What do You think about Murder On The Eiffel Tower (2008)?
So, I found this book at my local library on a display of French mysteries. I have never read a French mystery before, and the plot seemed intriguing. So, I gave it a shot. I am not sure if there were things lost in translation or just that this novel was disjointed in places. I also found it odd that things which would be considered stereotypical were very evident in this book. I felt the love interest was competing head-on with the actual plot of this book. At times, it was unclear what should be center stage: love story or mystery. As I was trying to parse this out, I found myself swept up into the mysterious trail of clues and then I was off on the adventure! Again, I feel like some things just did not carry over in the translation. Allowing for that, I enjoyed the storyline. Fairly crafty and an enjoyable read set in an historical period. It ends with the love interest once again with almost ridiculous advances: see the girl, smitten by the girl, in love with the girl, must have the girl, need to marry the girl. This happens in days. Really?I will give the next in the series a shot later as I am interested to see if the authors matured in their writing.
—David Zerangue
Il Mistero di rue des Saints-Pères di Claude Izner [pseudonimo delle sorelle Liliane Korb e Laurence Lefèvre] è un giallo storico ed elegante, ambientato a Parigi nel 1889, ed ha come sfondo i padiglioni dell’Esposizione Universale e l’inaugurazione della Torre Eiffel.Il protagonista è Victor Legris, proprietario di una libreria in rue des Saints-Pères. Suo malgrado si troverà coinvolto con una serie di morti misteriose causate, sembrerebbe, dalla puntura di un’ape. Ma sarà davvero così ?Inizia a sospettare del suo socio in affari nonché secondo padre, il giapponese Kenji Mori ed inizia ad indagare nell’intento di scagionarlo. Andando avanti nelle indagini nascono sospetti anche su Tasha, caricaturista gli ha fatto perdere la testa.Il libro parte bene, ci si immerge nell’atmosfera Parigina dell’Esposizione Universale, la scrittura è scorrevole, ma dura poco. I personaggi, ad accezione di quelli già citati e di Joseph, il commesso della libreria, sono tutti abbozzati. La trama si perde nelle elucubrazioni mentali del protagonista, e gli omicidi sembra facciano solo da sfondo alla storia, quando invece dovrebbero esserne protagonisti indiscussi. La ricostruzione dell’epoca è senza dubbio la parte migliore del libro. Non mi sento né di consigliarlo né di sconsigliarlo, si può leggere, ma niente di più.Non certo un capolavoro del genere giallo.https://paroleinfinite.wordpress.com/...
—Elena
Mystère rue des Saints-Pères - Murder on the Eiffel TowerI generally have a problem when it comes to crime/detective novels. When almost every single person here in Sweden reads crime (Sweden has a looooot of authors in that genre), I'm like... meh.So my hopes weren't high when I started reading this French detective book - a bestseller... And it continued like that throughout the book. Nah, this just wasn't my cup of tea. Crime never is as I should know by now.My primary problems with the book were the main character, the plot and the writing. Victor Legris is the main character. He is a bookseller but instead of thinking about books, he gets too focused on women... He just can't let it go. The plot was very drawn out in my opinion. Too many characters to keep track of and too many murders. And the murderer wasn't that hard to figure out either. The writing is the biggest issue here. It's rather incoherent and confusing in several places. After a while I gave up on the details. I don't know if it was a bad translation or something...So this wasn't my kind of book. But maybe it will work for you if you're into crime/detective and love Paris. The thing I liked about the book was actually the environment and the French vibes it gave me.★ Actual rating 2,5 stars ★
—Cecilia
