Marilyn's Mystery Reads

It’s New Year’s Eve in Paris, but there’s nothing much to celebrate.  The year is 1940, and France has been occupied by the Germans for six months.

Henri Lefort, a detective on the Paris police force, is naturally very aware of the changes.  Not only the changes that are apparent to the city’s civilians–lack of food, Nazi police patrolling the city, citizens who are at home or work one day and not the next–but more subtle ones.

The French police are not the independent body they once were; now they are subordinate to the Germans.  The French no longer control the investigations, and the Germans are telling them what investigations to pursue or ignore.

Guy Remillon is one of the French who is cooperating with the invaders.  His job is to look into claims received from anonymous letter writers, called corbeaux in slang.  These letters may be written to report someone who appears to have more food than their rations would seem to allow them, people accused of hiding or aiding Jews, people who by their non-French nationalities are suspicious, or simple personal disagreements.  The slightest suspicion can lead to death at the hands of the Nazi police.

In this case, however, it is the investigator who is killed.  Remillon is filled with a sense of self-importance, that feeling strengthened both by his gun and the official credentials he carries.  He is approaching the building he’s looking for when the front door opens and a man steps out and confronts him.  Each asks the other what he is doing there, and before he can conclude his questioning, Remillon is shot dead.

The apartment building where the murder took place is where Lefort lives.  When he starts canvassing his building, Lefort uncovers several surprises.  First he meets Natalia, the young woman who tells him she’s the new custodian, replacing her uncle who returned to Greece immediately after the German invasion of France.  Then he goes to the apartment of Claire Raphael, who is “entertaining” a high-ranking German official.  Claire says she saw a man running from the building but can’t give Lefort any kind of worthwhile description.

Last he visits the apartment of the building’s most annoying occupant, Gerald Darroze.  Darroze claims he didn’t see anything but is quick to complain about other people in the building for allegedly making too much noise too late and buying food on the black market.  His lack of feeling for his fellow citizens and his statement that at least the SS “uphold law and order around here” definitely arouse Lefort’s suspicions.  In addition, when the new custodian tells him that Darroze threw out some garbage that made a loud noise when he deposited it in the trash, Lefort decides that he needs to scrutinize this neighbor more closely.

Mark Pryor has written another thrilling novel about wartime Paris.  Henri Lefort is a fascinating protagonist, a man with strong moral values that he fears may be eroding under the present conditions.  He is also hiding a secret that would mean the end of his career, if not his life.

You can read more about the author at this website.

Check out the complete Marilyn’s Mystery Reads at her website.  In addition to book review posts, there are sections featuring Golden Oldies, Past Masters and Mistresses, and an About Marilyn column that features her opinions about everything to do with mystery novels.