[Sam Levitt 02] • The Marseille Caper

Lovable rogue and sleuth extraordinaire Sam Levitt is back in another beguiling, as-only-Peter-Mayle-can-write-it romp through the South of France.

At the end of The Vintage Caper, Sam had just carried off a staggering feat of derring-do in the heart of Bordeaux, infiltrating the ranks of the French elite to rescue a stolen, priceless wine collection. With the questionable legality of the adventure—and the threat of some very powerful enemies!—Sam thought it’d be a while before he returned to France, especially with the charms of the beautiful Elena Morales to keep him in Los Angeles.

But when the immensely wealthy Francis Reboul—the victim of Sam’s last heist but someone who knows talent when he sees it—asks our hero to take a job in Marseille, it’s impossible for Sam and Elena to resist the possibility of further excitement . . . to say nothing of the pleasures of the region. Soon the two are enjoying the coastal sunshine and the delectable food and wine for which Marseille is known. Yet as a competition over Marseille’s valuable waterfront grows more hotly disputed, Sam, representing Reboul, finds himself in the middle of an increasingly intrigue-ridden and dangerous real-estate grab, with thuggish gangsters on one side and sharklike developers on the other.

Will Sam survive this caper unscathed? Will he live to enjoy another bowl of bouillabaisse? All will be revealed—with luck, savvy, and a lot of help from Sam’s friends—in the novel’s wonderfully satisfying climax. 

About the AuthorPeter Mayle is the author of twelve previous books, six of them novels. A recipient of the Légion d’Honneur from the French government for his cultural contributions, he has been living in Provence with his wife, Jennie, for twenty years.

Lovable rogue and sleuth extraordinaire Sam Levitt is back in another beguiling, as-only-Peter-Mayle-can-write-it romp through the South of France.

At the end of The Vintage Caper, Sam had just carried off a staggering feat of derring-do in the heart of Bordeaux, infiltrating the ranks of the French elite to rescue a stolen, priceless wine collection. With the questionable legality of the adventure—and the threat of some very powerful enemies!—Sam thought it’d be a while before he returned to France, especially with the charms of the beautiful Elena Morales to keep him in Los Angeles.

But when the immensely wealthy Francis Reboul—the victim of Sam’s last heist but someone who knows talent when he sees it—asks our hero to take a job in Marseille, it’s impossible for Sam and Elena to resist the possibility of further excitement . . . to say nothing of the pleasures of the region. Soon the two are enjoying the coastal sunshine and the delectable food and wine for which Marseille is known. Yet as a competition over Marseille’s valuable waterfront grows more hotly disputed, Sam, representing Reboul, finds himself in the middle of an increasingly intrigue-ridden and dangerous real-estate grab, with thuggish gangsters on one side and sharklike developers on the other.

Will Sam survive this caper unscathed? Will he live to enjoy another bowl of bouillabaisse? All will be revealed—with luck, savvy, and a lot of help from Sam’s friends—in the novel’s wonderfully satisfying climax. 

From BooklistStarred Review “Totally fun” may not the deepest, most original way to describe the pleasure of Britisher Mayle’s latest joyous novel set in his adopted homeland, the delightful French region of Provence. But it’s an honest description. (His string of best-sellers started, of course, with A Year in Provence, 1990.) This new one brings back American sleuth Sam Levitt, fresh off the wine-theft case presented in The Vintage Caper (2009), this time getting deliciously involved in a development plan for an undeveloped plot of land along the Marseille coast of France. The thing is, one of the three finalists bidding on the development project won’t reveal his identity because of past bad feelings between him and the chair of the committee that will choose the winning project. So Sam is being asked to fill in as the presenter to pitch the anonymous contender’s plan to the committee. Sound simple? Well, of course, as straightforward as this basic switcheroo may seem on the surface, difficulties arise as competition goes way beyond cutthroat to become potentially fatal. This is sophisticated writing without a snobby tone (and that may be a more satisfactory description). HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: A large print run indicates that the publisher is aware of and responsive to the author’s great popularity. --Brad Hooper

Review“Oh, what a delicious little book this is…like an excellent meal at a beloved restaurant, you’ll savor every morsel, and you’ll be sorry to see it end.”-The Denver Post “Peter Mayle . . . whisk[s] you away on another wine-splashed, sun-kissed Provençal escapade in his delightful new Sam Levitt novel, The Marseille Caper.”            -The Washington Post “Totally fun…This is sophisticated writing without a snobby tone.”            -Booklist

From the Hardcover edition.