2.5 stars

This is the first Hugo Marston novel I've read and I look forward to others. Hugo heads security at the American Embassy in Paris. He's former FBI, a skilled profiler, and becomes involved in a mysterious murder. A friend who runs a book stall is abducted, the police seem uninterested, and there is a lot of tension. Drugs, rare books, a new relationship, the unraveling of Nazi collaborators during WWII. Hugo plunges into the mess despite admonitions from the Ambassador to stay clear. With the help of a semi-retired CIA buddy and a reluctant police detective, and a new love, much is uncovered. It's a fast-paced story that kept moving. And Marston does a fine job of providing nice details about Paris. Good read.

I breezed through this over two days because the story moved along at a comfortably fast pace and I wanted to know what would happen next. This is one of the many books, recommended by What Should I Read Next, that were slotted under the "mysteries involving books or bookshops" moniker, which tickled both my interests - mysteries and book shops.

This is my first Hugo Marston mystery and my first Mark Pryor book, and I liked it. What appealed was that Hugo Marston makes mistakes and he is a bit rusty on some of the skills he developed as an FBI agent but that aren't needed as the Head of Security for the American Ambassador and Embassy in Paris.

In other words, while he does rush in and save the day, he is figuring things out as he goes. That is where his friend Tom comes in, a retired buddy from the States who is former CIA. They make an entertaining team, Hugo rusty on some of his skills and Tom rusty on his body condition, being a bit out of shape from insufficient activity and too much booze. Hugo bounces ideas off of Tom, and Tom is good at, among other things, helping Hugo clarify his thinking.

No idea if some of the other characters join them in the next book but, not wanting to leave them out, the two that spring to mind as possible repeats are Claudia (a journalist) and Capitaine Garcia (with the French police). Not saying more about either of them so as to not give away any spoilers.

Not a bad story, but only two stars because the book is in dire need of editing. There are enough punctuation errors to be distracting. The pace is a bit slow. And I never did figure out when he discovered that the book "On War" went missing, despite re-reading his two encounters with Max.

This story was a bit Meh for me. I picked it up because I’m a sucker for books that involve anything to do with Nazis and WWII, so between the title and the synopsis then you have definitely got me interested. Colour me surprised when the Nazis and WWII was minimal at best, this was my first disappointment and then there was the stereotypical American with the French femme fatale and the book began to feel like a US drama where everything is solved in 45 minutes (1 hour with ads). I liked Hugo the main character but he wore a suit with a fedora and cowboy boots; (because he was from Texas) with that get-up any bad guy could surveil our hero without being seen no problem, between this and the author’s incessant mentioning the he was ex-FBI, if he said it once he said it a 100 times; cue new drinking game if I read any more of these books, it was all a bit of a turn off. The murder/mystery was an easy one to figure out with me yelling at the pages trying to make our hero hear me.

This book was however and great advertisement for French tourism.

Hmmmmm..... overall this was an ok read. I really didn't see any of the twists coming. It kept my interest for the most part, but I really didn't find many of the characters that likeable,one was killed, towards the end of the book that I liked. I think the twist, once revealed was a bit of a stretch. I have the second book of the series at home, and I'll get to it one day. I don't think I'll go on a search for book three though tbh.

Enjoyed this mystery set in Paris featuring Hugo Marston, chief of security at the American Embassy. While Hugo is using vacation time in the City of Lights, he visits a friend who runs a bookstall along the banks of the Seine. Later, the friend is kidnapped and Hugo works to try to find him. The mystery surrounds rare books, the booksellers union, with possible links to the drug trade. Hugo enlists help from his intrepid secretary, a friend from his past in the FBI, and an attractive journalist. I think some of the plotting could have been better, but Hugo is a likeable hero and I will definitely seek out other books in this series.

2023 pop sugar reading challenge-a book by a first time author.

Really enjoyed this book - good suspense novel, a little different than others I have read. Liked the fact that it was set in France. Will definitely read the next one