Murder on the Eiffel Tower: A Victor Legris Mystery by Claude Izner- Gallic Books (2007), Paperback, 304 pages [Our New Books - LibraryThing]
The Montmartre Investigation: A Victor Legris Mystery by Claude Izner - Gallic Books (2008), Edition: First Printing, Paperback, 304 pages [Our New Books - LibraryThing]
The inclusion of both of these books (courtesy of Readers' Feast on Friday before the C&J Festival) is one of those happy coincidences of remembering there are gaps in the collection, and translations becoming available. This series is one I've been keeping an eye out for so I was very happy to see both these books in the shop.
Now to find the time to read them....
The brand-new, shiny Eiffel Tower is the pride and glory of the 1889 World Exposition. But one sunny afternoon, as visitors are crowding the viewing platforms, a woman collapses and dies on this great Paris landmark. Can a bee sting really be the cause of death? Or is there a more sinister explanation? Enter young bookseller Victor Legris. Present on the tower at the time of the incident, and appalled by the media coverage of the occurence, he is determined to ?nd out what actually happened. In this dazzling evocation of late nineteenth-century Paris, we follow Victor as his investigation takes him all over the city and he suspects an ever-changing list of possible perpetrators. Could mysterious Kenji Mori, his surrogate father and business partner at the bookstore Legris operates, be involved in the crime? Why are beautiful Russian illustrator Tasha and her colleagues at the newly launched sensationalist newspaper Passepartout always up-to-date in their reporting? And what will Legris do when the deaths begin to multiply and he is caught in a race against time?
Murder on the Eiffel Tower is painstakingly researched, an effortless evocation of the glorious City of Light, and an exciting opening to a promising series of eight books featuring Victor Legris.
Its November, 1891. The body of a young woman is discovered at a crossroads on Boulevard Montmartre. Barefoot and dressed in red, she has been strangled and her face disfigured. That same day a single red shoe is delivered to Victor Legris' Parisian bookshop. Suspecting more that just coincidence, the bookseller sleuth and his assistant Jojo are soon engaged in seeking out the identity of both victim and murderer. In this third investigation set in belle-epoque Paris, we are drawn with Victor into the city's nightlife and the legendary Moulin Rouge immortalised by Toulouse-Lautrec, who features in the story. By the author of the best-selling Murder on the Eiffel Tower, this is the third in the award-winning series of Parisian murder mysteries which have collective sales in excess of 445,000 copies.