The Paris Librarian
A Hugo Marston Novel
-
-
4.2 • 57 Ratings
-
-
- $9.99
Publisher Description
Hugo Marston’s friend Paul Rogers dies unexpectedly in a locked room at the American Library in Paris. The police conclude that Rogers died of natural causes, but Hugo is certain mischief is afoot. As he pokes around the library, Hugo discovers that rumors are swirling around some recently donated letters from American actress Isabelle Severin. The reason: they may indicate that the actress had aided the Resistance in frequent trips to France toward the end of World War II. Even more dramatic is the legend that the Severin collection also contains a dagger, one she used to kill an SS officer in 1944. Hugo delves deeper into the stacks at the American library and finally realizes that the history of this case isn’t what anyone suspected. But to prove he’s right, Hugo must return to the scene of a decades-old crime. From the Trade Paperback edition.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Early in Pryor's solid sixth Hugo Marston novel (after 2015's The Reluctant Matador), Hugo, the security officer at the American embassy in Paris, visits the American Library in Paris, where his friend Paul Rogers is the director. When Hugo, a sympathetic lead with a strong moral compass, knocks on Paul's office door, he gets no response. Since the door is locked, he must rely on a library employee with a key to open it. Inside, Paul is sitting in his chair, dead. Perhaps he died of natural causes, but of course it could be a case of foul play. Might there be a connection between Paul's demise and the library having recently acquired the papers of American actress Isabelle Severin, now in her late 90s, who spied for the Allies in France during WWII? Pryor carefully plants clues amid the red herrings, though the obscure and somewhat tawdry solution may disappoint some readers.
Customer Reviews
The Paris Librarian
The Paris Librarian yields a rich Adventure into Paris. Mark Prior’s protagonist, Hugo Marston, leads us through this adventure in an irregular and fascinating leaps. Prior’s use of clues for Hugo to follow seem mostly reasonable. One clue, the pronunciation of atelier, strains a reader’s credulity. . An American just off the boat might pronounce this word in a manner that may amuse the French, thrusting our ‘el’ sound into the word if one learned the word visually. The speaker of this word posing as a current resident of France, might be assumed to learn some French aurally. It is a dog that did not bark.
That question aside, The Paris Librarian is a good read.