Murder & Mayhem in Pre-Revolutionary Paris

I got an Advance Uncorrected Proof of The Cavalier of the Apocalypse from the author in exchange for my review. It's the third in the Aristide Ravel series of historical mysteries set in Paris around the time of the French Revolution. The author Susanne Alleyn is a skilled writer, does impeccable research, and fashions clever mysteries. Since I'd already read and enjoyed her first two ~ Game of Patience and Treasury of Regrets ~ I was sure I would similarly enjoy this one.

I was wrong. I didn't just enjoy this novel ~ I LOVED it! In fact, I gobbled it down in two evenings, both nights reading way past my bedtime, and then, as soon as I finished it, I wanted to read it all over again. That doesn't happen to me very often, so you know this is one special book.

Okay, the story (no spoilers). In this atmospheric murder mystery, we meet Aristide Ravel, a young, somewhat dour and disillusioned writer who's down on his luck. To supplement his meager income, he begins taking commissions to write revolutionary pamphlets and dissertations against the excesses of the government and the unfairness of the laws, which is an activity that could land him in jail or worse ~ dangling from the end of a rope.

One evening, while helping put out a suspicious fire in a church near his lodging, Ravel runs into a man he knows slightly who turns out to be a police inspector. Not long after, he has occasion to meet up with Inspector Brasseur again when he loses his purse to a pickpocket, and a few days later, he is rousted out of bed and, at the request of the inspector, brought to an old cemetery where a horrific murder has been committed, ostensibly to aid in the solution of the mystery.

Without being preachy or textbook-y in the least, Ms. Alleyn brilliantly portrays life in Paris during the months leading up to the storming of the Bastille: the arrogance, injustice, and excesses of the royals and aristos and the corresponding grinding poverty of the masses which brought about an answering rage, rebellion, and thirst for justice that turned into the bloody revolution. She does this while, at the same time, delivering one ripping good story.

The novel is set to be released this month, so don't delay. Go to your favorite online store to pre-order (click the link above which leads you to a list of online stores), or go to the nearest brick-and-mortar bookstore on July 21 to pick up your copy. I'm going to ~ as gifts for some of my mystery loving friends. It's so worth it!

MORE Thrills, Chills, & Giveaways!

Life doesn't get much better than this! I've got three (count 'em, 3) copies each of two (yep, 2) unabridged audiobooks to give away, again courtesy of those wonderful folks at Hatchette Books. These are mystery/thrillers by some of the best-known, best-selling authors around today, and I am so excited to be able to offer them to my friends in the blogosphere.

First: THE SCARECROW by Michael Connelly, read by Peter Giles

If you aren't familiar with Michael Connelly, then you are in for a rare treat ~ an introduction into the world of Jack McEvoy (The Poet and this, The Scarecrow, his latest) by one of the best and most prolific mystery writers around today. Other mystery series by Connelly feature Harry Bosch (starting with Black Echo) and Mickey Haller (The Lincoln Lawyer & The Brass Verdict). I've read every one of his novels, as well as his non-fiction look at his experiences as a crime reporter, and cannot speak highly enough of him and his books.

Synopsis

Forced out of the Los Angeles Times amid the latest budget cuts, newspaperman Jack McEvoy decides to go out with a bang, using his final days at the paper to write the definitive murder story of his career. He focuses on Alonzo Winslow, a 16-year-old drug dealer in jail after confessing to a brutal murder. But as he delves into the story, Jack realizes that Winslow's so-called confession is bogus. Jack is soon running with his biggest story since The Poet made his career years ago. He is tracking a killer who operates completely below police radar--and with perfect knowledge of any move against him. Including Jack's.

To learn more, visit Michael Connelly’s website or become a fan on Facebook.

Second: CEMETERY DANCE by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, read by Rene Auberjonois

I may be the last reader of mystery/thrillers on the planet who has not yet had the pleasure of reading Preston & Child. That will soon be remedied when I listen to the audiobook of Cemetery Dance.

Synopsis

Pendergast-the world's most enigmatic FBI Special Agent-returns to New York City to investigate a murderous cult.

William Smithback, a New York Times reporter, and his wife Nora Kelly, a Museum of Natural History archaeologist, are brutally attacked in their apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side. As Pendergast and Lieutenant Vincent D'Agosta undertake their own private-and decidedly unorthodox-quest for the truth. Their serpentine journey takes them to an enclave of Manhattan they never imagined could exist: a secretive, reclusive cult of Obeah and vodou which no outsiders have ever survived

.
For more info, visit Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child’s website.

Both giveaways are open to residents of the U.S. and Canada with a street address to provide. Leave a comment letting me know which audiobook giveaway you are interested in entering. An extra entry (for the same or the alternate audiobook) will be yours if you also indicate what your all-time absolute favorite mystery/thriller is. Be sure to provide a way for me to contact you if your name is drawn. Contest ends at midnight on June 21, and a random drawing will be held on June 22.

New Falco novel: Alexandria!

UK Cover vs. US Cover - which one do you like best? I'm tending toward the British version because it's so much more, well, Falco-esque. You know, amusing and just a little risque. So, what do you think?

I am so excited! I just tumbled to the fact that Alexandria, a new Marcus Didius Falco mystery, is either already out or due out momentarily. Soon, I'll be able to revel in the company of my favorite detective of the ancient Roman world. Ah, life is good.

Plot Summary from the Official Website of Lindsey Davis:

My challenge here was to write a book set in ancient Egypt that would have no pharaohs, few pyramids, no respect for sacred cats, hardly any details of mummification rites, no duck hunts on the Nile, no peasants, no shadoufs and no Archimedes' screws.

Mission accomplished: Falco, Helena and their immediate family, including Aulus, go to Roman Egypt to see more of the Seven Wonders of the World. Uncle Fulvius and Cassius, later joined by Pa, are up to some pensioners' scam, getting in the way, while Falco looks into high academic culture at the Great Library. This is home to all the knowledge of the world - though when the corpses start appearing in the customary odd circumstances, it takes more than great minds to understand Who Did It. The academic world festers while management dithers, diplomats dose, undertakers fib and businessmen diddle. The Pharos is shrouded in mist and the Pyramids lost in a sandstorm. A sinister wind blows up out of the desert, adding to the hot air even before the arsonist sets things alight. Fortunately a mad inventor is on hand – and Falco just happens to know how his most useful invention works...

This is the one with the crocodile.

Flipping Out

From www.Borders: "Nora Bannister is a bestselling mystery novelist who buys run-down houses in Los Angeles. While her business partners turn the house into a showpiece, Nora makes it the scene of a grisly murder in her House To Die For series."

This is the first Lomax & Biggs mystery I've read, but it won't be the last. It's set in L.A. in the days before the real estate bubble burst, and opens with five LAPD detectives playing poker on a houseboat owned by one of them. The next morning, one of the cop's wives is found murdered, and Lomax & Briggs are assigned to the case. Though they work it hard and are top homicide detectives, they can find neither rhyme nor reason for the murder. Then a second cop's wife is found murdered in the same way, and it turns out both victims were partner in the house-flipping scheme. The stakes are raised even higher ~ since Biggs' own wife is one of the partners of the house-flipping consortium.

This is not deep like your P.D. James or even Michael Connelly. Rather, it's light and humorous ~ more like a Janet Evanovich or early Robert Crais. The plot is somewhat outrageous and pretty involved, but Karp manages to keep it from being too convoluted to comprehend by his clear, concise writing style. The chapters are short, and the action moves quickly, making it a fast read. The dialogue was true to life, and I found myself chuckling in amused appreciation several times.

The only thing that troubled me a bit was the almost banal treatment of the deaths of the women. These weren't scum whose deaths seem no great loss, such as those who often end up murdered in the Stephanie Plum mysteries, or strangers to the reader like many victims in P.D. James' mysteries. Although we never "meet" some of them until they are already dead, we get to know them through what is said about them prior to their deaths by their husbands and friends, and the banter between the detectives and others involved in the investigation seems a bit more callous than I like to think homicide cops are.

All in all, though, I enjoyed the novel and recommend it without hesitation.

The Girl Who Stopped Swimming Giveaway

Hatchette Book Group USA is again making it possible for me to host a giveaway. This time, the book is The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson, which looks at the darker side of Southern living.

In the words of Entertainment Weekly, it is "[a] ghost story, family psychodrama, and murder mystery all in one. Jackson's latest is a wild, smartly calibrated achievement. A-." I'll be posting a review here as soon as I read the copy that's being sent to me, so stay tuned!

Up to 5 copies will be given away, and the drawing will take place at midnight on April 15. As usual, this giveaway is open to U.S. and Canadian residents only, and the novel cannot be sent to post office boxes.

Good luck, ya'll!