Marie Claude Gagnon
Based on a real case that had a big impact on France, this book tells the story of a lawyer who finds himself in an undercover mission, trying to prove the innocence of Dreyfus who is accused of treason.
Before meeting “Mr Dreyfus' good friend”, Dubon's life was simple: he had his law practice and he met his wife for dinner after a visit to his mistress. But now, all bets are off, he's late for dinner, his mistress is ready to trade him for another and he's running around the city trying to avoid people he knows. And what about his new choice of clothes?
I have always loved historical novels, and this one did not disappoint me.
A young woman who has everything to be happy, but still is not, takes a little too long to learn what life is really about.
It seems to be a trend the last few years to put over the top, clueless, sometimes really unlovable characters as heroes. Sometimes it is well done (as in Kinsella's shopaholic), and sometimes, like in this book, it leaves me a little... unsatisfied. There were some good moments, but I had difficulties with some inconsistencies, for example, how can they survive for almost 2 years without her salaries, his editing house not making money, and her spending all that money on the nanny?!?
The Heights is about a couple, Kate and Tim, and the impact the arrival of a new neighbor has on their life. Tim is a teacher and Kate a stay-at-home mother when they meet Anna, a woman who seems to have it all. When Kate is offered to go back to work, Tim decides it's high time he works on his dissertation and it's his turn to stay home with their two sons. Anna is about to teach them what is important in life...
The novel is written in short chapters, alternating between Kate and Tim as narrator, with some incursions from other characters. I so wanted to love that novel, but it never really reached my expectations... some scenes sounded so real (especially scenes with and about the kids) while some other situations were cliché and “felt wrong”.
Flavia de Luce is back!
Flavia is a precocious little girl whose passions are chemistry and... mystery solving. In this second installment, she meets a puppeteer who may have more secrets than tricks in his bag. His visit to town brings joy to all the children, small and tall, but also wakes up the sad memories of the death by hanging of a local boy.
I love Flavia! She's smart, curious and have great observation skills. And is still having problems with her big sisters. This second novel in the series is a little different from the first in that the murder does not happen for some time and so we know more of the victim when he dies. It was also interesting to meet more of Flavia's neighbors.
I read the first in the series a few months back because the title intrigued me and was really excited that the Flavia was back. And my excitement was not for nothing. This second installment is as fun as the first and I cannot wait for my next meeting with Flavia and company. I warmly recommend this series.
In a small Finland town, a beautiful actress has been brutally murdered and her body left in the snow on a deer farm. Kari Vaara, the lead detective, must answer a difficult question in racism-sensible Finland: was Sufia Elmi killed because she was a woman or because she was black? Even if her family says that Sufia was a virgin, Vaara soon finds out evidence that she had more than one lover. Among them figures the man his ex-wife left him for, which opens old wounds and may put him in a very uncomfortable position. The investigation takes place during mid-December, and the country is in the dark about 24 hours a day. Vaara's personal life is also put to the test when his new wife, an American, has a hard time adjusting to pregnancy and winter in Finland.
Having always been interested in books taking placing in other countries, I was not disappointed by the description and characterization of Finland: you can feel the claustrophobic depression brought by the absence of sunlight and the extreme cold. It is easy to understand why people drink so much and are hard. Relationships, especially couples, are sculpted by the harshness of the elements and alcohol. In the book, when a wife kills her husband, the surprise comes from the fact that she waited that long and not that she'd done it.
Sadly, the rest of the book is not as good. Too many coincidences can kill a mystery, and that's the case here. It seems that about every event in Vaara's life has a link or an impact on the investigation, from his ex-wife leaving him for a wealthy man, to his assistant's son's suicide. Also, I had a hard time believing in most of the female characters' reactions, especially Vaara's new wife. Even in such a hard environment, A woman who has grown up in a more clement climate would not react as a man would...
Liza is a publicist and a sudoku passionate, who after getting tired of Hollywood life decided to go back to the small town where she grew up, Maiden's Bay. Jenny is a young actress, represented by Liza, who had a really bad experience in Mayden's Bay, experience a director is set to use to give more dimension to her interpretation in a movie that is filmed on location. Liza needs all her talents to help Jenny when one of the movie's major is found dead...
Liza write a column on sudoku in the local newspaper and one of these columns is provided at the beginning of each chapter of the book, which I enjoy. I enjoyed the first book in this series, but this time, the fun was not as present. Some of the characters were weak (I guess playing with somebody's head is not as easy to render in a cozy book as the author thought) and I had a hard time with the end of the book (not the solution itself, but rather how the guilty was outed by Liza). I will probably check for the third at the library anyway.
A Young Argentinian mathematician is going to Oxford on a grant. Sometime after meeting is new landlady and her grand-daughter he finds her death. A note listing her death as “first in the series” is left for a math professor. Will the mathematicians be able to find the solution and stop a killer.
Even if maths and series are an important part of the story, knowledge of advanced maths is absolutely not necessary to understand and even solve the mystery. It is a good and fast read (less than 200 pages).
Michael Seeley is an attorney specializing in intellectual property. His life is not going so well lately: his wife has left him, as are his paying clients, he drinks too much and an angry judge wants to see him disbarred. So maybe getting away for some days to work on an Error and omission report for a movie studio would be a good idea... But things are not so easy when he discovers that the author of a scenario in issues may not be the real author... As Seeley goes to Europe to meet with the real author so he can sign an authorship declaration, he also must face his own reality.
As an intellectual property manager, I was really interested in that book. I enjoyed it and am looking forward for the next in the series.
Life is not easy for white witch bounty hunter Rachel Morgan, she lives with a vampire, her boyfriend has the bad habit of calling a demon, her clients don't always pay, and her demon mark reacts really strongly to vampires. And now ley line witches are killed...
I just love that series :o) Action, suspense, humor and a little romance... everything is there! Rachel is a white witch with principles but she has to face reality and must accept to sometimes go against her values to survive and, as importantly, help her friends survive. In this book, she also learns more about her past and her father. I can't wait to read the next installment in that series (but I have to wait until my books are unpacked)...
Tricia Miles is brand new in Stoneham, NJ and when Doris Gleason, the owner of the cookbook store, the neighbor of her own mystery bookstore, is killed, Tricia soon becomes the first suspect.
I enjoyed reading this book since I felt I learned a lot about Tricia, her sister and other characters that will, I am pretty sure, be back in next books. I would really like to visit a place as the one described in this book: a town where many used bookstores offer different genres of books. I look forward to read the next in the series.
Michaël is 15 when he meets Hannah who's more than twice is age. For 6 months they are lovers, their relationship based on the books they share and their ignorance of each other's life. Their secret meetings stop abruptly when Hannah disappears. Years later their paths cross again: Michaël, now a law student, attends a trial in which Hannah is one of five accused. Observing Hannah's tentative to defend herself, Michaël thinks he has discovered the secret she has hidden all her life. To better understand the love he's never gotten over, Michaël decides to write their story.
This book tells the story of a man marked for life by his first love. But also shows the destiny of the children of those who participated into the Holocaust, the children of all those who obeyed or closed their eyes to the horrors of the camps. Michaël's story talks about emotions with the distance given by time, which adds to the feeling of detachment Hannah's secret obliges her to have. I loved that book.
Note: My review is about the French version of the book
Georgie is one of Queen Victoria's great-grand-daughter and 34th in line for the throne. But like a lot of aristocrats, she has the title but no money. So when the Queen asks her help to match the Prince of Whales with the young princess of Bavaria who is visiting, Georgie, as everybody, cannot say no. The problem is, the young princess, just out of a convent, is a little out of control and the prince is a lot more interested in Mrs Simpson. And naturally, death is once again on Georgie's path.
Georgie is a nice character: while she has been educated to being a lady, she also lives by her family's principles, never to run or surrender. What interests me most in this series is that it is set in the 1930's England, and mixes historical characters (such as the royal family) with fictional characters. It gives a good look at how people from different status traveled around, ate, clothed, in a word, lived in that era. I warmly recommend Rhys Bowen's books to all who love historical mysteries!
Sadly, I guessed one the responsible parties pretty early on in the book :o(