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Read Murder On The Eiffel Tower (2008)

Murder on the Eiffel Tower (2008)

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Series
Rating
2.88 of 5 Votes: 1
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ISBN
0312383746 (ISBN13: 9780312383749)
Language
English
Publisher
minotaur books

Murder On The Eiffel Tower (2008) - Plot & Excerpts

I had read a later book in the series, The Marais Assassin (#4), and really liked it, so I thought I would go back and start at the beginning. The sisters who write as Claude Izner have a lot of continuing characters in the series and I wanted to be sure that I had the entire backstory. Murder on the Eiffel Tower is a good start to the series. Some of the writing is confusing -- or maybe it's just the narrative itself -- but I found myself wanting to stay up late to read it, and that's a good sign for me. From my experience reading Book 4 and looking at reviews of later books in the series, I think it strengthens as it goes along. The hooks for me are: Paris; the time period -- this book is set in 1889, during the Paris Exposition; artists; lots of historical and atmospheric detail; booksellers and details about contemporary publishing; and some extremely interesting characters. Plus, the mystery was very clever and the solution entirely plausible. The authors are experts in nineteenth century Paris and the historical richness plunges the reader into the time and place. There's a wonderful short essay on the "Universal Exposition of 1899" at the back, which I read first, of course. World fairs are strange in and of themselves and this one makes an excellent backdrop for murder. The translation has some quirks, but that doesn't bother me. It reminds me that the book was written in another language. My biggest problem with both of the books I have read in the series is the main character Victor Legris, bookseller, photographer, and budding amateur sleuth. It's hard to know if my perception of the character is exactly what the authors intended, but I think by design he's a little annoying and boring. Much of the action revolves around Victor by necessity, but I wanted more of the other characters. However, as I learned from Book 4 in the series, other characters move to the forefront -- like Victor's partner and surrogate father Kenji Mori -- and Victor's new love interest, a young Russian artist named Tasha. So I'm sticking with the series. Next up: The Pere-Lachaise Mystery!

A close friend recommended this book, MURDER ON THE EIFFEL TOWER (ISBN 978-0312581619, trade paperback, $15.99) by CLAUDE IZNER, to me. She knew that I like books set in different times in history and in different places. There are more than 6 books in this series.Victor Legris owns a bookstore in Paris (a good start) in the year 1889. There is a World's Fair going on in the city to celebrate the Centennial of the French Revolution. The Eiffel Tower has just opened to the public and is the centerpiece of the celebration. Victor's surrogate father is Kenji Mori who also is his partner in the store. Their tastes are complementary in many aspects of life and the bookstore. The bookstore is thriving and has many loyal customers of diverse interests and personalities.Victor becomes involved with several mysterious deaths ascribed to beestings. Included among the victims are a rag and bone man, an American explorer, a Russian art collector, an aspiring opera singer and a nanny. The only link between them is that they all signed the Golden Guest Book on the second level of the Eiffel Tower. Suspects include a pretty, redheaded Russian artist, Victor's partner Kenji, the opera singer, the Russian art collector and other persons. Several of the characters are employees of a startup newspaper that is making major inroads in the world of Paris media with its sensational (think "yellow journalism") reporting.Along the way to the solution, we see life in Paris in the late 19th Century. Politics, performing arts, fine arts and politics are among the topics touched on. I found it to be very entertaining and I look forward to reading more books by Izner.GO! BUY! READ!

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

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