Il mistero di rue des Saints-Pères

3.5 stars, actually. As the main character is a bookseller, I feel I had no chance but like this series. I read the second book first, and was very much entertained. Sadly, the first one isn't quite as good as the second one, and you often feel that Victor Legris, said bookseller and amateur detectiv Leggi tutto

International bestseller... REALLY? Maybe it was a bad translation, or maybe the characters were a tad flat (cardboard), possibly the story didn't flow, and just maybe it wasn't worth reading. I like to finish what I start, so if the story isn't nasty, dirty or yucky, I try to finish it. I should have Leggi tutto

I picked this up at a jumble sale in Britain last year after returning from a weekend in Paris and thought it might be all right. Then, as I started reading it, I realised it was written by two real-life Parisian bookshop owners, it featured a Japanese character, a bunch of tabloid journalists, run- Leggi tutto

Romanzo di nessuna velleita' letteraria, dalla trama gialla che all'inizio promette quasi bene, prosegue in un calando sconfortante e termina anche peggio. L'ambientazione poteva essere il punto di forza, stante l'inconsistenza dei personaggi ma si e' rivelata anch'essa superficiale e poco coinvolge Leggi tutto

It was barely okay. Read (or tried to) for book club. The most interesting thing about the book was the setting. Paris during the World's Fair- what a great place to visit in a book! Some of the little details, like the Golden Book which people signed to prove that they had ascended the brand-new Ei Leggi tutto

I dnf'ed this book. Or rather I skipped a lot of it. I read the first 30-40% and the last 10%, but I didn't even skim the middle. I just couldn't anymore. It's not that I hated anything about this book, just that I didn't care at all for any of the characters. Not did I find the mystery particularly Leggi tutto

3.5 Molto carino, un po' leggero forse, ma è molto particolare per l'ambientazione storica e geografica. Siamo infatti all'esposizione universale di Parigi del 1889, quella per cui è sorta la torre Eiffel. ^.^

This book is a splendid evocation of Paris during the Belle Époque, and Legris' frequent walks in various neighborhoods made me very happy indeed. The two women booksellers who write as Claude Izner bring their setting to life. The mystery is also a good one. By the time I pieced all the clues togeth Leggi tutto

I can't not read a book set in 1889 Paris, even if it's not the best. This was a quick read, it did hold my interest in the sense that I wanted to see how the authors would end it. An unusual murder method, lots of characters who were superficially memorable, but not much depth. The conceit which dr Leggi tutto

I suspect we all pick up a book looking forward to what is going to happen. So normally around page 50 a reader will be getting twitchy if nothing much has happened. Get to the end of the book and it still seems like you're waiting for something to happen and it's a very frustrating experience. Set