Intrigue and suspense in Paris, the city of light.
Set in 2002 in Paris, 'The Hanged Man's Tale' is written in the third person POV of Police Inspector Paul Mazarelle. His other French police officers are Captain Maurice Kalou of African descent in his homicide team, plainclothes Jeannot of the stringy blond hair, and young Lieutenant Jean Villepin. Journalist Maurice Claire Girard, editor-in-chief of Paris-Flash, is also investigating. An engaging cast of characters, they are investigating the homicide of Alain Berthaud, a private investigator.
A police procedural, 'The Hanged Man's Tale' is a delicious smorgasbord of crime, politics, the underworld, conspiracies, police corruption, racism, right-wing extremists and immigrant issues in Paris. It's not only the USA that faces racism or hate crimes. This is a fast-paced, gruesome crime novel with a point of difference in the type of crime and fortune telling used as a device. Mazarelle visits a Romani fortune-teller for her help to interpret the symbolism of the hanged man.
His investigation leads him into a Romani (gypsies) urban camp. '“La Petite Ceinture,” as it was called by the locals, stretched the size of five football fields, a quarter mile of danger and decay.' It also leads Mazarelle into "ripoux", 'crooked cops—the dangerous, twisted kind every real policeman hated'. Soon, staff from the French Internal Affairs also play a part, and even the French Foreign Legion show up.
Pretty soon after the grisly discovery of the body, the police charge a Romani with a history of petty crime, for the murder.' Babo Banderas, forty-two, is police fodder. Mazarelle's boss, Coudert, doesn't care a toss that an innocent person is convicted, so keen is he to wrap up the homicide. Sounds familiar.
However, new evidence comes to light, which throws light on other crimes that could be linked to this murder. Then the body count goes up. It's someone the reader knows!
Mazarelle, Maurice and Jeannot are entertaining characters, whose development keep the reader engaged. The plot is fast-paced and the milieu is complex, rooted as it is in recent history. The reader sees prejudice through Maurice's eyes. I really enjoyed the many moving parts, the depth, the fast pace, the unexpected twists and turns. I recommend this, my first Gerald Jay book, and will look out for his others. Thanks to Bookishfirst for the ARC of The Hanged Man's Tale.
A police procedural, 'The Hanged Man's Tale' is a delicious smorgasbord of crime, politics, the underworld, conspiracies, police corruption, racism, right-wing extremists and immigrant issues in Paris. It's not only the USA that faces racism or hate crimes. This is a fast-paced, gruesome crime novel with a point of difference in the type of crime and fortune telling used as a device. Mazarelle visits a Romani fortune-teller for her help to interpret the symbolism of the hanged man.
His investigation leads him into a Romani (gypsies) urban camp. '“La Petite Ceinture,” as it was called by the locals, stretched the size of five football fields, a quarter mile of danger and decay.' It also leads Mazarelle into "ripoux", 'crooked cops—the dangerous, twisted kind every real policeman hated'. Soon, staff from the French Internal Affairs also play a part, and even the French Foreign Legion show up.
Pretty soon after the grisly discovery of the body, the police charge a Romani with a history of petty crime, for the murder.' Babo Banderas, forty-two, is police fodder. Mazarelle's boss, Coudert, doesn't care a toss that an innocent person is convicted, so keen is he to wrap up the homicide. Sounds familiar.
However, new evidence comes to light, which throws light on other crimes that could be linked to this murder. Then the body count goes up. It's someone the reader knows!
Mazarelle, Maurice and Jeannot are entertaining characters, whose development keep the reader engaged. The plot is fast-paced and the milieu is complex, rooted as it is in recent history. The reader sees prejudice through Maurice's eyes. I really enjoyed the many moving parts, the depth, the fast pace, the unexpected twists and turns. I recommend this, my first Gerald Jay book, and will look out for his others. Thanks to Bookishfirst for the ARC of The Hanged Man's Tale.