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THE PARIS LIBRARIAN
by Mark Pryor
Seventh Street Books, August 2016
270 pages
$15.95
ISBN: 1633881776


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Mark Pryor's sixth Hugo Marston mystery feels like meeting up with an old friend, but it is also quite possible to read this book as a standalone. Marston is such a likeable guy, and even though his job is head of security for the American Embassy in Paris, he manages to spend this book looking into the possible murder of an old friend and helping a new friend gain access to some historical papers. There's a languidness to the book that fits with summer in a Paris that has become quiet thanks to so many of the residents being away on vacation.

The old friend, whose death is initially thought to be a suicide, is Paul Rogers, the titular Paris librarian. He was writing in a locked office in the library when he died, but Marston (who found his body) is nonetheless suspicious of foul play. When a second possible suicide, this time of Paul's longtime girlfriend, occurs, Marston immediately finds evidence that it was murder and somehow related to Paul's death. When yet another murder disguised as suicide occurs, the pieces start to fall into place for Hugo.

The new friend, Niki, is in town to work on a research project using an aging actress' papers which have just been donated to the library. Niki is convinced that there are secret papers beyond those readily available, papers that would enhance her research. While Hugo attempts to determine whether those papers exist, the reader is left to wonder whether there is a connection between the two story lines. Are the missing papers somehow connected to the deaths?

Pryor is an expert at characterization. Even the minor characters are fully fleshed out and are motivated realistically, while Marston is so real that the reader wouldn't be surprised to run into him at the local café. Equally alive are the Paris locations; to read the book is to smell and taste the food, feel the air of the city, and hear the language. While I would, of course, rather actually be on the streets of Paris myself, picking up the book transported me there for a few hours. The book is lightly written, with the feel of a story well told rather than high literature. Spending a couple of hours in the company of Hugo Marston is always enjoyable, and reading THE PARIS LIBRARIAN was no exception.

§ Sharon Mensing is the Head of School of Emerald Mountain School, an independent school in the mountains of Colorado, where she lives, reads, and enjoys the outdoors.

Reviewed by Sharon Mensing, July 2016

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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