Ron K. (WhidbeyIslander) -
Helpful Score: 1
The Paris Librarian
oy vey, reviewer said. WTF?
I wanted to read this because it was tagged Locked Room Mystery. It is the sixth in a series, but I had not read the first five entries. The author takes this into account by some exposition briefly explaining some of the characters previous adventures together, which I thought was unnecessary and boring. Who cares what they did before, just get on with the present tale.
The death occurs soon in the story, but since the hero finds someone with a key to the locked door, how much of a Locked Room Mystery can this really be? There is a sort of impossible crime aspect, but it's a little unbelievable.
Another slightly annoying issue is the repetition of the short French phrases, like: Bonne idee, Hugo said. Good Idea. I do not speak French, but could get the gist without the translation. Or just assume a Parisien is speaking in the native tongue and tell us what they said, but in English.
Although the writing was well crafted, I thought there were some passages that could have been cut, especially the clever repartee between Hugo and Tom, which seemed forced; and some of the tangents involving the two young women.
The plot that Hugo manages to unravel is complicated and although the clues are there I just found it all uninvolving.
oy vey, reviewer said. WTF?
I wanted to read this because it was tagged Locked Room Mystery. It is the sixth in a series, but I had not read the first five entries. The author takes this into account by some exposition briefly explaining some of the characters previous adventures together, which I thought was unnecessary and boring. Who cares what they did before, just get on with the present tale.
The death occurs soon in the story, but since the hero finds someone with a key to the locked door, how much of a Locked Room Mystery can this really be? There is a sort of impossible crime aspect, but it's a little unbelievable.
Another slightly annoying issue is the repetition of the short French phrases, like: Bonne idee, Hugo said. Good Idea. I do not speak French, but could get the gist without the translation. Or just assume a Parisien is speaking in the native tongue and tell us what they said, but in English.
Although the writing was well crafted, I thought there were some passages that could have been cut, especially the clever repartee between Hugo and Tom, which seemed forced; and some of the tangents involving the two young women.
The plot that Hugo manages to unravel is complicated and although the clues are there I just found it all uninvolving.
