France is the new Scandinavia?

At one of the panels at CrimeFest, it was said that France was going to be the new Scandinavia in terms of new translated crime authors. Whilst we're awaiting this (welcome) situation you can sample some new books set in France but written by North Americans.

Firstly, and I'm looking forward to this one very much, Canadian author M L Longworth has begun a series set in Aix-en-Provence a place I've not yet visited but want to. M L Longworth has been living there for the last 15 years. Death at the Chateau Bremont is published in the US in June by Penguin:


Set in charming and historic Aix-en-Provence, France, Death at the Château Bremont introduces readers to Antoine Verlaque, the handsome and seductive chief magistrate of Aix, and his on-again, off- again love interest, law professor Marine Bonnet. When local nobleman Etienne de Bremont falls to his death from the family château, the town is abuzz with rumors. Verlaque suspects foul play and must turn to Marine for help when he discovers that she had been a close friend of the Bremonts. This is a lively whodunit steeped in the rich, enticing, and romantic atmosphere of southern France.

I'm slightly sceptical about this next one (though willing to be convinced): Paris to Die For by Maxine Kenneth which features Jackie Bouvier/Kennedy/Onassis as sleuth... Paris to Die For is published by Grand Central Publishing in July in the US.

Inspired by an actual letter in the John F. Kennedy Library written by Jackie and revealing her job offer from the newly formed CIA

Young Jacqueline Bouvier's first CIA assignment was supposed to be simple: Meet with a high-ranking Russian while he's in Paris and help him defect. But when the Comrade ends up dead, and Jackie-in her black satin peep-toe stiletto heels-barely escapes his killer, it's time to get some assistance. Enter Jacques Rivage, a French photographer and freelance CIA agent who seems too brash and carefree to grapple with spies, though he's all too able to make Jackie's heart skip a beat.

Together the two infiltrate 1951 high society in the City of Lights, rubbing shoulders with the likes of the Duchess of Windsor, Audrey Hepburn, and Evelyn Waugh. Jackie, no longer a pampered debutante, draws on her quick intelligence, equestrian skills, and even her Chanel No. 5 atomizer as a weapon to stay alive in the shadowy world of international intrigue-and to keep her date with a certain up-and-coming, young Congressman from Massachusetts . . .

Will you be reading either/both of these?