Not the best Blake Pierce book I’ve read, but it’s still a high octane read that you’ll enjoy. That’s to the author, NetGalley and publisher for the arc.

A gripping novel that keeps you reading till the early hours. Olivia works in a London hospital, she gets a phone call from Paris that her grandmother is at a hotel confused. When she gets to France her grandmother said she killed someone in the room in 1945. Told in two timelines with good characters and well plotted. A long book but well worth the time. Thanks to Harpercollins UK and Netgalley for this review ARC.

An insightful read.
A crime relating back to WW2 with repercussions today. Secrets, lies,manipulation of the truth but who is right?
I loved this book,encompassing a dark,period in history and some of the people who lived through it,right up to today with secrets being dragged into the light, families having to face their relatives past offences.
Completely absorbing book.

Memories.
A well written historical book set in Paris.
Dr Olivia Finn, memory expert, receives a call to say her grandmother, who has dementia, has confessed to comitting a murder many years ago, in Room 11 at the Hôtel Lutetia in Paris.
This book encompasses the war, 1945, families, concentration camps and the captivating concept of memories.
To discover the truth, this must be read!
Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for this ARC.

This story takes us from present day Paris back to the horrors of occupied France and the emptying of the death camps in 1945. It follows the intertwined lives of Sophie, Josephine, Olivia and Louis, the power of recovered memory and just what lengths Hunan beings are prepared to go to just to survive.

You need to concentrate on the chapter headings to ensure you follow the characters story perspective and the timelines but this is a good, suspenseful read.

Another good read from Matthew Blake.

Delve into the lives of Olivia, Sophie and Josephine. From modern day to the horrors of occupied France.

It seems that everyone will do what it takes to survive.

Olivia Finn is a memory expert at Charing Cross Hospital in Lomdon. One night she receives and urgent call from the police at the Hotel Lutetia on Paris's famous Left Bank. Olivia's French grandmother, Josephine Benoit, has appeared at the Lutetia in a distressed state claiming she once committed a murder in the hotel at the end of the Second World War. Travelling to Paris, Olivia finds her grandmother confused. But Josephine insists it is a recovered memory from the past. More disturbingly, the hotel records show that a woman did die in that room of the Lutetia in 1945. Could her story be true? As people start dying in the present day, Olivia's plunged into a race against time to uncover the truth about Josephine and what really happened all those years ago.

This is quite a lengthy read with just over 600 pages. The story follows Olivia Finn, who was living in London when her French grandmother, Josephine, calls her urgently and says she's confessed to a murder she committed in 1945. Olivia starts looking into the past until she discovers the shocking truth.

This story has a dual timeline, the past - post WWII, and the present day. The plot is good enough that you fly through the pages, the characters are well-developed, and it's told from multiple points of view.

Publish 3rd July 2-25

I would like to thank #NetGalley #HarperCollinsUK #HarperFiction and the author #MatthewBlake for my ARC of #AMurderInParis in exchange for an honest review.

A Murder in Paris
Matthew Blake

Read and Reviewed: June 2025
Publication Date: 3rd July 2025

⭐️⭐️⭐️.💫

I loved this authors last book Anna O so I was delighted to receive an email offering me an ARC of this latest book and I couldnt wait to get stuck in.

Thanks a million to the author Matthew Blake and Harper Collins publishers for the gift of an early copy in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed this one.

Told in two timelines - a present day modern timeline and the historical timeline set back in 1945 at the end of WW11.

As a crime read, the historical timeline really gave this book an edge and made it unique and different to anything I've ever read before in the crime genre.

I got immersed in the story from the very start and it kept me hooked (for the most part) until I turned the final page.

The present storyline follows Olivia Finn, who lives in London with her young son. She works as a memory specialist. One morning she receives a call from a french hotel telling her that her French Grandmother Josephine is there at the hotel - quite distressed and claiming to have murdered a woman there many years ago back in 1945 at the end of the war. Her Grandmother has Dementia so Olivia has no idea if her Grandmother is telling the truth or if it is just the Dementia causing her grandma to misremember or get the past all mixed up. She drops everything and books the eurostar from London to Paris to try get to the bottom of this bombshell confession.

The historical timeline is her Grandmother Josephines story, about WW11 survivors who were all put up in this hotel (where present day Josephine confessed to murder) following the end of the war. The two timelines intertwine seamlessly.

The whole story was so well executed, so well written and with really well developed characters.

I thought the books pacing faltered slightly in the middle and the plot slowed down a bit so I docked a star for that reason but despite that one minor flaw, my overall thought on this one is positive.

It is a smartly woven crime read and Matthew Blake is fast making a name for himself as a must read crime author following on from his success with Anna O and I dont doubt his continued success with this one. I wish him the very best of luck with it.

A really enjoyable read and one I will be recommending for sure.

Cant wait to see what Matthew comes up with next.

⭐️⭐️⭐️.💫

A thrilling murder mystery.

A murder in post was Paris, a confused woman now confessing to the crime but is it all in her head or real.

I love the twists and turns and different POVs throughout the book. The historical information and descriptions of post war Paris were fascinating. The thought on memory’s on how they can change and our perception of them was fascinating as well.

Although I did guess most of the twists I still really enjoyed the story.

I adored Anna O and knew I had to read this one as soon as possible. Whilst I don't feel it reached the same heights as Anna O, I was still thoroughly impressed and would definitely recommend this to all

When Olivia receives a call from Paris stating that her Grandmother Jospehine has come to the Lutetia Hotel and claimed to be someone called Sophie Leclerc and that she had murdered someone, she believes it is her dementia talking. However, she rushes over to Paris so that she can speak to the police herself and reassure her grandmother that she is just confused. Upon arrival, things become quite serious and Olivia contacts the only person she knows in the city, her Grandmother’s oldest friend and her own mentor, Louis to help her sort out the mess. Alternating between 1945 and present day this complex and rather sad story gradually unravels itself. With horrific historical events of the end of the war brought to life, it wasn’t the celebratory time we all expect but the dreadful aftermath of cruelty and death that will remain with the survivors for the rest of their lives. As extreme danger rears its head, Olivia is unsure who to trust and it seems her grandmother’s admission has opened a long buried can of worms. A story of love and betrayal, this was an excellent book that had me hooked and with a final shocking twist that I didn’t see coming.

This is a twisty psychological thriller that blends wartime secrets with present-day danger. It gets more intense when past and present collide with dark and deadly twists.

have read Anna O a while ago, and was extremely excited to get my hands on another book by Matthew Blake. I’m a sucker for historical fiction and a thriller, so right of the bat I was sucked in.

In this story we follow a few timelines: present and past Olivia, Sophie and Josephine in 1945, and a few side characters. The story focuses on memories and a crime that allegedly occurred in the aftermath of the WW2. Two girls joined by past, but only one of them survives. The question that drives the narrative is - which one?

I must say that I really enjoyed the 1945 par of storyline and I did like Olivia as a narrator, but somewhere in the middle of the book I felt like there was a lot of repetition. There are a lot of hints about Olivia’s secret and their previous relationship, but it’s not really resolved till the very end and even then it feels rushed. There were a few side plot points that I felt slowed book rather than make it more exciting, but overall, it was a great, fast read. I must say, just like with Anna O., I felt like the ending was rushed and lacked closure, but overall I had good fun and would recommend the book to fans of historical mysteries and multiple timelines.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC copy in exchange for this review.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is a great but sad story alternating between present day and the end of WW2.

An intriguing read. I became engrossed in this book from the start. From the liberation of France in WW2 and prisoners of war returning to Paris, this was heartbreaking at times but the story began there. Present day , can some injustices and murders be solved. So much more to say about this book but that would give spoilers. 8 didn't know who or what to believe as the story unfolded. Thoroughly enjoyed this tense, gripping read

I was over the moon to receive the early review invited.

Matthew didnt disappoint.
Excellent read, characters well written. From the Paris story to the UK story.

Can't wait for more written by this author.

An intriguing, engrossing, and sometimes disturbing story about memory and the tricks it can play. Olivia a therapist is urgently called to Paris as her French grandmother, suffering from dementia is confessing to a murder at the close of WWII. Shortly afterwards her grandmother is herself murdered taking Olivia on a journey into the past in search of the truth. Olivia herself has secrets from her troubled childhood and her mothers death from a drugs overdose.The return of Her grandmother from a concentration camp to Paris in 1945 is told in flashbacks and the atmosphere of those troubled times is brought vividly to life.This my second book book by this author and I would happily read more.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book.

This starts so slowly and really stretches credulity to the point that by Chapter 20 I was hoping Rene would kill everyone and the book would end!

I carried on reading though, it does definitely improve and turns into quite a good story. I found there was too much stuff about Olivia, Kyle and the brattish TJ and I found it hard to believe that Olivia would just hop off to Paris to see a woman who might not even be her grandmother. Could Vidal not have sent her a photo or done a video call to confirm the identity?

Anyway, I liked the setting, the characters and the twists of the plot. I also liked the recognition that women take the blame for many failings of men and society - it was not easy to be the sort of resistance fighter that Josephine was. Olivia seems to have a fairly immature outlook, particularly with regard to men, which is surely unlikely in a psychotherapist. It was not clear to me if she a medically trained therapist but maybe I just missed that.

i would say there is no real tension or feeling of danger in the book but the twists and surprises were quite good.

If you enjoyed 'Anna O' then this book is for you. When Olivia's 96 year old grandmother, who has dementia, turns up at a hotel in Paris and declares that she has murdered someone and that she is not the person that she claims to be, Olivia, a psychotherapist specialising in recovered memory and trauma, rushes to her side. As more deaths occur, Olivia knows that she has to help her grandmother remember her past.

Although mainly set in the present we find out about her grandmothers life during the German occupation of France, the work of the French Resistance and the experiences of prisoners of war in the concentration camps.

As you would expect, the main focus of the book was on recovered memory however I loved the historical content too and would love to have seen more of this as it really added to the story. Another good read from Matthew Blake.

Wow! This is set over a split timeline between no and the end of the war which is something ive mever come across before. It really does have a heaviness to it and covers a sense of sadness in the atmosphere. It srealkt well written though and, whilst I have no basis for this belief, it feels well researched about the memory aspect which does make you think! It just felt unlikely any other thriller oce come across and I really was captivated by it