Game of Patience [Hardcover]

Susanne Alleyn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 21, 2006

Paris, 1796. Aristide Ravel, freelance undercover police agent and investigator, is confronted with a double murder in a fashionable apartment. The victims prove to be Célie Montereau, the daughter of a wealthy and influential family, and the man who was blackmailing her.

Célie's enigmatic and bitter friend Rosalie Clément provides Aristide with intelligence that steers him toward Philippe Aubry, a young man with a violent past who had been in love with Célie. According to an eyewitness, however, Aubry could not have murdered Célie. As time passes, Aristide finds himself falling in love with Rosalie, albeit reluctantly, as he suspects that she knows more about the murders than she will say.

When Aristide uncovers evidence that points to Rosalie herself, he must learn whom she is protecting and why before he can obtain justice for Célie and save Rosalie from the guillotine. From the gritty back alleys of Paris to its glittering salons and cafés, through the heart of the feverish, decadent society of post-revolutionary France, Aristide's investigation leads him into a puzzle involving hidden secrets, crimes of passion, and long-nurtured hatreds.

With elaborate French cultural atmosphere, author Susanne Alleyn has created a sophisticated and stylish mystery set in the uneasy and turbulent years between the Terror and the rise of Napoleon.

 

"Police procedural fans and historical novel buffs, rejoice! Susanne Alleyn's fast-paced Game of Patience is an engrossing, richly detailed whodunit set in edgy, post-revolutionary Paris. From the opening guillotine scene to the wrenching why-dun-it denouement, I was riveted."
---Karen Harper, New York Times bestselling author of The Fatal Fashione and The Last Boleyn
 
"Susanne Alleyn's Game of Patience is a well-crafted historical mystery, authentic in every detail. Wonderfully entertaining."
---Sandra Gulland, author of  The Josephine Bonaparte Collection
 

"Post-revolutionary Paris is the setting for this sophisticated and stylish novel, a true mystery, penned by Americna author Susanne Alleyn, who creates the atmosphere of those pre-Napoleonic days that challenges the skills of Caleb Carr of The Alienist fame."
---Big Sleep Books

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After A Far Better Rest (2000), an homage to Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities, Alleyn returns to postrevolutionary Paris in her second novel, a taut police procedural. In the fall of 1796, police spy Aristide Ravel, who's haunted by fears that he has helped send dozens of innocent victims to the guillotine, and his employer, Commissaire Brasseur, investigate the slaying of Jean-Louis Saint-Ange, a property owner who lived on his rents, and Saint-Ange's ex-lover, Célie Montereau. Saint-Ange had apparently been extorting money from aristocratic families, and few, including his colorful porter, Grangier, mourn his demise. Despite qualms about "mistakenly being the cause of a man's death," Aristide dutifully interviews anxious former associates of Célie and her well-to-do parents in search of the truth. Full of authentic historical detail, ranging from the rise of General Bonaparte to the antics of flamboyant incroyables (cross-dressers), the story builds to an emotionally charged climax in which Aristide reveals painful secrets from his own past. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Alleyn brought revolutionary-era France to life vividly in her debut novel, A Far Better Rest (2000), a reimagining of Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, and she revisits the era in this mystery. Aristide Ravel, an associate of the police force, is called in when Louis Saint-Ange, a man of means but questionable repute, is found murdered alongside a young woman. At first Ravel and his associate, Commissaire Brasseur, focus on Saint-Ange, a blackmailer with dirt on many upper-class denizens, but when they identify the girl as Celie Montereau, a young woman from a wealthy family, they begin to dig into the girl's past only to discover she bore an illegitimate child and had a clandestine lover. Ravel and Brasseur track the young man, but even as the evidence mounts against him, Ravel fears he might be innocent and loathes the idea of convicting an innocent man in an climate that has already seen so much bloodshed. Grounded by a complex, haunted hero, the suspense in this layered mystery builds slowly but reaches a breakneck speed. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (March 21, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312343639
• ISBN-13: 978-0312343637
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,084,360 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

The granddaughter of children's author Lillie V. Albrecht (author of Deborah Remembers, The Spinning Wheel Secret, and three other historicals), Susanne Alleyn definitely doesn't write for children, unless, like her, they have found guillotines, high drama, and the French Revolution fascinating since the age of ten or so.

Susanne was born in Munich, Germany, and grew up in Massachusetts and New York City. After studying acting and singing, and earning a B.F.A. in theater from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Susanne eventually came to the conclusion that, as an actor, she was quite a good writer, and that sending out manuscripts to editors and agents was still easier on the nerves than going to auditions. (She can, nevertheless, still sing a high C when requested.) Having been unwholesomely fascinated by the French Revolution since she read the Classics Illustrated comic-book version of A Tale of Two Cities, she set out to write about it. Her debut novel, A Far Better Rest, a reimagining of A Tale of Two Cities (what else?) from the point of view of Sydney Carton, was published in 2000.

Though a longtime fan, she had never considered writing mysteries, however, until she suddenly found herself creating a historical mystery plot suggested by an actual series of murders committed in Paris in the early 1800s. Police agent Aristide Ravel made his first appearance in Game of Patience and returned in A Treasury of Regrets, both set in Paris in the Directoire period of 1796-97.

The Cavalier of the Apocalypse and Palace of Justice, the third and fourth mysteries in the series and both prequels, appeared in 2009 and 2010. Susanne intends to cover the entire Revolutionary period in future novels. She would like to add that she speaks French very badly.

Susanne and her three cats live in Albany, NY.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Historical Mystery in Years, May 11, 2007

By 

Erin Bulman (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Game of Patience (Hardcover)

Susanne Alleyn's GAME OF PATIENCE is just about the best historical
mystery I've read in a long time. It's a police procedural set in Paris,
just a few years after the Revolution. Aristides Ravel, the protagonist,
is an "agent of the police", a sort of investigator/police spy with a
troublesome conscience. Called in to help investigate the double
murder of a man and a young lady in the man's apartment, Ravel
stalks the decadent post-Revolution society, uncovering secret after
secret, passion, and revenge. The plot is marvelously devious, the
writing very good, and full of terrific detail about France between the
Terror and the rise of Napoleon. Alleyn really captures the atmosphere
of the time, as well as delivering a damn good mystery. I'm not a
particular fan of historical mysteries, but this one is as good as they
come. Time after time, it seems Ravel has the answers, only to discover
they only lead to more questions. The denouement is fantastic.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a must read for mystery lovers, August 31, 2007

By 

book.of.the.moment "reviewer" (Maine, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Game of Patience (Hardcover)

"Game of Patience" opens in 1796 post revolutionary Paris. A police "investigator" (as he prefers to be called, rather than an informer or a spy) by the name of Aristide Ravel is called upon to assist in solving a double murder case. The two victims, an extortionist named Saint-Ange, and a respectable young woman, Celie Montereau, at first appear to have no connection. As Ravel begins his investigation; searching for clues and interogating witnesses, he unravels a case far more complicated than what he originally suspected.

The synopsis I just gave barely touches upon the plot of the book, but as is the case with many mysteries, its tough to give an accurate overview without giving away the story. To avoid spoiling the entire book for any potential readers, we'll just leave it at that, and focus on my opinions of the work.

It took me a while to warm up to this story. The language is a bit rough for those of us who don't speak a word of French. Not that there is an overwhelming amount of French vocabulary included in the story, but rather its the foreign names and places that are involved in the plot that I got hung up on. It's hard (for me at least) to envision a place that I can't envision pronouncing accurately. Once I got past that however, I got sucked into a who done it murder mystery that had me pretty baffled until the end.

Alleyn is an expert on French history and culture, that much is blatantly obvious from reading this book. She weaves her knowledge in skillfully, and is able to transport her readers to another place and time as they read. One that to many readers, is completely new and alien, yet they will quickly begin to feel at home there, as I did. There are several characters that we become intimately acquainted with throughout the story; a few are quite endearing, while others are basically revolting.

Without giving much away, I do have to say that the ending of this book is one of the most satisfying endings I've read in a while. All loose ends are wrapped up into a tight bow, and all unanswered questions are at last explained. The reasoning and logic included at the end of the story make the entire book worthwhile...its a perfect ending to an all around good read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Keep flipping--it's well worth it., February 5, 2011

By 

W. Staples (West of 40 degrees Lon and South of 40 degrees Lat) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: GAME OF PATIENCE (Aristide Ravel French Revolution Mysteries) (Kindle Edition)

Having an interest in historical mystery and European police methods and jurisprudence, I downloaded a sample of Susanne Alleyn's "Game of Patience." After flipping past the fifty (or so it seemed to me) pages of notes, glossaries, and excuses, I began to read. I hit the "do ya wanna buy?" message a minute or two later (actual elapsed time: ~20 minutes). I immediately flipped on the cellphone switch and bought that sucker! The lady CAN write! I spent the rest of the afternoon reading it ("I said, 'Hold all my calls.' Yes, yes, I know it's the president. He'll just have to wait--besides, it's good for him.").

Now, I'll have to pony up the $10 plus each to download the rest of Citizen Ravel's exploits. Ah, the bittersweetness of life in the new France.