msooodrunkdude" or whatever. Sorry, but I literally think the only reason people do that is that they want to make a real confession ("I've always been in love with you") but mask it under the veneer of being able to claim that "omg I'm soo~ooo drunk, I don't even know what I'm going to say teehee!" should things backfire. They are all fake. All of them. Hey, I told you I don't trust anything! But yeah, outside of delusion, having a suspicious mind is the only tiny thread that keeps me thinking that if push comes to shove, I could figure out a murder, sure. Alas other than that charming trait of mine, I’m afraid that I’d be rather lacking in that department. I’d be like a mix of Benny (from this book) and Pen’s aunt Cordelia (also from this book), in that I’m mostly just a messy gossip and the fact that “sick” is the only kind of worried I get. Anyway, like I said, I’ve never been good at these things, because damn, while starting this book, for once I randomly gained an unprecedented level of unearned confidence in my theory for who the killer was right out the gate, and I was seriously patting myself on the back by page 20! “Got another one!” I so proudly proclaimed! But as these things happen, karma then decided to punish me in my Icarus musings because my main suspect ended up dying halfway through the story. Foiled again. I guess the real killer was A Murder on the Côte d’Azur for dashing through all my enthusiasm that I'd right in one of these mystery novels for once. The thing is, even after being so brazenly proven wrong, I didn’t completely lose hope. I thought, hey, I can probably salvage any remaining pride in my detective skills, because even after they died, the scene was written in such a dramatic fashion that I figured that it was just for show. You know, like that time when Tyra Banks faked fainting when she wasn’t getting enough attention. I thought, oh that's totally an act they're putting on! Nobody actually faints like that, hands all on the forehead like some kind of Jane Austen, Victorian era lady! Like I said, I don't trust things.

Don't worry, I won't say whether I was right or not because that'd be a spoiler (I've done enough of that, I'm sure), but just know that I was doing some serious mental gymnastics throughout my entire reading experience. Outside of the mystery though, I also really enjoyed how this installment focused on the inherent family drama between our new, one off, cast of characters. A Murder on the Côte d’Azur was especially interesting in this regard because you can tell that the author got the go-ahead to go ahead and go all out with how messed up they're allowed to be. Hey, we'll never see them again, so who cares, right? Make them nasty! My favorite part of a mystery novel has never been the killing bit, but rather the bit just before that bit… the family drama bit. That’s just my kind of party, where there’s an undeniable tension and everybody resents each other and all their underlying problems are just waiting to come to a head. I'm just saying, wherever the screaming match starts is where I want to be. Except... you know, on the sidelines and as a spectator... and in fiction only, of course. I've been in a few serious family screaming matches in real life and I've got to say... not a good place to be. For real though, to this day, the only episode of The Bear I've seen was episode 6 of season 2, “Fishes,” because it’s all about a stressful holiday dinner party and the constant arguing and anger and stress is what I find really entertaining. Even though cozy mysteries usually default to the whole “every lose end being tied up” thing because it’s the nature of the genre, I really did appreciate how Colette Clark decided to let A Murder on the Côte d’Azur lie on the side of ambiguity with its Shutter Island-esque ending, as I thought it lent itself to the narrative in a more unique and complete way. It’s always a tricky thing to write the victim in a murder mystery to be so wholly evil, because then you risk the prospect that… nobody will give a shit about solving the case, so you've got to use a few different tricks to keep people interested. And because this book ends with “justice being served,” but maybe not in the most lawful way, it caps off the book in a darkly (for this series, anyway) satisfying way that wouldn’t have been possible had everything wrapped up neat and tidy, villain in handcuffs and all that. So yeah, this book was good and I liked it a whole lot. I hope it's clear that this series has become a great comfort for me over the years that I’ve been reading it, and I’m totally in it for the long run. I mean, it's kind of funny that I’m even bothering to say this like it’s some kind of revelation, considering I’m writing this review while wearing a hoodie I’ve had since Middle School. What can I say? Once I'm stuck, I stick for a long while.

“One thing I’ve learned is that there is no point in wondering ‘what if.’”
“That doesn’t stop it from happening.”

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A peaceful vacation?

Pen and her friends are finally at the seaside on vacation supposedly relaxing. That lasts about a minute when a murder occurs at a party they attend shortly after their arrival. Tons of suspects, an unlikable victim, confusing evidence and that pesky matter of being on vacation to get away from solving crimes makes for a confounding case for Pen and the reader. The further on the story goes the more confusing it gets. One things for certain Pen won’t just sit by and relax by the sea.
Such a fun story! Complex and confusing, so many different possibilities and perpetrators. A wonderful addition to the series!.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Lady Tea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 3.7 / 5

So...my thoughts?

Well, this is definitely a return to form of sorts, and an improvement on the series from Murder on the Atlantic: A 1920s Historical Mystery.

In this new addition, we have Pen & Company enjoying their holiday in France, but also holding their own against society there. As it turns out, quite a number of Americans are in that part of the world just then, either vacationing or living, and one such socialite, Vera Tynehook, has already felt the group's disapproval by "omitting" to invite Lulu with them to her first soiree.

Not to make the second mistake again, this time she invites ALL of them, and additionally wants to request Pen's skills as a private investigator. Too little too late though, as soon the socialite is murdered, and so, naturally, Pen herself wants to get involved and investigate.

_______________

Now...offhand, I'd say that this is the author's definite try to get her audience back after losing them in the last book, but...I don't know, it still fell a little flat for me, which is why I can't give it the full five stars or really even a fully four stars, if we're counting one way or another.

Part of the reason definitely has to do with the sense of urgency for the plot, or rather the lack thereof of any urgency. I just...don't see the need for Penelope or her friends to get involved in this case. By all accounts, it doesn't involve them at all, and at the very least, even satisfying their curiosity isn't enough of a motive. I mean, usually when the protagonists are "on vacation" in a cozy mystery, the ONLY--and I do mean ONLY--reason for them to get involved is if they have some stakes in what is happening, or if they are being threatened or endangered otherwise. In this case, neither applies to Penelope, and the entire time I just felt that she was too safe and distant from the case for it to really hold any appeal for me.

Additionally, even once the plot gets moving, some of the plot points are quite predictable and don't really hold twists or turns for me; and, as for the twists and turns themselves, I'm sorry but it just gets too complicated, with either too many people doing bad things like poisoning, histories that are overly complicated, and overall just a tangled web that I don't really care about--again, because there's no stakes tied to our main characters.

Now...here I felt that it wasn't really misstep, especially as I'm not sensing the intention around giving us a complicated plot just for the sake of doing so. No, the author really tried to make things interesting, and so I have to respect that. Honest.

BUT

While having a complicated plot is well and dandy and a pretty good tactic to get readers back onboard, again, there has to be some stakes to the main characters. They're the ones that we've developed connections with, and so they're the ones we care about! What happens to new character A, B, or C may very well be complicated and offhandedly interesting, but if our main characters from the previous book are just kind of bystanders and observers to everything, does it really matter how complex and tangled the plot web gets?

No sense of urgency = more yawns than gasps of surprise = not interested.

So...I hope it makes sense how I'm describing this, but the bottom line is that while the mystery element is pretty interesting, I just didn't feel like caring for following it because it didn't involve the main characters enough for me, and had me questioning why they're bothering to get involved as opposed to just sunbathing on the beach or something. I mean, don't get me wrong: cozy mystery protagonists ARE supposed to be nosy and uphold justice and whatnot; but this means very little unless it's paired with them getting targeted or hired at some point to get involved, or at least have something that gives them a stake in the outcome of the case. Curiosity alone IS NOT ENOUGH. (In fact, the only place where it IS enough to be the motivation for the entire plot is in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland , and that doesn't compare to a cozy mystery.)

All in all and to conclude, I would say that this is a step in the right direction to heal the wrongs done by the previous book in the series. My advice moving forward though would be to just involve Penelope and her friends a bit more next time, in giving them a reason for doing what they're doing. Just put more of them and their character descriptions and developments in the plot, and you've got something that's more engaging when paired with a complex mystery, as this has been.

(Oh, and final note here, but the ending was rather abrupt--a quick change or adding in a few more lines instead of just ending off on that dialogue would be more effective.)

Well, that's my two cents overall.

[KathleenWH · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best of the Penelope Bank’s books to date

I greatly enjoy the Penelope Bank’s books.

She also seems to be a person who takes her own future by the horns, as it
were, beginning with gambling her way to a form of freedom.

This is the most substantial of the Penelope Bank’s books, and the most complicated.

Some readers may have issues with the ambiguous nature of the Epilogue,
but Clark has left the details hazy and uncertain.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review Pen Banks 12

Wow. Talk about twisted! Great plotting, well written. Strong and compelling characterization. I really like the irony also. Good job!

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's All Relative

Good story. A little bit Agatha Christie and a wee bit of F. Scott Fitzgerald. The twists and turns kept me guessing. Let's go to Antibes!

[Callie Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best one yet

I liked this one the best so far!! Having the multiple ways to kill & suspects made it really intriguing to me.

As always I can't wait for the next one!!

[Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

After being away from this series for awhile, it was nice being reunited with Penelope and friends which goes to show that it can be a standalone or being able to pick up after all these years.

The storyline overall that was kicked off with the first murder of hated by many Vera Tynebrooke was riveting enough with parts of it a hint that I recall similar to another mystery I have seen, Agatha Christie maybe?

However, with two overall murders, so many moving parts, and theories, it was a bit difficult at the end to understand who the culprit or culprits is supposedly and if anyone actually got away with murder. I'm still not 100% sure or am a fan of the ending.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mrs Vera Tynehook - wealthy, manipulative, determined, obnoxious, believes that money is the answer to any problem so when Pen refused to investigate the "curse" on her newly acquired hotel as Pen and her friends were on holiday, Vera was not happy. And everyone knew that it was only a matter of time before Vera found Pen's Archilles heel with which she would use to twist Pen's arm. But she never got that far because someone made sure that Vera stopped all her bullying.

Intriguing, complicated and exciting. Well written and cleverly plotted. Good read

[Larry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a strange story with lots of angst and people doing horrible things to each other. Thankfully, the Penelope crew was not part of it, except for trying to get the answers. The plot is straightforward, and the premise is finding out who killed the horrible Vera and why. The answers revealed a lot of vindictive and manipulative people. I highly recommend this book.

[Lonny Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Colette Clark has written one of the twistest cozies I have ever had the pleasure of reading. You may have to back track to figure who did what to whom. Really good.

[Lass Loda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Guessed the 'reveal' early on, which somewhat dampened my enthusiasm for the rest of the story

[Deborah Ortega · Rating 5 out of 5]

Penelope Banks and her Fiance and her Cousin and Friends are on holiday in Cote d'Azur France. The weather is wonderful, there are lots of Americans there and she has been invited to a Party at a Wealthy Socialite's Hotel. She excepts after some urging that the parties are very fun although the Hostess is very disagreeable. While there the Hostess collapses after she drinks from a glass and dies instantly. What a wonderful story it captivated my interest and kept me reading. I enjoyed this story and would recommend it.