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Harris Stuyvesant #2
The Bones of Paris
In this thrilling new book New York Times bestselling author Laurie R. King, beloved for her acclaimed Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series, leads readers into the vibrant and sensual Paris of the Jazz Age—and reveals the darkest secrets of its denizens.
Paris, France: September 1929. For Harris Stuyvesant, the assignment is a private investigator’s dream—he’s getting paid to troll the cafés and bars of Montparnasse, looking for a pretty young woman. The American agent has a healthy appreciation for la vie de bohème, despite having worked for years at the U.S. Bureau of Investigation. The missing person in question is Philippa Crosby, a twenty-two year old from Boston who has been living in Paris, modeling and acting. Her family became alarmed when she stopped all communications, and Stuyvesant agreed to track her down. He wholly expects to find her in the arms of some up-and-coming artist, perhaps experimenting with the decadent lifestyle that is suddenly available on every rue and boulevard.
As Stuyvesant follows Philippa’s trail through the expatriate community of artists and writers, he finds that she is known to many of its famous—and infamous—inhabitants, from Shakespeare and Company’s Sylvia Beach to Ernest Hemingway to the Surrealist photographer Man Ray. But when the evidence leads Stuyvesant to the Théâtre du Grand-Guignol in Montmartre, his investigation takes a sharp, disturbing turn. At the Grand-Guignol, murder, insanity, and sexual perversion are all staged to shocking, brutal effect: depravity as art, savage human nature on stage.
Soon it becomes clear that one missing girl is a drop in the bucket. Here, amid the glittering lights of the cabarets, hides a monster whose artistic coup de grâce is to be rendered in blood. And Stuyvesant will have to descend into the darkest depths of perversion to find a killer . . . sifting through The Bones of Paris.
Paris, France: September 1929. For Harris Stuyvesant, the assignment is a private investigator’s dream—he’s getting paid to troll the cafés and bars of Montparnasse, looking for a pretty young woman. The American agent has a healthy appreciation for la vie de bohème, despite having worked for years at the U.S. Bureau of Investigation. The missing person in question is Philippa Crosby, a twenty-two year old from Boston who has been living in Paris, modeling and acting. Her family became alarmed when she stopped all communications, and Stuyvesant agreed to track her down. He wholly expects to find her in the arms of some up-and-coming artist, perhaps experimenting with the decadent lifestyle that is suddenly available on every rue and boulevard.
As Stuyvesant follows Philippa’s trail through the expatriate community of artists and writers, he finds that she is known to many of its famous—and infamous—inhabitants, from Shakespeare and Company’s Sylvia Beach to Ernest Hemingway to the Surrealist photographer Man Ray. But when the evidence leads Stuyvesant to the Théâtre du Grand-Guignol in Montmartre, his investigation takes a sharp, disturbing turn. At the Grand-Guignol, murder, insanity, and sexual perversion are all staged to shocking, brutal effect: depravity as art, savage human nature on stage.
Soon it becomes clear that one missing girl is a drop in the bucket. Here, amid the glittering lights of the cabarets, hides a monster whose artistic coup de grâce is to be rendered in blood. And Stuyvesant will have to descend into the darkest depths of perversion to find a killer . . . sifting through The Bones of Paris.
412 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
About the author
Laurie R. King
133 books6,662 followersEdgar-winning mystery writer Laurie R. King writes series and standalone novels. Her official forum is
THE LRK VIRTUAL BOOK CLUB here on Goodreads--please join us for book-discussing fun.
King's 2018 novel, Island of the Mad, sees Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes travel from London's Bedlam to the glitter of Venice's Lido,where Young Things and the friends of Cole Porter pass Mussolini's Blackshirts in the streets. The Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series follows a brilliant young woman who becomes the student, then partner, of the great detective. [click here for an excerpt of the first in the series, The Beekeeper's Apprentice] The Stuyvesant and Grey series (Touchstone; The Bones of Paris) takes place in Europe between the Wars. The Kate Martinelli series follows an SFPD detective's cases on a female Rembrandt, a holy fool, and more. [Click for an excerpt of A Grave Talent]
King lives in northern California, which serves as backdrop for some of her books.
Please note that Laurie checks her Goodreads inbox intermittently, so it may take some time to receive a reply. A quicker response may be possible via email to [email protected].
THE LRK VIRTUAL BOOK CLUB here on Goodreads--please join us for book-discussing fun.
King's 2018 novel, Island of the Mad, sees Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes travel from London's Bedlam to the glitter of Venice's Lido,where Young Things and the friends of Cole Porter pass Mussolini's Blackshirts in the streets. The Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series follows a brilliant young woman who becomes the student, then partner, of the great detective. [click here for an excerpt of the first in the series, The Beekeeper's Apprentice] The Stuyvesant and Grey series (Touchstone; The Bones of Paris) takes place in Europe between the Wars. The Kate Martinelli series follows an SFPD detective's cases on a female Rembrandt, a holy fool, and more. [Click for an excerpt of A Grave Talent]
King lives in northern California, which serves as backdrop for some of her books.
Please note that Laurie checks her Goodreads inbox intermittently, so it may take some time to receive a reply. A quicker response may be possible via email to [email protected].
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Shelved as 'abandoned-without-ado'
October 25, 2013This could be a classic case of 'it's-not-the-book-it's-me' but my patience is wearing thin at the moment. Even though the writing is excellent and the casual insertion of names like Dashiell Hammett and Hemingway as rising stars in the world of literature and inclusion of Sylvia Beach and Picasso as actual characters surely do much more than just grab the reader's attention, I am a little disappointed with the snail's pace at which the plot is progressing. And in a suspense thriller, the pace is of vital importance in my opinion. I may get back to this some day when I am in a more generous mood though. For now Raymond Chandler has my undivided attention.
September 6, 2013
The reading slump marches onward, as do I. I almost feel like the poster child for one of those anger management classes where we discuss our feelings and the source of our discontent and why we have problems dealing with our emotional issues and why we can’t get along and actually be productive, contributing members to society. I don’t have a valid reason for my current behavior, other than to say I’ve been disappointed and repelled with the current crop of books that has made its way onto my Kindle. Most of it is of my own doing, but I couldn’t say no to free books, and I wanted to broaden my horizons a bit with some different reads. I’d like to apologize in advance as I attempt to control my out-of-synch behavior and reach that happy place—that book loving utopia—that I know is out there waiting for me, but alas, I will not find with THE BONES OF PARIS.
That’s not to say this tale is a bad or horrid or evil or wicked or corrupt read. Oh, no, this novel held promise and writing talent and dangled both in front of me like the proverbial carrot, as my jaws snapped at the proffered present, and I clenched nothing but air between my teeth. I tried and tried and tried again to end up sucked into a world where Paris, France stood tall and proud and larger-than-life with characters who felt realistic and hopeful and truthful, and I ended up flat on my back with my legs sticking straight up in the air in a sort of bike pedaling motion.
Harris Stuyvesant proved to have one-too-may sticks up his bunghole, and try as I might, I couldn’t pull them all out without removing most of his personality in the process. While he was certainly an admirable character, I never felt emotionally connected to him, almost as if he stood at a distance, while I stood at an easel and politely provided a portrait. Nancy Berger and Sarah Grey, however, proved much more to my liking and every bit as entertaining as I had hoped poor Harris would be. The rest of the cast of characters proved both interesting and a bit off-putting in a snooty sort of air that left my feathers more than a bit ruffled.
The main plot proved engaging, but the sidebars and sidetracks and subplots and runaway tractor trailers kept me from ever being fully engaged in this tale. Instead, I stood on the side of the road with my thumb pointed upward, as this tale passed me by without even a second glance in my direction. And for a while the writing was good enough that it didn’t matter, but about a third of the way through I began to have my doubts that only snowballed downhill faster than a Model T.
I received this book for free through NetGalley.
Cross-posted at Robert's Reads
That’s not to say this tale is a bad or horrid or evil or wicked or corrupt read. Oh, no, this novel held promise and writing talent and dangled both in front of me like the proverbial carrot, as my jaws snapped at the proffered present, and I clenched nothing but air between my teeth. I tried and tried and tried again to end up sucked into a world where Paris, France stood tall and proud and larger-than-life with characters who felt realistic and hopeful and truthful, and I ended up flat on my back with my legs sticking straight up in the air in a sort of bike pedaling motion.
Harris Stuyvesant proved to have one-too-may sticks up his bunghole, and try as I might, I couldn’t pull them all out without removing most of his personality in the process. While he was certainly an admirable character, I never felt emotionally connected to him, almost as if he stood at a distance, while I stood at an easel and politely provided a portrait. Nancy Berger and Sarah Grey, however, proved much more to my liking and every bit as entertaining as I had hoped poor Harris would be. The rest of the cast of characters proved both interesting and a bit off-putting in a snooty sort of air that left my feathers more than a bit ruffled.
The main plot proved engaging, but the sidebars and sidetracks and subplots and runaway tractor trailers kept me from ever being fully engaged in this tale. Instead, I stood on the side of the road with my thumb pointed upward, as this tale passed me by without even a second glance in my direction. And for a while the writing was good enough that it didn’t matter, but about a third of the way through I began to have my doubts that only snowballed downhill faster than a Model T.
I received this book for free through NetGalley.
Cross-posted at Robert's Reads
July 9, 2013
The Bones of Paris: A Novel of Suspense opens in Paris in September 1929. Harris Stuyvesant, the former agent of the US Bureau of Investigation (later to become the FBI)is attempting to shake off the aftershocks of the case in the first book in this series, Touchstone. He is hired by the family of Philippa Crosby, a beautiful 22-year old American who has disappeared after living, modeling, acting, and socializing in Montparnesse -- and also after having a brief fling with Harris, which complicates his involvement as an investigator. As he attempts to discover what happened to Pip, Stuyvesant wends his way through the streets of Paris, meeting artists and other members of the avant-garde. His investigations lead him to the work of Surrealists such as Man Ray, who meet the devastation of the Great War by exploding the restrictions of rational thought, instead bringing dreams -- and nightmares -- to life in their work. Is it possible that this artistic movement holds the key to what happened to Pip? And did other young women share her fate?
I am notoriously picky about fictional representations of history (one of the dangers of being a historian), but in this case King has -- as usual -- done her homework. She brings to life the avant-garde community of Montparnesse, but does so within a specific cultural and historical context that helps to support her storyline. Stuyvesant is a personable protagonist, coming across as more uncertain and haunted than he did in Touchstone. While Bennett Grey and Sarah Grey make a late appearance in the novel, this is really Stuyvesant's case. During the course of his investigation, Stuyvesant interacts with a number of historical figures, including not only Man Ray, but also Sylvia Beach, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, and Ada "Bricktop" Smith, among others. Normally, this kind of namedropping makes me fidget a bit, but King balances these famous characters out with fictional ones, and inserts the famous characters seamlessly into the world of Montparnesse. Stuyvesant also meets Nancy Berger, Pip's roommate, an engaging character who helps to ground the plot (and Stuyvesant) in the midst of a storyline that becomes more and more macabre as the novel goes on.
The ending of the novel is rather far-fetched, but by that point I was so immersed in the world that King creates that I was happy to go along for the ride. Recommended for lovers of mysteries and historical fiction who are open to visiting the dark side of surrealism.
I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in return for an honest review.
I am notoriously picky about fictional representations of history (one of the dangers of being a historian), but in this case King has -- as usual -- done her homework. She brings to life the avant-garde community of Montparnesse, but does so within a specific cultural and historical context that helps to support her storyline. Stuyvesant is a personable protagonist, coming across as more uncertain and haunted than he did in Touchstone. While Bennett Grey and Sarah Grey make a late appearance in the novel, this is really Stuyvesant's case. During the course of his investigation, Stuyvesant interacts with a number of historical figures, including not only Man Ray, but also Sylvia Beach, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, and Ada "Bricktop" Smith, among others. Normally, this kind of namedropping makes me fidget a bit, but King balances these famous characters out with fictional ones, and inserts the famous characters seamlessly into the world of Montparnesse. Stuyvesant also meets Nancy Berger, Pip's roommate, an engaging character who helps to ground the plot (and Stuyvesant) in the midst of a storyline that becomes more and more macabre as the novel goes on.
The ending of the novel is rather far-fetched, but by that point I was so immersed in the world that King creates that I was happy to go along for the ride. Recommended for lovers of mysteries and historical fiction who are open to visiting the dark side of surrealism.
I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley in return for an honest review.
August 8, 2013
First Sentence: The envelope reached Bennett Grey early Wednesday afternoon.
There’s nothing to equal a powerful opening that contains evocative descriptions which paint mental pictures. We feel a connection to Bennett, even though we know nothing about him. King has captivated us and ensured our waiting to follow along, even if it is to a sex-scented bedroom in Paris.
Unfortunately, we also soon run into an issue which can be very annoying. Apparently, there was a prior book with these characters; “Touchstone”. Without having read the first book, one feels rather lost in understanding the character relationships. An even greater shortcoming is that neither the back story of the character in the prologue, nor the character himself, appears until much later in this book. Rather than being intriguing, it starts to leave the reader feeling lost and dissatisfied, particularly as he is one of the most interesting characters of the book and doesn’t reappear until nearly two-thirds of the way into the story.
Stuyvesant is the primary narrator of the story and an interesting one. He is a perfect reflection of the period, yet not someone you always like. He is the 1920s noir private eye, yet not so tough he is without vulnerability and self doubt. The relationship between Harris and Grey’s sister Sarah, and the scenes of them together are some of the most powerful of the story.
King’s dialogue has the feel of the period. You can almost hear the narrator of a black and white film from the period…”It’s always a shock, when someone cares more about a thing than you do.” King adeptly plays with the reader’s psyche. At the same time, she is very good at conveying the persona of whosoever’s POV controls each section of the story, and at conveying emotion…”The list was, in fact, a ringed notebook bulging with anguish and loss.”.
King captures Paris beautifully…”Paris obscured by snow or softened by fog, Paris adrift on fallen blossoms or carpeted in autumn leaves, Paris in the rain, at night, the lights streaking on the pavement ….” She creates a very strong sense of place and, as the art and artists of the time play a significant role to the story--and she does include almost every one of them who was in Paris during that time--, her descriptions may send one to the internet to learn more about the individuals and their art. This also, however, becomes an issue as some of the narrative sections become so long, the reader may start looking for the actual story wondering where the core of the plot has gone.
I was relieved when we did get back to the story but dismayed when I identified the villain fairly early on. While the climactic scene was suspenseful and dramatic, it was also a bit over the top with shades of Edgar Allen Poe.
“The Bones of Paris” has some great strengths but also some painful weaknesses. It is an interesting book and one I never considered putting down. Yet, I can’t help but wonder whether a much stronger editor would have solved some of the issues and made it a much better book. Please, authors, do use and listen to your editors. It’s unfortunately, as Ms. King is a very good writer and her book “Folly” will always remain as one of my favorites.
THE BONES OF PARIS (Hist Mys/Susp-Harris Stuyvesant-Paris-1929) – Okay
King, Laurie R.
Bantam, 2013
There’s nothing to equal a powerful opening that contains evocative descriptions which paint mental pictures. We feel a connection to Bennett, even though we know nothing about him. King has captivated us and ensured our waiting to follow along, even if it is to a sex-scented bedroom in Paris.
Unfortunately, we also soon run into an issue which can be very annoying. Apparently, there was a prior book with these characters; “Touchstone”. Without having read the first book, one feels rather lost in understanding the character relationships. An even greater shortcoming is that neither the back story of the character in the prologue, nor the character himself, appears until much later in this book. Rather than being intriguing, it starts to leave the reader feeling lost and dissatisfied, particularly as he is one of the most interesting characters of the book and doesn’t reappear until nearly two-thirds of the way into the story.
Stuyvesant is the primary narrator of the story and an interesting one. He is a perfect reflection of the period, yet not someone you always like. He is the 1920s noir private eye, yet not so tough he is without vulnerability and self doubt. The relationship between Harris and Grey’s sister Sarah, and the scenes of them together are some of the most powerful of the story.
King’s dialogue has the feel of the period. You can almost hear the narrator of a black and white film from the period…”It’s always a shock, when someone cares more about a thing than you do.” King adeptly plays with the reader’s psyche. At the same time, she is very good at conveying the persona of whosoever’s POV controls each section of the story, and at conveying emotion…”The list was, in fact, a ringed notebook bulging with anguish and loss.”.
King captures Paris beautifully…”Paris obscured by snow or softened by fog, Paris adrift on fallen blossoms or carpeted in autumn leaves, Paris in the rain, at night, the lights streaking on the pavement ….” She creates a very strong sense of place and, as the art and artists of the time play a significant role to the story--and she does include almost every one of them who was in Paris during that time--, her descriptions may send one to the internet to learn more about the individuals and their art. This also, however, becomes an issue as some of the narrative sections become so long, the reader may start looking for the actual story wondering where the core of the plot has gone.
I was relieved when we did get back to the story but dismayed when I identified the villain fairly early on. While the climactic scene was suspenseful and dramatic, it was also a bit over the top with shades of Edgar Allen Poe.
“The Bones of Paris” has some great strengths but also some painful weaknesses. It is an interesting book and one I never considered putting down. Yet, I can’t help but wonder whether a much stronger editor would have solved some of the issues and made it a much better book. Please, authors, do use and listen to your editors. It’s unfortunately, as Ms. King is a very good writer and her book “Folly” will always remain as one of my favorites.
THE BONES OF PARIS (Hist Mys/Susp-Harris Stuyvesant-Paris-1929) – Okay
King, Laurie R.
Bantam, 2013
November 18, 2013
I am very disappointed, because I usually love Laurie King's work. If one had not read Touchstone, the prequel to Bones of Paris, I cannot imagine developing any good feelings for the main characters at all. Fortunately, I read Touchstone immediately before Bones of Paris, so I was familiar with Harris, Sarah, and Bennett, their individual and collective histories, and their traumas, both emotional and physical. Bones of Paris reveals so little of this that Harris, in particular, could be seen simply as a drunkard and a cad. And that would be so unfortunate.
I found the first half to two-thirds of this book to be abysmally slow (even slower than Touchstone), and pretentious in its name-dropping (Hemingway, Hammett, Cole Porter, etc.) for no good cause in terms of the story. The final third moved swiftly, but ultimately revealed a grisly and gruesome finale to the mystery. I was sickened but not impressed.
I found the first half to two-thirds of this book to be abysmally slow (even slower than Touchstone), and pretentious in its name-dropping (Hemingway, Hammett, Cole Porter, etc.) for no good cause in terms of the story. The final third moved swiftly, but ultimately revealed a grisly and gruesome finale to the mystery. I was sickened but not impressed.
December 20, 2016
Paris, 1929. Harris Stuyvesant, a big blonde American with a crooked nose and a messy history, has spent the last three years moving around Europe, doing odd jobs and working intermittently as a private investigator. Hired by the uncle and mother of a young American woman who's gone missing, he moves to Paris to begin the search.
Philippa - Pip - Crosby is twenty-two and hasn't been seen or heard from since March; it's now September. She went to France like many of her countrymen, to have a good time away from the family influence and the watchful eyes of her own society back home, and had slid into the Parisian art world as so many do. Working as a model and aspiring actress, Pip Crosby's name comes up in connection to some important and distinguished figures in Surrealist art - like photographer and painter, Man Ray (from America); little mole-like Hyacinthe "Didi" Moreau who makes display boxes of carefully-placed odds and ends, many of them disturbing; and Le Comte Dominic Charmentier, an aristocratic war hero who lost his entire family and now puts his energies into patronising Surrealist artists and managing the Theatre Grand-Guignol, which puts on intensely disturbing, graphic and violent plays with intervals of slapstick comedy in-between.
Stuyvesant finds a surprising ally in a French police inspector, Doucet, who is working on a much larger case of missing people from various countries - mostly women, but some men - who date back to the year before. The deeper Stuyvesant delves into the murky world of gory, shock art, the more the truth slowly seeps in: Pip hasn't flitted off to holiday on some rich guy's yacht. She's dead. With the certainty comes a growing suspicion, encouraged by the finding of some photographs that show women in a state of abject terror. But who took them, and what happened to the women after? The closer Stuyvesant comes to figuring it out, the more his own life is at risk - and those of people he cares deeply about.
I don't often read detective fiction, crime fiction, mystery-suspense novels - I'm never sure what to call them exactly, but all of the above. The generic kind (popular fiction) are too simplistic for me, and I get bored with them very quickly. Not enough character development, or the kind of description that aids in building atmosphere, tension and suspense. My in-laws read them constantly, so I'm always seeing books by writers like Harlan Corben, Karin Slaughter, Lee Child, John Sandford, Tess Gerritsen, John Grisham, Vince Flynn, Patricia Cornwell, Kathy Reichs, and so on, lying around their house, but I've never been tempted to pick one up and start reading. I've read one Cornwell book and one Grisham book (for a course at uni, years ago), and wasn't impressed - they're just not for me. But The Bones of Paris is not cast of the same mould, not at all. This is historical fiction, for a start, and it is an atmospheric, highly detailed, very involved and intelligent mystery, one that connects with the repercussions of war, like post-traumatic stress disorder and amputations, and the therapeutic affects (or hypothesis of) shock art. This is brain food, not a by-the-numbers stock thriller or suspense story.
This was my first time reading anything by King, who is the author of the Mary Russell mysteries and many others. The first Harris Stuyvesant book is called Touchstone , set in London, and while The Bones of Paris makes connections with that earlier book - in particular Harris's lover, Sarah Grey, and her brother Captain Bennett Grey - it explains enough that their relationship in 1929 makes sense and continues to evolve, without giving everything away and spoiling the plot of Touchstone. Likewise with Harris himself: we learn a fair bit about him, and yet - in true mystery fashion - you know there's a great deal more that still lies hidden. His character comes through clearly: his pugnacity, or stubbornness, his sense of loyalty, even honour, his conscience and his somewhat clumsy empathetic skills. When we see him through the eyes of Le Comte, or Sarah Grey, or Bennett, we see a man you could dismiss as oafish: too big for slight, genteel Paris, too lumbering to be delicate or subtle, and yet Harris seems perfectly aware of his true state of being, and uses it to his advantage. He has that American quality - it comes through - of not caring what the locals think and just doing his thing regardless of how many feathers he ruffles in the process. He's reliable, determined, but knows when to back down and be a bit more flexible. He's an interesting character, not complex but not as obvious as he seems at first, either. Realistic, and human, and a convincing product of his time and personal history.
The setting is rich and tangible. Paris, fully recovered from World War I - or so it would seem: the scars and cracks of sanity are well hidden. The city is awash in foreigners, artists and writers and the rich making the most of the strong dollar to make the city their own. Stuyvesant predicts a market crash, and thinks Paris would be better off without all the ex-pats, who have altered the city in noticeable ways. Historical figures like Ernest Hemingway, Coco Chanel, Cole Porter, Josephine Baker, Sylvia Beach, Man Ray - they litter the narrative, giving the period it's set in solidity and presence, authenticity and that touch of glam. The period details are well researched, right down to Stuyvesant's throwaway thought regarding halitosis - a "condition" that was invented, so to speak, in the 1920s as a way of selling Listerine as something other than a liquid for sterilising surgical implements (prior to this highly successful marketing campaign, no one had any concept of good vs. bad breath - hard to imagine now, I know).
And of course there's Paris itself, a city built of limestone quarried from right underneath it, so that parts of it caved in in the 18th century, leading to an inventive solution. The city took the many bones from an overflowing cemetery that had already been closed (bodies would be thrown into pits and not covered over until full, when a new one would start, rotting freely in the open), and moved them to the mines, using them to make solid walls and foundations for the city. I've been to Paris once before but didn't even know about it; it would be quite the thing to see!
But this visual, of a city practically made of bones, of the beautiful bones of Paris and the empire of Death - it all resounds throughout the story, creating or adding to the growing tension and suspense, and making of the City of Light a city of darkness, of dark alleys and late nights falling down drunk, a city of murder and madness. A city with some complex truths hiding under its pretty surface façade. This idea complements, or is juxtaposed to, the women in Stuyvesant's life, the women who go missing and turn up dead. He spent five nights with Pip Crosby in Nice when she was passing through (he was working at a bar as a bouncer), and never thought to look beneath the surface of her pretty face and bright eyes. Same with Lulu, an amateur night walker with two little kids under the care of their grandmother, who he sleeps with when he first arrives in Paris and who later turns up dead. He never knew she had children, didn't know anything about her. Just saw her face and heard her laugh and thought, Why not? Such is the way the ex-pats treat Paris itself, like a sparkling lady who has much to give but goes no deeper than the stones under one's feet.
That's what I meant by calling this "brain food": a novel that engages and works with your many senses and your mind, and while it is quite a long novel and might be too rich in detail for some readers, it never felt bogged down or slow. It kept its pacing steady until the end, when it becomes nice and taut, and doesn't ever feel monotonous or tedious by the simple delight that there is so much to learn here. I felt like I'd just sat through the most fascinating art history lecture ever. What better way to learn about such things than in the hands of a skilled storyteller? None for my money.
My thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book via France Book Tours.
Philippa - Pip - Crosby is twenty-two and hasn't been seen or heard from since March; it's now September. She went to France like many of her countrymen, to have a good time away from the family influence and the watchful eyes of her own society back home, and had slid into the Parisian art world as so many do. Working as a model and aspiring actress, Pip Crosby's name comes up in connection to some important and distinguished figures in Surrealist art - like photographer and painter, Man Ray (from America); little mole-like Hyacinthe "Didi" Moreau who makes display boxes of carefully-placed odds and ends, many of them disturbing; and Le Comte Dominic Charmentier, an aristocratic war hero who lost his entire family and now puts his energies into patronising Surrealist artists and managing the Theatre Grand-Guignol, which puts on intensely disturbing, graphic and violent plays with intervals of slapstick comedy in-between.
Stuyvesant finds a surprising ally in a French police inspector, Doucet, who is working on a much larger case of missing people from various countries - mostly women, but some men - who date back to the year before. The deeper Stuyvesant delves into the murky world of gory, shock art, the more the truth slowly seeps in: Pip hasn't flitted off to holiday on some rich guy's yacht. She's dead. With the certainty comes a growing suspicion, encouraged by the finding of some photographs that show women in a state of abject terror. But who took them, and what happened to the women after? The closer Stuyvesant comes to figuring it out, the more his own life is at risk - and those of people he cares deeply about.
I don't often read detective fiction, crime fiction, mystery-suspense novels - I'm never sure what to call them exactly, but all of the above. The generic kind (popular fiction) are too simplistic for me, and I get bored with them very quickly. Not enough character development, or the kind of description that aids in building atmosphere, tension and suspense. My in-laws read them constantly, so I'm always seeing books by writers like Harlan Corben, Karin Slaughter, Lee Child, John Sandford, Tess Gerritsen, John Grisham, Vince Flynn, Patricia Cornwell, Kathy Reichs, and so on, lying around their house, but I've never been tempted to pick one up and start reading. I've read one Cornwell book and one Grisham book (for a course at uni, years ago), and wasn't impressed - they're just not for me. But The Bones of Paris is not cast of the same mould, not at all. This is historical fiction, for a start, and it is an atmospheric, highly detailed, very involved and intelligent mystery, one that connects with the repercussions of war, like post-traumatic stress disorder and amputations, and the therapeutic affects (or hypothesis of) shock art. This is brain food, not a by-the-numbers stock thriller or suspense story.
This was my first time reading anything by King, who is the author of the Mary Russell mysteries and many others. The first Harris Stuyvesant book is called Touchstone , set in London, and while The Bones of Paris makes connections with that earlier book - in particular Harris's lover, Sarah Grey, and her brother Captain Bennett Grey - it explains enough that their relationship in 1929 makes sense and continues to evolve, without giving everything away and spoiling the plot of Touchstone. Likewise with Harris himself: we learn a fair bit about him, and yet - in true mystery fashion - you know there's a great deal more that still lies hidden. His character comes through clearly: his pugnacity, or stubbornness, his sense of loyalty, even honour, his conscience and his somewhat clumsy empathetic skills. When we see him through the eyes of Le Comte, or Sarah Grey, or Bennett, we see a man you could dismiss as oafish: too big for slight, genteel Paris, too lumbering to be delicate or subtle, and yet Harris seems perfectly aware of his true state of being, and uses it to his advantage. He has that American quality - it comes through - of not caring what the locals think and just doing his thing regardless of how many feathers he ruffles in the process. He's reliable, determined, but knows when to back down and be a bit more flexible. He's an interesting character, not complex but not as obvious as he seems at first, either. Realistic, and human, and a convincing product of his time and personal history.
The setting is rich and tangible. Paris, fully recovered from World War I - or so it would seem: the scars and cracks of sanity are well hidden. The city is awash in foreigners, artists and writers and the rich making the most of the strong dollar to make the city their own. Stuyvesant predicts a market crash, and thinks Paris would be better off without all the ex-pats, who have altered the city in noticeable ways. Historical figures like Ernest Hemingway, Coco Chanel, Cole Porter, Josephine Baker, Sylvia Beach, Man Ray - they litter the narrative, giving the period it's set in solidity and presence, authenticity and that touch of glam. The period details are well researched, right down to Stuyvesant's throwaway thought regarding halitosis - a "condition" that was invented, so to speak, in the 1920s as a way of selling Listerine as something other than a liquid for sterilising surgical implements (prior to this highly successful marketing campaign, no one had any concept of good vs. bad breath - hard to imagine now, I know).
And of course there's Paris itself, a city built of limestone quarried from right underneath it, so that parts of it caved in in the 18th century, leading to an inventive solution. The city took the many bones from an overflowing cemetery that had already been closed (bodies would be thrown into pits and not covered over until full, when a new one would start, rotting freely in the open), and moved them to the mines, using them to make solid walls and foundations for the city. I've been to Paris once before but didn't even know about it; it would be quite the thing to see!
But this visual, of a city practically made of bones, of the beautiful bones of Paris and the empire of Death - it all resounds throughout the story, creating or adding to the growing tension and suspense, and making of the City of Light a city of darkness, of dark alleys and late nights falling down drunk, a city of murder and madness. A city with some complex truths hiding under its pretty surface façade. This idea complements, or is juxtaposed to, the women in Stuyvesant's life, the women who go missing and turn up dead. He spent five nights with Pip Crosby in Nice when she was passing through (he was working at a bar as a bouncer), and never thought to look beneath the surface of her pretty face and bright eyes. Same with Lulu, an amateur night walker with two little kids under the care of their grandmother, who he sleeps with when he first arrives in Paris and who later turns up dead. He never knew she had children, didn't know anything about her. Just saw her face and heard her laugh and thought, Why not? Such is the way the ex-pats treat Paris itself, like a sparkling lady who has much to give but goes no deeper than the stones under one's feet.
That's what I meant by calling this "brain food": a novel that engages and works with your many senses and your mind, and while it is quite a long novel and might be too rich in detail for some readers, it never felt bogged down or slow. It kept its pacing steady until the end, when it becomes nice and taut, and doesn't ever feel monotonous or tedious by the simple delight that there is so much to learn here. I felt like I'd just sat through the most fascinating art history lecture ever. What better way to learn about such things than in the hands of a skilled storyteller? None for my money.
My thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book via France Book Tours.
October 31, 2013
If the first book in this series, Touchstone, represents Laurie R King's excursion into the thriller genre, then this follow up novel featuring the same central protagonist is King's experiment with noir. Set in Paris shortly before the stock market crash of 1929, former Bureau of Investigation agent Harris Stuyvesant, now an occasional private investigator, is employed to find a missing American woman. Stuyvesant's discovery that the woman had links with the art world in Paris brings him into contact with players in a sensationalist corner of the surrealist art scene.
What I liked best about this novel is King's evocation of Paris in the late 1920s. She weaves real-life identities into her plot, including Sylvia Beach, Cole Porter, Man Ray, Bricktop Smith and Natalie Barney. Ernest Hemingway is also mentioned on a number of occasions, although he only appears briefly in a non-speaking role. King does a great job recreating a time when the frenetic expatriate party which had been 1920s Paris was almost over: the stock market crash of 1929 made Paris a less affordable place for Americans to live and the shadow of impending war during the 1930s changed the scene forever. I love reading about Paris during this period and encountering some of the personalities I know from other books was fun. I also liked the noir elements of the plot, underscored by a reference to Dashiell Hammett, and the creepy, almost gothic touches.
Part of the fun of reading crime fiction is seeing if you can guess whodunnit. In this case there were four, or at a pinch five, possible culprits to choose from. Two of them I dismissed almost immediately from consideration and the fifth I didn't seriously consider at all. But King kept me guessing with the other two, so the lead up to the big reveal was suspenseful, even if the mechanics of why-dunnit and how-dunnit strained credulity. Actually, that’s too kind. The why and how were really pretty silly.
As it happens, the over-the-top resolution didn’t spoil the novel for me, but at times its leisurely pace threatened to do so. I’m okay with wordy and I like plenty of descriptive language, but this is not the kind of novel that is improved by too much detail and too many repetitive scenes. Overall, I was glad that I listened to the audiobook because it allowed me to multi-task while the hero dithered. Jefferson Mays does a good job with the narration, as he did with Touchstone, and his pronunciation of French words and phrases, while not perfect, is not bad at all.
As far as ratings go, I liked this a bit more than I did Touchstone - almost certainly because of the Parisian setting - so it’s a solid 3.5 stars.
December 29, 2013
Not even Jazz Age Paris could save the plot.
I love Paris. I love Paris in the 20's. I love the emerging modernists - Gertrude Stein, Hemmingway, and all of the other artists lurking the grotty streets after WWI. I love burly, noir protagonists.
This book had all of those virtues front-loaded into it, and it STILL was a complete chore to finish it.
Spoilerish-Alert: The plot - Girl disappears. Slouching, manly detective with pugilistic tendencies and a soft spot for pretty dames investigates. Girl is still missing, insert old flame with a fake HAND for cryin' out loud. Generate exactly NO sexual tension. Insert shell-shocked brother of old flame who has unexplained psychic abilities. Background for all of this is Dali, Man Ray, Hemmingway, and a creepy count all obsessed with death and making stuff out of bones. Have a few creepy but not very interesting nights at strange parties and boring gothic theatre experiences. Five minutes before end of book, prove that the character you suspected all along is a serial killer, but introduce completely tangential evidence and reasons that have almost no precedent.
By the end of the book, you're just begging for it to be over so you can go on to your next book.
I love Paris. I love Paris in the 20's. I love the emerging modernists - Gertrude Stein, Hemmingway, and all of the other artists lurking the grotty streets after WWI. I love burly, noir protagonists.
This book had all of those virtues front-loaded into it, and it STILL was a complete chore to finish it.
Spoilerish-Alert: The plot - Girl disappears. Slouching, manly detective with pugilistic tendencies and a soft spot for pretty dames investigates. Girl is still missing, insert old flame with a fake HAND for cryin' out loud. Generate exactly NO sexual tension. Insert shell-shocked brother of old flame who has unexplained psychic abilities. Background for all of this is Dali, Man Ray, Hemmingway, and a creepy count all obsessed with death and making stuff out of bones. Have a few creepy but not very interesting nights at strange parties and boring gothic theatre experiences. Five minutes before end of book, prove that the character you suspected all along is a serial killer, but introduce completely tangential evidence and reasons that have almost no precedent.
By the end of the book, you're just begging for it to be over so you can go on to your next book.
September 12, 2014
when art is indistinguishable from real life, it comes alive. And when it lives, it changes the viewer.
I read the Beekeeper's apprentice many moons ago, and loved it. When I selected The Bones of Paris, I did not realize that this was the second book in one the author's other series. None the less I also enjoyed it, especially the descriptions of 1920 Paris. It felt like I could see, hear and smell the city. I also enjoyed her inclusion of historical characters like Ernest Hemingway and Man Ray into a fiction title. Although I liked the protagonist, Harris Stuyvesant, I found him to be a bit too much of a P.I. stereotype. I am quite sure I would have enjoyed this book even more if I read the first in the series Touchstone. I was especially intrigued by a character from this first book, who made a brief appearance in Bones of Paris - Bennet Grey. I have already bought the second book in the Mary Russel series, and look forward to reading it.
The Story: Harris Stuyvesant will have to descend into the darkest depths of perversion to find a killer . . . sifting through The Bones of Paris.
January 7, 2014
What happened, Laurie? You used to write the best mysteries. "The Bones of Paris" read like something you wrote because you had to. Not because you wanted to. I only finished it in hopes the end would redeem the beginning. It didn't.
This is apparently the second in a series featuring an American investigator, Harris Stuyvesant, living in Europe. (I missed reading the first installment, Testament). Harris is a walking cliche--supposedly a great investigator even though he spends all of his time boozing and picking fights with famous people he meets in bars.
It's clear Laurie King didn't map out a plan for this book at the start. The first half consists of Harris picking up a case of an American girl missing in Paris and then wandering in and out of bistros where he waves at famous people and chats about the art/theater scene.
Things picked up by the end but I found the twist involving pagan worship too silly to be believed. Add to that the police were unusually inept and all the women acted like sluts and my disgust was complete.
This is apparently the second in a series featuring an American investigator, Harris Stuyvesant, living in Europe. (I missed reading the first installment, Testament). Harris is a walking cliche--supposedly a great investigator even though he spends all of his time boozing and picking fights with famous people he meets in bars.
It's clear Laurie King didn't map out a plan for this book at the start. The first half consists of Harris picking up a case of an American girl missing in Paris and then wandering in and out of bistros where he waves at famous people and chats about the art/theater scene.
Things picked up by the end but I found the twist involving pagan worship too silly to be believed. Add to that the police were unusually inept and all the women acted like sluts and my disgust was complete.
August 4, 2013
Paris in the Jazz Age is a terrific hook for a mystery, and Laurie R. King gives us many of the big names (Man Ray, Ernest Hemingway, Josephine Baker, just to name a few) who added extra glow to the City of Light in the 1920s. She also includes plenty of descriptions of Paris's streets and haunts as well as French food and dialog. All this is to the good.
Where things go wrong is with the characters. This is not part of the Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell series. Instead, it features the characters King introduced in her 2007 book, Touchstone. The protagonist is an American private detective named Harris Stuyvesant, who is trying to find a young American woman named Pip who had been living it up in the artistic and expatriate community before she seemingly dropped off the face of the earth.
The Stuyvesant character never comes to life, nor do any of the book's other characters. Stuyvesant was just an empty suit running around a city both glittering and menacing. The two other characters from Touchstone appear briefly at the beginning and then again only much later in the book. If you read this book without having first read Touchstone, you may well feel at a loss about these characters.
Stuyvesant's search for Pip leads him into the horror of a deranged and perverted mind. For me, the crazed killer theme in mystery has been overdone and it takes real invention to make it feel fresh and interesting. Unfortunately, that's not the case here. Between the weak characters and the distasteful (to me, at least) murder plot, the book was a disappointment that no amount of evocative atmosphere could make up for.
Where things go wrong is with the characters. This is not part of the Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell series. Instead, it features the characters King introduced in her 2007 book, Touchstone. The protagonist is an American private detective named Harris Stuyvesant, who is trying to find a young American woman named Pip who had been living it up in the artistic and expatriate community before she seemingly dropped off the face of the earth.
The Stuyvesant character never comes to life, nor do any of the book's other characters. Stuyvesant was just an empty suit running around a city both glittering and menacing. The two other characters from Touchstone appear briefly at the beginning and then again only much later in the book. If you read this book without having first read Touchstone, you may well feel at a loss about these characters.
Stuyvesant's search for Pip leads him into the horror of a deranged and perverted mind. For me, the crazed killer theme in mystery has been overdone and it takes real invention to make it feel fresh and interesting. Unfortunately, that's not the case here. Between the weak characters and the distasteful (to me, at least) murder plot, the book was a disappointment that no amount of evocative atmosphere could make up for.
January 8, 2018
Really enjoyed it. I wish she wrote more than these two books about Stuyvesant and Grey. I really enjoyed their personalities. I'm going on to read her Kate Martinelli series as I really like her prose.
November 8, 2013
As darkly beautiful as its predecessor, with an enjoyable unpredictability to its twists and turns, firmly set in its place as any of the author's very best. These characters are some of my favorites. I enjoyed spending time with them again, I enjoyed meeting their new friends and associates, and I enjoyed the surprises they gave me this time around.
Excellent story, excellent mystery, and very aptly named.
ETA: Definitely read Touchstonebefore you read this. It makes a difference to know who the characters are, even if the story is completely independent.
Excellent story, excellent mystery, and very aptly named.
ETA: Definitely read Touchstonebefore you read this. It makes a difference to know who the characters are, even if the story is completely independent.
August 17, 2016
3.5/5
Source: Received an e-ARC from the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
Apparently I may sometimes lack reading comprehension because I totally thought this was the latest Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes book. I kept waiting for them to pop up and orient me in the story! Then I finally looked at it on goodreads and discovered that it is a second book (which helps explain why I felt a bit off balance while reading-presumably someone who has read the first book would be able to follow it more easily.)
The book opens with Bennett Grey, who played a big role in the introductory book but meant nothing to me so it was not until we meet Harris Stuyvesant and I realized that he was the main character that I was able to settle into the story. Harris is a down on his luck private investigator who has been hired by a young woman's worried uncle and mother to track her down as she hasn't been seen in months. Harris had previously had a relationship with the girl (lasting some few days) and is desperate for money so he jumps at the chance. While investigating, he goes deep into Parisian culture during these bright hectic 1929 days (we're approaching the stock market crash in hindsight) and uncovers a bloody trail.
As is often the case when I read historical fiction incorporating real-life personages, seeing how the author chose to render them was a pleasure. Though most only merit brief mentions like Hemingway, I got a thrill every time I recognized a name and enjoyed looking up the others on wikipedia (I had never heard of Man Ray for example; how is "Man" a first name? Isn't it merely a noun?) Another part I liked was the references to the Great War, which hang over all of our characters. Though peace has been in place for eleven years, many are still haunted by those dark days. A third element I liked was the depiction of Paris itself. Yes, there is glitter but there is also the fact that the city is built on bones and women are sadly a dime a dozen for a potential serial killer.
Meanwhile when I consider the mystery itself, I am shocked at how quickly it became so complicated while at other times, it seemed to be almost forgotten when Harris unexpectedly reunites with an old love. This enthralling woman and her possible connection to the case were interesting enough but I didn't care for them as much as Harris did. Other character relationships were not well-developed though I sensed there was potential between Harris and Bennett, a relationship that probably would have been much richer if I had read the first book.
Overall: I loved the atmosphere of Paris and how the darker underbelly was exposed but found the character relationships too muddy as well as the tone's darkness conflicting with my penchant for a light comedy. I'd wait for the next Mary Russell installment.
Source: Received an e-ARC from the publisher through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.
Apparently I may sometimes lack reading comprehension because I totally thought this was the latest Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes book. I kept waiting for them to pop up and orient me in the story! Then I finally looked at it on goodreads and discovered that it is a second book (which helps explain why I felt a bit off balance while reading-presumably someone who has read the first book would be able to follow it more easily.)
The book opens with Bennett Grey, who played a big role in the introductory book but meant nothing to me so it was not until we meet Harris Stuyvesant and I realized that he was the main character that I was able to settle into the story. Harris is a down on his luck private investigator who has been hired by a young woman's worried uncle and mother to track her down as she hasn't been seen in months. Harris had previously had a relationship with the girl (lasting some few days) and is desperate for money so he jumps at the chance. While investigating, he goes deep into Parisian culture during these bright hectic 1929 days (we're approaching the stock market crash in hindsight) and uncovers a bloody trail.
As is often the case when I read historical fiction incorporating real-life personages, seeing how the author chose to render them was a pleasure. Though most only merit brief mentions like Hemingway, I got a thrill every time I recognized a name and enjoyed looking up the others on wikipedia (I had never heard of Man Ray for example; how is "Man" a first name? Isn't it merely a noun?) Another part I liked was the references to the Great War, which hang over all of our characters. Though peace has been in place for eleven years, many are still haunted by those dark days. A third element I liked was the depiction of Paris itself. Yes, there is glitter but there is also the fact that the city is built on bones and women are sadly a dime a dozen for a potential serial killer.
Meanwhile when I consider the mystery itself, I am shocked at how quickly it became so complicated while at other times, it seemed to be almost forgotten when Harris unexpectedly reunites with an old love. This enthralling woman and her possible connection to the case were interesting enough but I didn't care for them as much as Harris did. Other character relationships were not well-developed though I sensed there was potential between Harris and Bennett, a relationship that probably would have been much richer if I had read the first book.
Overall: I loved the atmosphere of Paris and how the darker underbelly was exposed but found the character relationships too muddy as well as the tone's darkness conflicting with my penchant for a light comedy. I'd wait for the next Mary Russell installment.
April 10, 2017
Laurie R. King does it again. (Harris Stuyvesant #2)
From the first sentence, to the very last, The Bones of Paris is a wonderful novel. The first sentence is powerful, and the story is well-structured. The descriptions of Paris in the 1920's is evocative, and paints a beautiful picture. I felt connections to the characters, as usual with King's novels, even though we know nothing about them. And the primary narrator, Harris Stuyvesant, is a perfect reflection of the time period in which this novel is set.
I was drawn to this book (read as an advance copy from NetGalley) because I am a fan of the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series, and because the setting, complete with many of the artistic and literary expats as secondary characters. I did not know until I began to write these comments that there was an earlier book with Harris Stuyvesant and Bennett Grey. I didn't feel that I was unduly confused or missing any necessary background, and, since I love both characters, I will go back and read Touchstone later on. Why not, they are gloriously tattered and worn "people" to be around, and I miss them just a little, now that the book is finished. And Paris, in the 1920's? I've never been! I loved being able to be there at this important time in history, and 'see' what Paris was like. And it was so real, Paris was another character I loved as well.
As per usual, King exhaustively researched the time period, the famous people, and I am betting everything else, to make this novel sing true. Adding Man Ray, Cole Porter, Ernest Hemingway, and Josephine Baker, among other famous people in history, didn't detract from the storyline at all, it just made it seem more believable, since these people occupied Paris at this time.
King has woven together a very suspenseful story, here. This novel is intelligent, challenging, and very interesting for me. Although some may have found some of the content disturbing, it didn't seem excessive or gratuitous to me at all. And I thought it stood alone, without having read the first Stuyvesant novel, Touchstone, just fine.
Thank you SO much, to netgalley.com for the advanced digital copy, in return for an honest review.
From the first sentence, to the very last, The Bones of Paris is a wonderful novel. The first sentence is powerful, and the story is well-structured. The descriptions of Paris in the 1920's is evocative, and paints a beautiful picture. I felt connections to the characters, as usual with King's novels, even though we know nothing about them. And the primary narrator, Harris Stuyvesant, is a perfect reflection of the time period in which this novel is set.
I was drawn to this book (read as an advance copy from NetGalley) because I am a fan of the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series, and because the setting, complete with many of the artistic and literary expats as secondary characters. I did not know until I began to write these comments that there was an earlier book with Harris Stuyvesant and Bennett Grey. I didn't feel that I was unduly confused or missing any necessary background, and, since I love both characters, I will go back and read Touchstone later on. Why not, they are gloriously tattered and worn "people" to be around, and I miss them just a little, now that the book is finished. And Paris, in the 1920's? I've never been! I loved being able to be there at this important time in history, and 'see' what Paris was like. And it was so real, Paris was another character I loved as well.
As per usual, King exhaustively researched the time period, the famous people, and I am betting everything else, to make this novel sing true. Adding Man Ray, Cole Porter, Ernest Hemingway, and Josephine Baker, among other famous people in history, didn't detract from the storyline at all, it just made it seem more believable, since these people occupied Paris at this time.
King has woven together a very suspenseful story, here. This novel is intelligent, challenging, and very interesting for me. Although some may have found some of the content disturbing, it didn't seem excessive or gratuitous to me at all. And I thought it stood alone, without having read the first Stuyvesant novel, Touchstone, just fine.
Thank you SO much, to netgalley.com for the advanced digital copy, in return for an honest review.
February 11, 2021
A murder mystery set in Jazz Age Paris was just the cozy mystery I was in the mood for, however I have a few criticisms.
The plot takes a while to heat up...I’d say until almost 300 pages in. I found myself thinking that if I were the editor I would have cut out entire chapters or paragraphs that felt repetitive and didn’t add anything to the storyline or character development.
There was a lot of name dropping of famous artists (Hemingway, Cole Porter, Man Ray etc.) which started to feel a little pretentious and didn’t save the slow moving plot. There was also a decent amount of French dialogue added in, only some of which is translated, which felt a little annoying at times.
But the last 120 pages or so were action-packed, clever, well-written and wrapped up the mystery nicely!
The plot takes a while to heat up...I’d say until almost 300 pages in. I found myself thinking that if I were the editor I would have cut out entire chapters or paragraphs that felt repetitive and didn’t add anything to the storyline or character development.
There was a lot of name dropping of famous artists (Hemingway, Cole Porter, Man Ray etc.) which started to feel a little pretentious and didn’t save the slow moving plot. There was also a decent amount of French dialogue added in, only some of which is translated, which felt a little annoying at times.
But the last 120 pages or so were action-packed, clever, well-written and wrapped up the mystery nicely!
May 12, 2017
It's Paris, in September 1929. Prohibition is still going on in the US, and there is a huge expatriate community of Americans in the City of Light. Many of the artists have moved on, but not Picasso. Not Man Ray.
Private Detective Harris Stuyvesant wakes up with a hangover ... and a prostitute next to him in bed. He's trying to track down a missing American heiress ... one who has also been next to him in bed. And he's doing it through the Montparnasse art community.
Peopled with the famous and infamous, Laurie R. King's "The Bones of Paris" puts us in the midst of the modern art movement along with the mystery. Man Ray's model/lovers Kiki and Lee Miller give one another side-long, jealous glances at the Rotonde, and Josephine Baker is singing at nightclubs. Ernest Hemingway will offer up a round of boxing, and Sylvia Beach is just starting Shakespeare & Company.
It is in this glittering city that women are disappearing ... and bits of their photographs are appearing in Displays created by Didi Moreau -- who also likes to use bones in his work. And who took the photographs? Well, several of them come from the studios of Man Ray.
King has crafted a beautiful book filled with real people -- including the fictional ones. Everyone has their foibles and secrets. While I began to suspect the "whodunnit" a couple of chapters before the reveal, I was still well-entertained and would recommend this book to fans of historical fiction, Francophiles, and mystery buffs alike.
Private Detective Harris Stuyvesant wakes up with a hangover ... and a prostitute next to him in bed. He's trying to track down a missing American heiress ... one who has also been next to him in bed. And he's doing it through the Montparnasse art community.
Peopled with the famous and infamous, Laurie R. King's "The Bones of Paris" puts us in the midst of the modern art movement along with the mystery. Man Ray's model/lovers Kiki and Lee Miller give one another side-long, jealous glances at the Rotonde, and Josephine Baker is singing at nightclubs. Ernest Hemingway will offer up a round of boxing, and Sylvia Beach is just starting Shakespeare & Company.
It is in this glittering city that women are disappearing ... and bits of their photographs are appearing in Displays created by Didi Moreau -- who also likes to use bones in his work. And who took the photographs? Well, several of them come from the studios of Man Ray.
King has crafted a beautiful book filled with real people -- including the fictional ones. Everyone has their foibles and secrets. While I began to suspect the "whodunnit" a couple of chapters before the reveal, I was still well-entertained and would recommend this book to fans of historical fiction, Francophiles, and mystery buffs alike.
December 20, 2017
In this exciting second book featuring Harris Stuyvesant, Laurie King takes us to Paris. It is 1929, and Stuyvesant is working on his own after leaving the fledgling FBI. He is searching for a missing young American woman. Stuyvesant visits many of the cabarets where he learns that Philippa Crosby is known by other American artists and writers who have taken to the free and easy live of bohemian Paris. In his search Stuyvesant comes across a former love and sister of his friend, Bennett Grey, whom we met in the first book of the series. As Stuyvesant realizes, there are other young girls that have gone missing, he is faced with a gruesome reality that there are savage and depraved people who prey upon the women. Through this book, I learned something about the history of Paris—that it is literally built upon the bones of many people who have died throughout the centuries. There are underground areas that hold the remains of millions of people. Parts of this book are pretty gruesome, however my biggest criticism is that even though King is a great writer and storyteller, the book is too long and at times gets tedious to stay with. I did finish it, but I wish King would write more books with Harris Stuyvesant and Bennett Grey. 3.5 stars
September 29, 2013
Full disclosure: I'm a huge Laurie R. King fan. As much of a fan as I am, I just realized while reading this book that she uses three very distinct tones for each of her three series. The Mary Russell series is salty and craggy but twinkling. The Kate Martinelli is cleaner, crisp and efficient. Now that she has written the second book in what I hope will become a Harris Suyvesant/Bennett Gray series, I realize the tone is claustrophobic, gritty and decadent in an oily way. The Bones of Paris captures the mood of Surrealism: a frenzied cacophony of people on the brink of madness. Or are they over the brink? This book plays expertly with that line. As always, King's characters and dialogue are full-bodied and round and pitch perfect. There are only two reasons I am not giving it five stars: I wish Bennett Gray had been in the book more, and I felt like I needed a shower after reading it. It can be argued that the later is a strength not a weakness, for King clearly meant to make the reader uncomfortable; however, it may make me hesitate before giving the book to others with a ringing endorsement.
September 24, 2016
I give up!! I got half way through this book before throwing it across the room with a scream of frustration! It's sloooooowwwww, it macabre, it's implausible (Pip is caught in a horrible barn fire and comes away scarred......only on the belly. Come on, really??), I don't give a hoot about any of the characters, and it's boring (how many cigarettes can they smoke anyway?). If you want mystery/suspense skip this book and read Robert Galbraith's Cormoran Strike series.
January 11, 2014
Given up at page 49. The rating is only for the pages I've read. It's possibly it might have picked up later, but at this point I do not give a hoot. Unsympathetic main character and no forward movement at all. Not going to bother.
February 21, 2018
Laurie King's Mary Russell series is one of those stories that you keep going back to because its so well done and the characters become such a part of your life. Not realizing that Bones of Paris was part of another series, let alone not part of Mary Russell's series, I grabbed it from the library excited to have the latest book in my possession. I was not disappointed that this story was not part of the Mary Russell series because the character of Bennett Grey grabs you right off the bat. Why is this man so tortured, what is in the envelope that arrives so suddenly, and who is Sarah?
My only regret with this story was that I didn't realize that it was part of another series until I was a good way into it. The first book is called Touchstone and is now on my list of things to read, but I don't feel like I missed too much with this story by not having read the first. King is excellent at succinctly packaging up the plots of her previous novels so that readers can pick books up out of order. This story focuses mainly on Harris Stuyvesant, a American exFBI agent who has been hired to find the whereabouts of a missing American girl in Paris in 1929. This novel definitely pays homage to the hard boiled crime writers of the 20s, even mentioning Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest, as a gift to the main character. The pace was very nervy, it took me a while to get invested in the characters, mainly because Harris was wandering all over Paris showing people a girl's photograph and not getting any leads. King drags you along with Harris as he hits every dead end possible. Its a very frustrating feeling as a reader because it doesn't seem like the story is going anywhere and it turns back on itself quite often. The moment of excitement doesn't occur until about 1/3 of the way through the book and then you're hooked. It is a perfect reflection of the moment when Harris finds his first connection. King is masterful at pulling the reader into the lives of her characters. The only thing that I found difficult to swallow was how Harris talks to women. Its all "oh Honey, I'm just thinking of your purty blue eyes..." and it really rubbed me the wrong was as false, and not at all like the voice she narrates his thoughts in. But the more I thought about it, Harris usually spoke like that when he needed to cover up his own thoughts, so maybe it was meant to sound false, a poor mask pulled up over the detective inside.
If you are a fan of Mary Russell as I am then I have one warning to give: This book is much darker than the Russell books. In those generally the good are found alive, the bad met their just rewards, and the chase is refreshing and exciting. They follow a pattern set by the original Sherlock Holmes stories. The Bones of Paris does not. The story is closely tied with the ideas of French Surrealism in the 1920s, an art form that I find very disturbing. The story is disquieting, the violence so easily described is unsettling. Death permeates this story. The human body is seen as a canvas, life is so easily extinguished in the name of art and the disturbing, even grotesque is put on stage simply to get it out of the mind. Paris at this time is a city that has been severely broken by the first World War and the people that inhabit it are equally fractured and disturbed.
This is the type of story that stays with you even after you close the final pages. I had to flip to the end and read the last paragraph when I was 2/3 of the way in because I had to know if the people I cared about survived. The story had upset me so much that if they didn't I wasn't going to be able to continue the book. What I found there reassured me without ruining the story, and I continued reading. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries because it is dark and twisted, which seems to be a theme currently, but without the gratuitous violence that often accompanies those stories. It is a very cerebral story and a nice homage to the vintage hard boiled detective. However, I personally would suggest reading Touchstone before The Bones of Paris just to make the characters fuller. I highly recommend this book,.
My only regret with this story was that I didn't realize that it was part of another series until I was a good way into it. The first book is called Touchstone and is now on my list of things to read, but I don't feel like I missed too much with this story by not having read the first. King is excellent at succinctly packaging up the plots of her previous novels so that readers can pick books up out of order. This story focuses mainly on Harris Stuyvesant, a American exFBI agent who has been hired to find the whereabouts of a missing American girl in Paris in 1929. This novel definitely pays homage to the hard boiled crime writers of the 20s, even mentioning Dashiell Hammett's Red Harvest, as a gift to the main character. The pace was very nervy, it took me a while to get invested in the characters, mainly because Harris was wandering all over Paris showing people a girl's photograph and not getting any leads. King drags you along with Harris as he hits every dead end possible. Its a very frustrating feeling as a reader because it doesn't seem like the story is going anywhere and it turns back on itself quite often. The moment of excitement doesn't occur until about 1/3 of the way through the book and then you're hooked. It is a perfect reflection of the moment when Harris finds his first connection. King is masterful at pulling the reader into the lives of her characters. The only thing that I found difficult to swallow was how Harris talks to women. Its all "oh Honey, I'm just thinking of your purty blue eyes..." and it really rubbed me the wrong was as false, and not at all like the voice she narrates his thoughts in. But the more I thought about it, Harris usually spoke like that when he needed to cover up his own thoughts, so maybe it was meant to sound false, a poor mask pulled up over the detective inside.
If you are a fan of Mary Russell as I am then I have one warning to give: This book is much darker than the Russell books. In those generally the good are found alive, the bad met their just rewards, and the chase is refreshing and exciting. They follow a pattern set by the original Sherlock Holmes stories. The Bones of Paris does not. The story is closely tied with the ideas of French Surrealism in the 1920s, an art form that I find very disturbing. The story is disquieting, the violence so easily described is unsettling. Death permeates this story. The human body is seen as a canvas, life is so easily extinguished in the name of art and the disturbing, even grotesque is put on stage simply to get it out of the mind. Paris at this time is a city that has been severely broken by the first World War and the people that inhabit it are equally fractured and disturbed.
This is the type of story that stays with you even after you close the final pages. I had to flip to the end and read the last paragraph when I was 2/3 of the way in because I had to know if the people I cared about survived. The story had upset me so much that if they didn't I wasn't going to be able to continue the book. What I found there reassured me without ruining the story, and I continued reading. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries because it is dark and twisted, which seems to be a theme currently, but without the gratuitous violence that often accompanies those stories. It is a very cerebral story and a nice homage to the vintage hard boiled detective. However, I personally would suggest reading Touchstone before The Bones of Paris just to make the characters fuller. I highly recommend this book,.
September 11, 2018
This was fun-set in 1920’s Paris. Second in her Harris Stuyvesant series but I didn’t read #1 but no issue. Harris is an American PI in Paris looking for Pip, an American 20 something who has gone missing. We meet Sylvia Beech (Shakespeare & Co), Man Ray, Hemingway, Cole Porter, Josephine Baker. Read for the atmosphere and the characters - murders are plot drivers but not as interesting to me. Good fun!⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2
October 13, 2017
Enjoyable 1920s mystery-thriller with a distinctly creepy vibe. Works in a large and colourful cast of American and Parisian artists of note. Complex, twisty plot with more of an edgy note than King's Holmes & Russell mysteries.
September 15, 2013
Originally published at Reading Reality
The dance of death capers to a lively jazz tune beneath the city of lights. You can almost hear the beat take on a frenetic turn as some people realize that the good times can’t possibly last.
It is September, 1929. Jazz Age Paris, and the booming U.S. stock market has made it possible for the thriving artistic expatriate community that became the hallmark of the era to exist, is about to go smash.
In The Bones of Paris, it feels as if Harris Stuyvesant’s hunt for the young American woman, Pip Crosby, brings the crash. There’s a sense of impending doom from the very first page.
It could be because we see the date, and we know.
Harris Stuyvesant is a private investigator, formerly a member of the American Bureau of Investigation. And yes, that would be the precursor to the FBI. In a previous case (the book Touchstone) Harris breaks with his former employers but stays in Europe as a private operator. Pip’s case brings him back to Paris.
This is the Paris of Hemingway’s Lost Generation. Indeed, Harris not only knows Hemingway, but is careful to lose whenever Hemingway picks a boxing match with him, because Hemingway is a nasty loser but an expansive winner. Ezra Pound, James Joyce and Gertrude Stein appear as background characters.
But it is the artists with whom the story is most caught up. Pip Crosby was an artist’s model. So Harris spends a lot of time investigating the artists’ community in Paris. Particularly Man Ray, Didi Moreau, and the Grand Guignol theatre of naturalistic horror and its proprietor, Le Comte.
Of course, in the Paris of the 1920s, everyone in the artistic community knew everyone. Harris’ investigation feels like stepping back into time, and drinking the night away with the Queen of Montparnasse while listening to Josephine Baker at Bricktop’s.
Harris has a missing American girl to find. He checks in with the police, only to discover that Pip Crosby is not the only missing girl, or the only missing person. Inspector Doucet has begun to fear a pattern, a serial killer, who has gone undetected for at least 18 months.
The argument between them is that the evidence that Harris turns up is generally not obtained by legal means, and the suspects that he fears may be guilty are not people that the Inspector, however dutiful, is predisposed to consider.
Then there is the biggest problem between these two men; Doucet is engaged to marry the woman that Harris once loved. A woman who may be the next target of the killer.
Escape Rating B+: The evocation of the time and place is marvelous. There are a few of the people involved in this story that I’m still trying to determine whether they were real figures or were made up. Didi Moreau is the one I think is fictional, but could have been real.
But for the purposes of the mystery, there were three suspects. One could not possibly have been the murderer because he was a real person and this event simply didn’t happen in his life. Part of the mystery was that it simply took a long time to narrow down that Pip was dead, or admit Pip was dead, and to figure out that they were dealing with a serial killer and who the possibilities might be.
The weaving of real elements into the story made things more chilling. Two features of Paris at the time that are integral parts of the story are the Paris Catacombs and their chilling history, which of course still exist, and the Grand Guignol theatre of horror and comedy.
I had not read Touchstone before reading The Bones of Paris. It isn’t necessary to enjoy this book, but now that I know it exists, I want it.
The Bones of Paris is very much a character driven mystery. The character of Harris Stuyvesant, the character of Jazz Age Paris, the character of the murderer, and the characters of the world that is about to change forever.
The dance of death capers to a lively jazz tune beneath the city of lights. You can almost hear the beat take on a frenetic turn as some people realize that the good times can’t possibly last.
It is September, 1929. Jazz Age Paris, and the booming U.S. stock market has made it possible for the thriving artistic expatriate community that became the hallmark of the era to exist, is about to go smash.
In The Bones of Paris, it feels as if Harris Stuyvesant’s hunt for the young American woman, Pip Crosby, brings the crash. There’s a sense of impending doom from the very first page.
It could be because we see the date, and we know.
Harris Stuyvesant is a private investigator, formerly a member of the American Bureau of Investigation. And yes, that would be the precursor to the FBI. In a previous case (the book Touchstone) Harris breaks with his former employers but stays in Europe as a private operator. Pip’s case brings him back to Paris.
This is the Paris of Hemingway’s Lost Generation. Indeed, Harris not only knows Hemingway, but is careful to lose whenever Hemingway picks a boxing match with him, because Hemingway is a nasty loser but an expansive winner. Ezra Pound, James Joyce and Gertrude Stein appear as background characters.
But it is the artists with whom the story is most caught up. Pip Crosby was an artist’s model. So Harris spends a lot of time investigating the artists’ community in Paris. Particularly Man Ray, Didi Moreau, and the Grand Guignol theatre of naturalistic horror and its proprietor, Le Comte.
Of course, in the Paris of the 1920s, everyone in the artistic community knew everyone. Harris’ investigation feels like stepping back into time, and drinking the night away with the Queen of Montparnasse while listening to Josephine Baker at Bricktop’s.
Harris has a missing American girl to find. He checks in with the police, only to discover that Pip Crosby is not the only missing girl, or the only missing person. Inspector Doucet has begun to fear a pattern, a serial killer, who has gone undetected for at least 18 months.
The argument between them is that the evidence that Harris turns up is generally not obtained by legal means, and the suspects that he fears may be guilty are not people that the Inspector, however dutiful, is predisposed to consider.
Then there is the biggest problem between these two men; Doucet is engaged to marry the woman that Harris once loved. A woman who may be the next target of the killer.
Escape Rating B+: The evocation of the time and place is marvelous. There are a few of the people involved in this story that I’m still trying to determine whether they were real figures or were made up. Didi Moreau is the one I think is fictional, but could have been real.
But for the purposes of the mystery, there were three suspects. One could not possibly have been the murderer because he was a real person and this event simply didn’t happen in his life. Part of the mystery was that it simply took a long time to narrow down that Pip was dead, or admit Pip was dead, and to figure out that they were dealing with a serial killer and who the possibilities might be.
The weaving of real elements into the story made things more chilling. Two features of Paris at the time that are integral parts of the story are the Paris Catacombs and their chilling history, which of course still exist, and the Grand Guignol theatre of horror and comedy.
I had not read Touchstone before reading The Bones of Paris. It isn’t necessary to enjoy this book, but now that I know it exists, I want it.
The Bones of Paris is very much a character driven mystery. The character of Harris Stuyvesant, the character of Jazz Age Paris, the character of the murderer, and the characters of the world that is about to change forever.
September 26, 2013
I am always awaiting the newest Laurie King book...I'm a huge fan of her Mary Russell books. I absolutely loved this one, which is a departure from that series, but picked up the same characters of her stand alone book Touchstone, which I also devoured. Taking place in 1929 Paris, and centering on the ex patriot Montparnasse art scene, it was so up my alley! I was rather proud of myself for recognizing the vast majority of artists mentioned...Man Ray as a focus, and Kiki of Montparnasse, a famous artists model, Lee Miller, Man Ray's gorgeous lover, and a brilliant photographer in her own right. The book takes you through the quarters and arondissments looking for a serial killer. Harris Stuyvesant, who I can only picture as a big side of beef, is hired to find a young Boston blue blood, who's gone to Paris to kick up her heels. If the hippy's think they thought up free love, they didn't! Harris has got some emotional baggage, which he runs into, and has to reckon with....I really really enjoyed The Bones of Paris.
September 30, 2013
My Thoughts:
Harris Stuyvesant takes a job trying to locate a young American girl who has gone missing. Set in 1929 Paris, when surreal art is very popular, he becomes entwined in something far more sinister than the missing of one individual. When an old flame and a good friend get caught up in the evil doings, the story really becomes exciting!
I thought this was very smartly written. There are many characters, but the author did an outstanding job of keeping the story line straight and clear. I liked the cat and mouse of who was good and who was bad. There were several nice twists, and towards the end, I could barely put the book down.
This is book# 2 of what I hope is going to be a series. I have not read book #1, but I definitely will.
Merci beaucoup to Random House Publishing Group - Bantam Dell, vis Netgalley, for allowing me to read this in exchange for an unbiased review.
Publish date: September 10. 2013.
Harris Stuyvesant takes a job trying to locate a young American girl who has gone missing. Set in 1929 Paris, when surreal art is very popular, he becomes entwined in something far more sinister than the missing of one individual. When an old flame and a good friend get caught up in the evil doings, the story really becomes exciting!
I thought this was very smartly written. There are many characters, but the author did an outstanding job of keeping the story line straight and clear. I liked the cat and mouse of who was good and who was bad. There were several nice twists, and towards the end, I could barely put the book down.
This is book# 2 of what I hope is going to be a series. I have not read book #1, but I definitely will.
Merci beaucoup to Random House Publishing Group - Bantam Dell, vis Netgalley, for allowing me to read this in exchange for an unbiased review.
Publish date: September 10. 2013.
September 28, 2013
I always look forward to a new Laurie King novel, which is why I am so disappointed by this one. Certainly, the plot is entertaining (although the mystery is not that challenging)and the characters are interesting, but in a historical novel the spell is easily broken. There are so many things in this book that are wrong and should have been corrected. I am not talking about the French errors or obscure things but items such as a man returning from the front a year before WWI even started, surnames with wrong spellings and/or incorrect first names. There are chapters that are a quarter of a page as in a Patterson novel. This is not what I expect from someone whose other books are so good that I will read the next one when it comes out as I truly hope that this is only an anomaly.
February 8, 2014
Set in 1927 Paris....it's called "a novel of suspense" and it is just that!
I liked the characters and the setting.....rich decadents....cops, war veterans who survived WWI and its horrors.
Set in the middle of a mansion in Paris is a clock that has four faces which represent black/white, night/day, male/female, and each of the four seasons. Add into the mix a mad Count, his assistants and a cop searching for a missing American girl, an English brother and sister (these 2 were in a prior book .....apparently this is part of a series......
All in all, it held my attention going from character to character and also the chapters were short and the book itself was high on descriptions so I felt I was in 1920's Paris.
I liked the characters and the setting.....rich decadents....cops, war veterans who survived WWI and its horrors.
Set in the middle of a mansion in Paris is a clock that has four faces which represent black/white, night/day, male/female, and each of the four seasons. Add into the mix a mad Count, his assistants and a cop searching for a missing American girl, an English brother and sister (these 2 were in a prior book .....apparently this is part of a series......
All in all, it held my attention going from character to character and also the chapters were short and the book itself was high on descriptions so I felt I was in 1920's Paris.
February 22, 2014
SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILER I will say I only got up to page 169 on e-book. I never read the first book nor was I aware there was a first book until I signed it out. The opening scene set my hopes up so high and after that I was disappointed with everything else. The investigator is a bit of a prick. Bedding woman and then having internal dialogue about how their mascara is smeared when they wake up the next morning and how he'd love to punch or slap a woman.. You know... If they were a man. I stopped reading after the point where he wants to kiss the room mate of the girl he's been hired to find (who by the way he has also slept with unbeknownst to the parents that hired him!). I was done after that. Perhaps that isn't fair of me but well, that's how I feel.
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