Clandestine
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- $95.00
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- $95.00
Descripción editorial
A hijacked delivery vehicle draws St-Cyr and Kohler back to the killing fields of World War I
The last time Jean-Louis St-Cyr visited the ruins of this ancient abbey, during one of the bloodiest campaigns of the Great War, a sniper nearly killed him. Three decades later, death has brought him here again. Ever since the German occupation of France, the chief inspector has worked alongside German detective inspector Hermann Kohler, solving crimes too common to pique the Gestapo's interest. Now, during the fall of 1943, the war is going badly for the Third Reich, but conflicts continue to plague these two unlikely allies.
A bank-owned cargo van is parked near the crumbling monastery, its contents ransacked, its passengers murdered. The killers took small bills but left behind a bounty in smuggled champagne, cheese, and coffee. Even more confounding is the expensive pair of high heels left behind. Were the thieves from the Resistance, or from the underworld? Who is the mysterious woman who was wearing those shoes? St-Cyr and Kohler have a feeling that the answers are hiding in the cold French rain.
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As shown in the absorbing 16th St.-Cyr and Kohler mystery (after 2014's Carnival), Janes continues to address how "the everyday common crimes of murder, arson and the like" were investigated during the Nazi occupation of France. In 1943, Det. Insp. Hermann Kohler, a decent man who works for the German police, and Louis St.-Cyr, of the S ret , find themselves near the ruins of a monastery northeast of Paris dealing with a double homicide. Ren Deniard, the driver of an armored bank van, and his assistant, Raymond Paquette, were gunned down in the course of an unusual robbery. The killer or killers took small bills and the identity papers from the victims, but they left behind the large denominations, as well as a treasure trove of such luxury items as champagne and truffles. The presence nearby of some expensive high heels adds to the mystery. As in the best historical whodunits, the effective insertion of minor details (starving French and Germans ate "roof rabbits," the euphemism used for cats) goes a long way to bringing the reader into the story.
