"THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT ST. TROPEZ," by Elizabeth Adler, St. Martin's Press, 391 pages, $25.99
In "There's Something About St. Tropez," popular author Elizabeth Adler has created a diverting novel populated with colorful characters, sun and sand, mystery and murder — the perfect beach book.
Mac Reilly, a private investigator to the rich and famous who also has his own reality TV series, and his fiancee, Sunny Alvarez, decide to ditch their Malibu digs and spend a romantic month alone in the south of France. Mac has rented pricey Chez La Violette in St. Tropez for the two of them.
When work delays Mac's departure, a put-out Sunny goes ahead. Sunny arrives at Chez La Violette in the middle of the night in a driving rainstorm and is greeted by a stranger wielding a sword. Nate Masterson, armed against what he believes is an intruder, is under the impression that he is the villa's tenant. Nate has made his fortune on Wall Street and has grown weary of his hectic life. He has rented Chez La Violette to "find himself." As Sunny and Nate try to straighten out the misunderstanding, more would-be tenants arrive. Belinda Lord, a Sharon Stone look-alike, is fleeing her rich, powerful, abusive husband. Billy Bashford, a Texas rancher, is hoping to brighten the spirits of his daughter, listless Little Laureen, a tutu-and-tiara wearing child of 8 who has been in a funk since her mother died a year ago. The merry band of travelers is completed by strange Sara Strange, a woman seeking shelter from the storm after she dumped her cheating boyfriend during a Mediterranean cruise.
It's clear the travelers have been taken in by a scam artist. Chez La Violette — creepy, crumbling and possibly haunted — is decidedly not what the brochure promised.
Mac arrives the next day, checks the weary travelers into a charming nearby hotel and vows to help out the "bunch of international misfits escaping from their real lives."
"And also, while you're at it, find their souls for them," Sunny says.
As Mac and Sunny investigate, there is more intrigue: There has been a nearby art theft and murder. Two Russian thugs appear to be after one of the misfits. And what happened to the mysterious Violette herself? The gorgeous Paris chanteuse of the 1930s built the villa and then disappeared.
Adler's fans will likely be delighted to read more about the adventures of Mac and Sunny, who appear in a previous Adler novel, "One of Those Malibu Nights."
The entertaining novel is light and fluffy escapist fare that will transport you to the beaches of the French Riviera: "He waved a hand at the golden sand beyond the restaurant where tiny waves lapped at the shore and tanned bodies reclined on beach mattresses, attended by young men in white shorts, who brought them drinks and set up lunch so they never even had to move."
Sigh.
It's a perfect read for a hot summer day when you're stuck at home, sitting in a lawn chair, drinking Diet Coke and cooling your feet in the kids' plastic wading pool.
e-mail: jwilliamson@desnews.com