Mayhem: A Jean-Louis St-Cyr and Hermann Kohler Investigation [Paperback]

J. Robert Janes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2003

December 1942. The body of a bicyclist is found on a deserted road in the Forest of Fontainebleau. A Resistance execution is suspected, and the Germans want the killer found within two days, or else. This is the debut adventure of St-Cyr and Kohler, originally published in the United States as Mirage.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Jean-Louis St-Cyr and Hermann Kohler [are] remarkably charming sleuths." -- The New York Times Book Review

"The portrait of an unusual partnership and the day-to-day operations of cops of war." -- New York Daily News

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Soho Crime (July 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569471584
• ISBN-13: 978-1569471586
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,136,770 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Murder in 1942 Nazi occupied Paris, June 17, 1999

By 

Susan Rose (Belleair, Florida USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mayhem: A Jean-Louis St-Cyr and Hermann Kohler Investigation (Paperback)

Mayhem, originally published as Mirage in the United States, is the beginning chapter of the continuing series of an unusual partnership in an unusual time. It is December 1942, in Nazi occupied Paris. Our heroes, Jean-Louis St Cyr of the Surete and Herman Kohler of the Gestapo, are called to a rural area near the Fontaineblue forest where the body of an attractive young man was discovered. The Nazis suspect the crime to be Resistance related and want it solved speedily or threaten to send our Herman to the Russian Front. Our detective pair discovers that clandestine sex, family secrets, and greed are the motives rather than the assumed patriotism. This series has been a favorite of mine. Janes's descriptions of the culture of scarcity in everyday Paris and in the historically accurate scenes of Parisians coping with the defeat are so vivid that the reader feels the cold, the hunger, and the dark. However, this particular novel fails to work as well as the sequels. Try a later book in the series.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating Premise, Execution Needs Work, Reads Like a Monet, May 21, 2010

By 

Douglas S. Wood "Vicarious Life" (Monona, WI) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Mayhem (Paperback)

J. Robert Janes is a Canadian author who has managed to create one of the more interesting detective duos among the many such pairs available in popular detective literature: a detective in the Paris police or sureté, Jean-Louis St. Cyr and a former Munich detective now in the Gestapo, Hermann Kolher. The two work as homicide detectives - after all even during the Occupation there were murders to be solved.

Mayhem is the first book in the series. As a persistent consumer of detective fiction, perhaps the most instructive things I can offer is to reveal that I am presently reading my third book in the series (Kaleidoscope after Carousel (St-Cyr and Kohler)). Mayhem provides much of the back story you need to understand the protagonists and their developing relationship. St. Cyr is attempting to hold on to his dignity and his patriotism and is quite wary of Kohler. Fortunately, Kohler is a detective first and a Gestapo only several steps distant and not a Nazi at any step however far removed.

The relationship between St. Cyr and Kohler is evolving; the relationships between them and their bosses and between those bosses and the competing German and French security forces is, to say the very least, complicated. Lines of authority are constantly blurred as theses forces vie for superiority. Among the goals of the leaders are the accumulation of loot and the exercise of brutal power. This complexity is a primary strength of Janes' writing that gives him a voice of vérité.

The clarity of his writing also suffers from this penchant for complexity. His stories are difficult to follow and are perhaps best appreciated like a Monet painting for the total picture they reveal.

I was thrilled to come across two more volumes (Sandman (St-Cyr and Kohler) and Mannequin (St-Cyr and Kohler)) in my favorite used bookstore, the Chequamegon Books in Washburn, Wisconsin. The Sandman attained recognition as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 1997. I do recommend reading Mayhem first as it provides much of the background for the protagonists.

12 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An interesting concept, February 8, 2000

By 

Laura Ellis (Dothan, Alabama) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mayhem: A Jean-Louis St-Cyr and Hermann Kohler Investigation (Paperback)

I picked up this book thinking that the idea of a Gestapo investigator teamed with a French Surete officer investigating a murder during the occupation of France in WWII was an interesting idea. It was, but the book was confusing and unfocused. Hopefully others in the series will be better written.