Paris: Detective/Mystery/Thriller Fiction
Jan 14th, 2006, 12:21 PM
#2
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"Perfume" became a sensation in Europe when it came out in the early nineties. Written by a German author called Patrick Suskind and set in eighteenth-century France, it is the story of a genius maker of perfumes, who also happens to be a murderer. Very, very strange book, I could not put it down.
Jan 14th, 2006, 12:47 PM
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I have "Murder in Montparnasse. A mystery of literary Paris" on my bedside table, but it keeps getting shifted aside for more urgent reading (yuck), so I can't recommend it yet. Author is Howard Engel
Jan 14th, 2006, 12:49 PM
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Maigret, of course!
Have any of Fred Vargas's been translated into English yet? Daniel Pennac's "Malaussène" (or Belleville) romps certainly have.
Peter Lovesey's "Bertie and the Crime of Passion" imagines the future King Edward VII solving a crime mystery on one of his many private pleasure jaunts to Paris in the late 19th century.
Have any of Fred Vargas's been translated into English yet? Daniel Pennac's "Malaussène" (or Belleville) romps certainly have.
Peter Lovesey's "Bertie and the Crime of Passion" imagines the future King Edward VII solving a crime mystery on one of his many private pleasure jaunts to Paris in the late 19th century.
Jan 14th, 2006, 01:29 PM
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I can't answer your question, but you may get some ideas from this thread on another forum. Here's a link to the opening post of the thread: http://forums.delphiforums.com/PBPro...ges?msg=4291.1 The person who started the thread knows a lot about French detective fiction, so you might also find something good by looking for her threads involving books in which she posted.
Jan 14th, 2006, 02:15 PM
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I'll piggyback on grandmere’s recommendation of The World at Night and suggest another Alan Furst novel, Kingdom of Shadows. When I was looking for books to bring on a trip to Paris last November, I bought this one because the back cover quotes a review which describes it as "saturated with the topography of Paris". The spy thriller isn't usually my favorite genre, but reading the book while in Paris was a lot of fun.
A couple more suggestions:
Panama, by Eric Zencey (set in 1892, a fictional story in which the real-life writer Henry Adams becomes entangled in the Panama Canal scandal)
The Knowledge of Water, by Sarah Smith (set in 1910 at the time of a great flood in Paris). This is the second in a series; it would help to have read the first book in the series (The Vanished Child, which is not set in Paris) first, but it isn't necessary.
A couple more suggestions:
Panama, by Eric Zencey (set in 1892, a fictional story in which the real-life writer Henry Adams becomes entangled in the Panama Canal scandal)
The Knowledge of Water, by Sarah Smith (set in 1910 at the time of a great flood in Paris). This is the second in a series; it would help to have read the first book in the series (The Vanished Child, which is not set in Paris) first, but it isn't necessary.
Jan 14th, 2006, 02:41 PM
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Any of the Maigret novels by Georges Simenon should do the trick. And I second the recommendation for "Perfume." You might also like the rather bizarre "The Debt to Pleasure." Cara Black's first book is especially good.
For some lighthearted reading, try the Mounsieur Pamplemousse novels by the same author who wrote the Paddington Bear series. The books are a romp, featuring a Michelin-Guide-like inspector and his very large dog, Pommes Frites.
For some lighthearted reading, try the Mounsieur Pamplemousse novels by the same author who wrote the Paddington Bear series. The books are a romp, featuring a Michelin-Guide-like inspector and his very large dog, Pommes Frites.
Jan 14th, 2006, 03:57 PM
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I second StCirq's suggestion of Cara Black. I've read the 1st 3 so far: <u>Murder in the Marais</u>, <u>Murder in the Bastille</u>, <u>Murder in the Sentier</u>.
She has 2 others out right now: <u>Murder in Belleville</u> & <u>Murder in Clichy</u>. <u>Murder in Montmartre</u> is due out this coming March. I can't wait to read the last 3!!
The best part, for me, about Cara Black (and I hope I'm not divulging something I'm not supposed to) is that she corresponds with a very good editor friend of mine who is a regular poster on Fodor's! She'll ask my friend about various details on Paris, such what does a mailbox look like in such-and-such area of Paris. So reading her books is very personal to me.
If you love Paris, Cara gives some of the best details of it. One of my favorite scenes is a chase scene through the Marais around the area of the Place du Marché Ste-Catherine!
She has her own website that includes cool, edgy photos that she's taken:
http://www.carablack.com/
She has 2 others out right now: <u>Murder in Belleville</u> & <u>Murder in Clichy</u>. <u>Murder in Montmartre</u> is due out this coming March. I can't wait to read the last 3!!
The best part, for me, about Cara Black (and I hope I'm not divulging something I'm not supposed to) is that she corresponds with a very good editor friend of mine who is a regular poster on Fodor's! She'll ask my friend about various details on Paris, such what does a mailbox look like in such-and-such area of Paris. So reading her books is very personal to me.
If you love Paris, Cara gives some of the best details of it. One of my favorite scenes is a chase scene through the Marais around the area of the Place du Marché Ste-Catherine!
She has her own website that includes cool, edgy photos that she's taken:
http://www.carablack.com/
Jan 14th, 2006, 08:03 PM
#14
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Thanks for all the inputs. I feel like a kid in a candy store.
Info on the Maigret novels by Georges Simenon can be found here:
http://www.trussel.com/f_maig.htm
Info on the Maigret novels by Georges Simenon can be found here:
http://www.trussel.com/f_maig.htm
Jan 14th, 2006, 08:16 PM
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Hi, Beathchick:
Yes! I got to know Cara when she was writing her first book and she would email me and ask "what does a typical Parisian mailbox look like" and stuff like that. And then I met her in SF at a francophile GTG and she was so jet-lagged coming into SF from Paris she practically passed out in her salad (I really got a good appreciation then of the trip from Paris home to SF as opposed to the East Coast)....Anyway, I was often a third-party resource, too, for her books. A mutual friend in Chicago who wrote lots for the BonjourParis website would email me with questions for Cara - dubbed herself the Question Pest. So when I read Cara's books, I often smile at the details I second-handedly provided. I only hope they're correct
Yes! I got to know Cara when she was writing her first book and she would email me and ask "what does a typical Parisian mailbox look like" and stuff like that. And then I met her in SF at a francophile GTG and she was so jet-lagged coming into SF from Paris she practically passed out in her salad (I really got a good appreciation then of the trip from Paris home to SF as opposed to the East Coast)....Anyway, I was often a third-party resource, too, for her books. A mutual friend in Chicago who wrote lots for the BonjourParis website would email me with questions for Cara - dubbed herself the Question Pest. So when I read Cara's books, I often smile at the details I second-handedly provided. I only hope they're correct
Jan 15th, 2006, 12:57 AM
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Thanks for asking degas. I was trying to put this list together before I went last spring. I completely failed, but the guy in Shakespeare and Co put me onto Cara Black, and I got some of hers.
I did find the Vargas book "Have Mercy on us all" and liked it a lot- a bit wierd, but very of its place. So far I've only found one other in English and it's set in the Alps not in Paris- Seeking whom he may devour. I thought it was an easier read. There appears to be one other on Amazon, called "The Evangelist".
And I've been reading another set, based in Marseilles/ Provence, the name of which escapes me, but I'll come back to it.
In trying to track it down on line, I've found one by Sebastien Japrisot, who i recently read for teh first time and who was fantastice, and another set by someone called called Vincent McConner, one of which is called"The Paris Puzzle".
I also discovered that in the Amazon search you can search places against book types bring up untold possibilities Damn you!! Will you visit me when I'm bankrupt?
I did find the Vargas book "Have Mercy on us all" and liked it a lot- a bit wierd, but very of its place. So far I've only found one other in English and it's set in the Alps not in Paris- Seeking whom he may devour. I thought it was an easier read. There appears to be one other on Amazon, called "The Evangelist".
And I've been reading another set, based in Marseilles/ Provence, the name of which escapes me, but I'll come back to it.
In trying to track it down on line, I've found one by Sebastien Japrisot, who i recently read for teh first time and who was fantastice, and another set by someone called called Vincent McConner, one of which is called"The Paris Puzzle".
I also discovered that in the Amazon search you can search places against book types bring up untold possibilities
Damn you!! Will you visit me when I'm bankrupt?
Jan 15th, 2006, 06:22 AM
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Oui, oui, StCirq! Although I agree that Cara Black is a whiz it certainly doesn't hurt any writer to gain particular details of Paris from one who knows Paris so well (after over 60 trips to Paris, didn't you say?)!
