The Père-Lachaise Mystery (2008) - Plot & Excerpts
I'm generally in favor of period pieces, in particular mysteries. I love Paris. And so I believed when I picked this up that I'd delight in a story set in turn of the century Paris. I might have been wrong. Victor Legris, a bookseller and part-time sleuth, is caught up the murder of his former lover when her maid comes to him in distress. She cannot find her mistress and believes she went missing in a cemetery, Pere-Lachaise, after trying to conjure up the ghost of her dead husband. Legris then chases down clues, looking for a mysterious spiritualist who may lead him to the murderer. My dismay at the book didn't have anything to do with the particular time period. It's hard to pin down any one thing as the culprit. There were several things about the story that were troublesome. I hate to go so far as to say annoyed. Perhaps the word I'm looking for is irksome or maybe nettling. I'm not sure. I did finish the book, although I admit to skimming quite a bit. Here's why.The authors, since Claude Izner is the nom-de-plum of sisters Lilian Korb and Laurence Korb, are apparently experts in the history of France at the turn of the century. And they aren't ashamed to let you know that they know their way around a map. Imagine reading several pages of "chase" scenes wherein you are given a detailed account of every single street in existence in Paris and every single landmark. And every single important historical figure (or even every single obscure historical figure) from the time that may or may not have lived on said streets. Just because Legris happened to be passing by their home or studio or wherever. It was boring and distracting. I felt like the authors really wanted to impress upon the reader their vast understanding of the time period. But they lost focus on the actual story while doing so. I get it. You know a lot (a lot, a lot) about Paris in 1890. But that isn't the meat of the tale, is it? At least it shouldn't be. Because if so, they wrote the wrong book. Then there is the issue of "what the what" just happened. Perhaps part of that can be chalked up to my skimming. But certainly not all of it. A little example. One minute a character is in at his employee's place and the next, he is suddenly at home and about to be bludgeoned by a murderer with a cane. What? It's seriously that choppy. Nothing leading up to how or why he got to his home or how the murderer knew where he would be. It was so abrupt. I'm still shaking my head over it. There are several moments like this throughout the book. I seriously didn't get what was going on about fifty percent of the time. There was far too much randomness to get it. On to the development of character and plot. The authors spent so much time on the details of the setting, as I mentioned, that they failed to really tighten up the mystery. It was just there. Nothing exciting or compelling. And it was loose, you know? Like details here and there about the mystery without any real meat. And the characters were meh...vanilla and bland. I admit the ending was a surprise, but that was because the authors did absolutely nothing with foreshadowing or character development, so when the murderer reveals him or herself, well, whatever. It was anticlimactic.And finally, what's up, Scooby-Doo! ending? Seriously. Bad guy revealed. Bad guy explains why bad guy did it. And pretty much ends with, "And I would have gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling kids!" Really? I admit that most commercial mystery/thriller novels end up all neat and tidy, wrapped up with a pretty little bow. But this was just silly. So that's it. Can't really recommend this. Unless you are into being bored by your mysteries and thrillers.
Review in portuguese by blog MON PETIT POISONSou apaixonada pela cidade, sempre tento dar uma chance quando algum livro fala algo sobre Paris, principalmente quando tem coisas a ver com a minha área – Arquitetura, por isso a premissa do livro me contagiou. Era uma boa pegada = Suspense + Paris + Inauguração da Torre Eiffel, um suspense leve numa cidade que curto e um dos panos de fundo seria a grande construção de metal que chocou uma época.A ideia do livro é boa, mas ela se perdeu em muitos momentos, e isso acabou rendendo um cansaço na leitura e muita vontade de querer desistir ou ficar empacando a espera de algo melhor acontecer na história. O excesso de personagens e a falta de algo mais elaborado acabou detonando um livro que poderia ter sido muito mais.Começando pelo ponto positivo, a idealização da época é o melhor, as roupas, meios de transportes, as habitações e como o povo pensava a respeito de muitas coisas foram bem retratados, então sempre que abria o livro era levada para essa ‘belle époque’. As autoras (sim, esse nome é um pseudônimo de duas irmãs que escreveram essa série juntas) realmente fizeram uma pesquisa detalhada, incluindo localizações e hábitos dos franceses.Os personagens são em excesso e foram mal aproveitados. Temos Victor, nosso personagem principal e quem vira detetive porque seu funcionário gosta de atualizar sobre os ‘causos’ dos jornais. Além disso, ele começa um 'affair’ e parece que sua escolhida sempre está nos mesmos lugares e momentos dos mortos. Seria ela uma assassina?Os outros personagens aparecem poucos, mas alguns são intrigantes e poderiam ter apimentado mais a história, uma grande parte é misteriosa e não sabemos se eles quem dizem ser, mas ficam muito de lado e acabaram sendo mal aproveitados.O final do mistério foi uma grande balde de água fria, durante o livro a gente descobre junto com Victor como as pessoas morriam, mas não os porquês. Porém, no fim o assassino conta o motivo e realmente foi tão sem graça e praticamente não teve muita ligação com tudo que foi mostrado na história. Se ele não nos contasse a gente ia achar que o crime era sem motivo, só por matar. A ligação entre o que foi narrado na história e aversão do assassino ficou e muito a desejar.A narrativa das autoras é muito ‘empacante’, não nos emociona e muitas vezes nos faz querer deixar o livro de lado. Acabamos seguindo em frente porque queremos saber o que de fato vai acontecer e como tudo vai se resolver, por isso é preciso paciência e perseverança para seguir em frente.O livro é daquelas séries que não são séries, ou seja, o personagem principal – Victor é o mesmo de outros livros com novos mistérios nesse período. Não sei se irão chegar ao país, mas a série tem uns 10 livros lá fora e os franceses curtem bastante.http://www.monpetitpoison.com/2014/11...
What do You think about The Père-Lachaise Mystery (2008)?
Well, this is the last of the three Victor Legris mysteries that the LA County has on hand. Yet a quick peruse over at Powell's shows that there are plenty more to be had. LA County, I am disappoint.It's not as if Legris and his merry band of odd confederates ever actually solves much (using the grey cells, as it were), but they usually manage to stumble onto the solution. But I am really becoming quite fond of the whole fin du siecle Paris mileau. Ah, Powell's, you nubile wench, I hear your call.
—Elderberrywine
Set in 19th-century Paris, a sleuthing bookshop owner, Victor Legris, reluctantly investigates the disappearance of his former lover whose husband recently died in Panama. Characters include a homeless man, artists, magicians, newspapermen, and people from all walks of life. It was fun to see Paris during that period and the state of police work at the time. I liked Victor and his friends. It might have been the fact that I was in the middle of an international move, but I didn't find the story as compelling as I would have liked.
—Heather
A decent mystery, of the kind that gives several clues to the ultimate culprit(s) but without giving enough away for the reader to solve it all within the first half of the book. It's reasonably translated from the French, for all I can tell, though a glossary of language rather than simply of references to historical people would be an improvement on this edition - little point in translating it into English if you don't also include translations of the phrases left in French. I knew what they were because I studied French at school and was good at it, but a lot of people would be stymied by the French phrases that turn up half a dozen times per chapter.It's a good read, though. I probably wouldn't buy it in hardback, but it's something interesting to take on a train or plane journey, entertaining enough to keep you coming back to it even if you might not read it all in one sitting. A very ingenious choice of villain.
—Tria
