This is a French police procedural murder mystery. As that, it is very different from an English or American police procedural on that the legal system in France presumes an arrested person is guilty. And we can see that when our detective, Inspector Mazarelle, is told to find the evidence that proves a man arrested for a murder did the deed. The good Inspector wouldn't have arrested this man because he doesn't think the accused is guilty.
The book can get a touch confusing. We start out with an attempted assassination of the French President during a parade. This gunman is caught red-handed, so there is no question he's guilty. The Inspector, who is the one who caught the misguided gunman, can't help wondering why the would-be assassin used a 22 caliber rifle that was loaded with blanks. He never gets to ask those questions, because the gunman is himself killed on the way to jail. The event feels like an interesting way to introduce the Inspector, but it comes up much later in the book.
The major murder is spectacular. The victim, a private investigator, is left hanging upside down in a tunnel that is a big tourist draw so he'll be publicly found. Because he has a tarot card, the Hanged Man, on his body, certain elements of the police decide a gypsy man the victim was investigating killed him.
Inspector Mazarelle ignored his superiors when they push him to find evidence the gypsy is the killer. To prove that, he goes all over Paris and other parts of France. He gets suspended. He visits the home base of the French Foreign Legion. He gets chased by the bad guys. His loyal team members chase down little clues that lead all sorts of places.
This is the second book in a new series. I'm not so sure I will look for the first book, or read the next when it comes out. It just didn't keep my interest that much. It's a good mystery. There are lots of twists, plenty of strange people, many crimes along the way.
The book can get a touch confusing. We start out with an attempted assassination of the French President during a parade. This gunman is caught red-handed, so there is no question he's guilty. The Inspector, who is the one who caught the misguided gunman, can't help wondering why the would-be assassin used a 22 caliber rifle that was loaded with blanks. He never gets to ask those questions, because the gunman is himself killed on the way to jail. The event feels like an interesting way to introduce the Inspector, but it comes up much later in the book.
The major murder is spectacular. The victim, a private investigator, is left hanging upside down in a tunnel that is a big tourist draw so he'll be publicly found. Because he has a tarot card, the Hanged Man, on his body, certain elements of the police decide a gypsy man the victim was investigating killed him.
Inspector Mazarelle ignored his superiors when they push him to find evidence the gypsy is the killer. To prove that, he goes all over Paris and other parts of France. He gets suspended. He visits the home base of the French Foreign Legion. He gets chased by the bad guys. His loyal team members chase down little clues that lead all sorts of places.
This is the second book in a new series. I'm not so sure I will look for the first book, or read the next when it comes out. It just didn't keep my interest that much. It's a good mystery. There are lots of twists, plenty of strange people, many crimes along the way.