I love Louise Penny’s novels set in Three Pines, but she’s just as good in Paris. In All the Devils are Here, Gamache is in Paris awaiting his newest grandchild, when his godfather is critically injured in front of him. Knowing that this was no accident, no matter how the police are handling it, Gamache, Reine Marie, and Guy Beauvoir must look into his godfather’s past and present connections to find who would want him dead.
Good read!
Read 2022
Juliet Blackwell’s The Paris Showroom tells another side of World War II. Some of the targeted groups in Paris, were not sent to camps, but instead forced to work and shelter inside large department stores. There, the prisoners sort through art, furniture, and household goods; looted mostly from Jewish families when they were sent away. Capucine Benoit, imprinsoned, saved herself by connecting her father’s small feather fan business to the large fashion houses. Her estranged daughter was living with her paternal grandparents and living quite well under Nazi rule.
Different people made difficult and consequential decisions while trying to survive during this time and Blackwell’s novel highlighted an aspect that I was unaware of. Great read.
Read 2022
Cara Black’s Murder in the Bastille tells a dark story of Aimee Leduc who is savagely attacked and blinded on the way home from a dinner meeting. While trying to recover and adapt to her new condition, she must find out if she’s the failed attempt of a serial killer who was killed or if her attacker is still after her. The police can’t or don’t want to help since they’re convinced they have their attacker, but someone keeps coming after her. Without her eyesight, she requires the help of her partner Rene to do the legwork in the investigation.
This was a quick read with interesting details about Aimee’s new blindness and how she must cope.
Read July 2021
Sarah Morgan’s One Summer in Paris is a mid-life nightmare for Grace and an independent awakening for Audrey. Both Grace, a newly single 40ish woman, and Audrey, a high school graduate looking to escape her alcoholic mother, end up in Paris for the summer. They make a connection in Paris over books, language, and a shared need to be cared for.
Overall, the location is great, the characters are fun, but the plot feels forced or too neat. Its good for a summer, beach read based on the romances and Paris, but can’t be taken too seriously.
Read May 2021
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