Customer Reviews

Murder on the Eiffel Tower: A Victor Legris Mystery (Victor Legris Mysteries)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In 1889 while the Buffalo Bill show parades through the streets of Paris as part of World Exposition extravaganza, a rag and bone man dies from a bee sting. Soon afterward at the top of the new Eiffel Tower, Parisian bookstore owner and photographer Victor Legris watches as a woman, Eugenie Patinot, apparently dies from a bee sting.

Victor meets with his business partner Kenji Mori, his friend reporter Marius Bonnet and Russian illustrator Tasha Kherson. With a common interest to spark them, Victor and Tasha become an entry. When a third "bee sting" death occurs near the Colonial Palace, Victor investigates hoping he can write an article for Le Passe-partout.

In some ways more a historical thriller than an amateur sleuth, MURDER ON THE EIFFEL TOWER is in either case a terrific tale. Readers will be caught up with Victor's energy as he escorts the audience around Paris at an exciting time for the city. The whodunit is cleverly devised to provide fans with a strong mystery, but the entertaining story line belongs to the hero and his supporting cast especially late nineteenth century Paris at a time when technology is booming.

Harriet Klausner

Its 1889, and people from all over the world have come to Paris for the Exposition commemorating the centenary of the fall of the Bastille. One day, on top of the newly constructed Eiffel Tower, a woman dies, apparently of a bee sting. Later, an American naturalist dies, apparently of the same cause. There's no evidence to prove that these deaths are murder, but Victor Legris, a bookseller, sets out to solve the crime.

"Claude Izner" is the pen name of two sisters who are booksellers in Paris, so the atmosphere they evoke in this mystery is pretty authentic and detailed. I have a weakness for historical mysteries, so this book was right up my alley in that respect.

However, I couldn't get past the characters themselves. They all seem so stereotypical: the unassuming detective with a mistress in the wings, the mysterious coworker, the red-haired femme fatale. There's not much here that's original. Victor was also really dense at times when it came to obvious clues. In order for me to want to continue reading a series, I have to want to continue reading about the characters. Murder on the Eiffel Tower did not leave me with that feeling, so it's doubtful that I'll read further books in this series.

What a delightful romp through 19th century Paris! Murder on the Eiffel Tower is the first in a series that shows much promise for many enjoyable future reads. Although this is a debut in the USA, two other installments have already been published in France, waiting for translation. The setting is late 1800s Paris at the time of the Worlds' Exhibition which dazzles the local Parisians with it's many marvels and wonders from around the world. At the same time we have the unveiling of the famous Eiffel Tower, both events showcasing a variety of mysterious murders thought to be caused by bee stings. To unravel these cryptic and unusual deaths comes young Victor Legris, a local Antiquarian bookseller caught up in the melee and who soon suspects his own business partner may be the murderer. The novel offers great character development, good plots with twists and turns, great historical backdrop and plenty of action and intrique to keep the reader turning the pages. Not being able to put this wonderful book down, I found it a breath of fresh air and a pure delight to read. I eagerly await book two and three which I have already ordered UK copies of. I simply cant' wait another year or more for US translations to get here. Dont' miss this sparkling debut. It's fun, it's different and darn good simple old fashioned murder mystery.

Murder on the Eiffel Tower had promise, but it didn't deliver.
This book was translated from French, and suffered from a bad translation. I had to reread several sentences because they were worded so strange.

If you love clichéd renderings of "turn of the century" types, then dig right in. If you like a jumbled mess of a plot that jumps all over the place never making any sense at all, you'll love this. I found the whole thing extremely tiresome.

A love struck --make that obsessed-- bookseller chasing after a newspaper illustrator makes up most of the plot. Based almost entirely on coincidence (but mostly because his name is in a visitor's book at the top floor of the Eiffel Tower) the bookseller suspects his boss as the murderer. Then he shifts his suspicion (based on the same absurd "reasoning") to the woman with whom he is obsessed. His "detective" work is the stuff of juvenile adventures like the Hardy Boys books (pretending to be a reporter, asking the neighbors nosy questions, etc.) It's all nonsense.

I give the book credit only for the painstakingly researched historical aspects of the Parisian exposition. That portion of the book is at least interesting and at times illuminating. The mystery plot? Mystery is a perfect word to describe the plot. It baffled me, had me scratching my head, often I would catch myself saying "What the...?" aloud. I like to be stumped or surprised with a detective story, but I would like it to have some kind of coherence. In the end, the outrageous motive for the murders is VERY 21st century. I find it hard to believe that anyone thought like that in the late 19th century. I'm really tiring of historical novels with characters whose personas and psyches are firmly planted in the future rather than in the era in which the book is supposedly set.

Although I don't read them nearly as much as I used to, I do have a soft spot for historical mysteries -- which is what drew me to this first in a French series projected to be translated in the coming years. The story is set amidst the hustle and bustle of Paris's Exposition Universelle of 1889, which was the world's fair commemorating the 100th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille and the birth of modern France. Its chief attractions were the newly built Eiffel Tower, Buffalo Bill's Western Show, a grand hall exhibiting the latest in machinery innovations, and the various "ethnic" pavilions and streets, whose ersatz reconstructions of life from around the world were intended to drum up public support for colonialism.

The hero/sleuth of the story is Victor Legris, an eligible young bachelor who is the proprietor of a fine bookstore. When a series of unconnected people start dying of suspected bee stings, he finds himself investigating the deaths. His involvement is somewhat clumsily engineered through his friendship with a newspaper publisher and his circle of employees. Eventually, he believes that either his closest friend (a Japanese man who was his father's right-hand man), or a sexy Russian artist woman he's interested in, must be the murderer. As in so many plots of this nature, this requires a lot of people not talking to each other or saying what's on their mind -- which gets pretty old.

His investigation (and the book itself) is kind of herky-jerky and awkward, as various threads are picked up, examined, and discarded. Thankfully, the book is ripe with period color and a reasonably interesting supporting cast of characters. Unfortunately, the climactic revelation of the culprit is underwhelming and their identity more than a little ridiculous. Like all too many mystery writers, the French author creates the kind of serial killer that only exists in bad fiction. It's impossible to discuss without spoiling the plot, but the motivation for the murders is absolutely ridiculous. Moreover, the author would have us believe that a normal person can suddenly have a switch flipped and become a cold-blooded poisoner, as well as a vicious throat-slasher.

Oh well, this is supposed to be light entertainment, and it barely achieves that level. The book does well with the period detail, both in terms of descriptions and social interactions, so those who read historical mysteries for that kind of stuff might well enjoy it. However, the storytelling certainly leaves a good deal to be desired and certainly doesn't leave me hungry for the next installments in the series (The Pere-Lachaise Mystery and The Marais Assassin).

'Murder on the Eiffel Tower' is the first Victor Legris Mystery published in the US. The author Claude Izner is pseudonym for two sisters, who like Victor Legris are booksellers in Paris. The book takes place in Paris during the famed 1889 World Exposition that presented the Eiffel Tower to the world. The Exposition Universelle was a grand world's fair of the style that died out at least 40 years ago (do they even have world's fairs anymore?). The fair featured numerous exhibits supposedly displaying authentic cultural artifacts from many nations and French colonies.

Izner takes the reader to the streets and parlors of fin de siècle Paris and this venture makes for some fairly interesting material. A greater knowledge of Paris in this era would probably make the book more enjoyable (or perhaps not - I cannot vouch for its authenticity).

The tale dabbles around the edges of the art and book world, but mostly chases the peripatetic Legris around Paris as he pursues love and murders. In addition to his duties as a bookseller, Legris hooks up with a sensationalist newssheet whose editor is driven to make a splash and uses a series of high-profile deaths that keep occurring around the exposition.

Are these just odd coincidences or murders? Well, murders, of course. But murders by whom and for what end? Legris frantically searches for clues to the murders, but also follows his business partner to see if he has a lady friend. And Legris also actively pursues his own love interest. Along the way, Legris rapidly focuses on one suspect after another. In the end, the whodunit is fairly easy to solve, but Izner kindly provides a letter from the murderer to explain why these deeds were done to neatly wrap things up. A mystery that requires a summing up is a mystery in need of editorial assistance.

Four stars is a generous rating, but the book does hold historical interest and the murders are cleverly conceived. Izner shows potential, but somebody needs to slow down Victor Legris and focus on just a few of the many items that were skimmed over in this first effort (for example,
his Japanese business partner).

This is a very informational historical mystery. It is set during the World Exposition in Paris France 1889. There are several murders of persons by "bee stings". Several aquaintances of the young bookseller Victor Legris are on hand for each of the murders. If not "bees", who did it and why? Victor becomes very attracted to the young red-headed Russian girl - Tasha. Victor lives above his bookstore beside Kenji Mori, another of the suspects. There are alot of historical details regarding Paris and the Expo. I look forward to the next installment of Victor Legris' adventures in Paris.

This book's strongest point is its detailed chronicling of the 1889 Paris Expo that featured the opening of the still-incredible Eiffel Tower. An evocative and entertaining tour around the exposition and eventually around late 19th Century Paris makes the otherwise modest mystery story worth the investment in time and money. An interesting sidebar feature of the novel is a focus on antique books that repeats throughout the book, tied into the profession of the principal protagonist, bookseller Victor Legris.

As for the B-flat plot, it revolves around a series of killings that are directly linked to guest book signings at the inauguration of the city's new pride and joy, the Eiffel Tower. Passable story. Reasonably good character development. Okay resolution of the murders. Overall, a pleasant read, particularly if you are goofy about all things Parisian. (I am). A 3+ on the Amazon scale.

The writing is good, the characters are only o.k. & the story line required more suspension of disbelief than I could manage.