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

What if a memory is the behind things that happened in the past? Do you want to know why? This story is told using different time periods and multiple points of view. Dr Olivia Finn, a psychotherapist in a memory unit based in London, is called by the police in Paris to say her Grandmother is saying something happened 80 years ago. Olivia travels to Paris to help her. This incident leads to secrets, lies, deceptions, betrayals, emotional times and memories from the past that come out in the present. This was an emotional rollercoaster of a mystery read.

A really enjoyable sweet little murder story! Mixed with some interesting thoughts on memories and how they can be used to shape us, there was a lot in this book. I enjoyed the characters and felt invested in them. Thank you to Netgalley for the advance reader copy.

A captivating novel over two timelines- full of fear and hope. Very well written and atmospheric. Having said this, I did not enjoy it, but only because of the subject matter.

The second Matthew Blake book I have read. Like the first book it makes the reader think and challenges us. Set at the end of WWII and present times and jumps between the two. An enjoyable but at times sad read. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the chance to ARC this book.

Overall feeling of sadness. The settings moved between the present and the end of WW2.

I really liked Olivia and admired how she just ploughed on with her life despite circumstances.

I also liked the idea that whenever we recall a memory we are in fact reviewing and editing it. The memory can change as a result. That was insightful.

The end of the WW2 in Paris sounded very stressful to me just reading about it. How people managed to cope I fail to understand.

The characters and plot intertwined and made it difficult to appreciate who was dangerous - who was a goodie - who was a baddie!

All in all an entertaining read!

I really liked "Anna O" so when I heard that Matthew Blake had written a second book, I requested "A Murder in Paris". Full of secrets, confessions and a storyline that is linked to a hotel room and what happened in it 70 years ago. Some great plot twists that keep you guessing til the very end.

A fancy hotel in Paris, a portrait hanging in their foyer, one room seventy years apart, a murder and a deadly secret.

A young woman, living in London with her young son, gets a phone call to say her aged grandmother, who lives in Paris, has walked into a hotel and claimed to have committed murder. Olivia Finn is a memory expert who grew up with her Grandmother in Paris after her mother left. When she gets a phone call, she rushes to be with her and tries to understand why her Grandmother is claiming she killed someone in that hotel after WW2. What she discovers takes her down a dark route that started before the Nazi's invaded Paris, and will leave more than one life shattered.

This was a great mix of historical and modern-day stories, as they collide together in a wonderful thriller that makes you wonder if you can truly trust your own memories.

I am a massive fan of this authors first book Anna O, so I had really high expectations for this book. I absolutely loved the memory aspect that was at the heart of this story, however I was a little confused during the first 25% of this book in terms of who was who and having multiple timelines. The story definitely picked up and I did really enjoy all the dots being connected by the end. I will continue to read more books from this author.

I loved Anna O so much that I requested A. Murder in Paris without even reading the synopsis! I have been waiting for another book from this author and was so happy to receive an early copy thanks to Harper Collins.

What an absolutely fantastic book! i loved the historical timeline, and the fascinating story of WWII survivors. What those poor innocent people were put through was just horrific. I do always enjoy multiple timelines in a story and it was so cleverly executed by the author. I couldn’t wait to get back to all the timelines!

Olivia Finn is a memory expert, so seeing her grandmother suffering through dementia breaks her heart. So when she gets a call from Paris to say that her grandmother has confessed to a murder in 1945, she drops everything and gets herself on the Eurostar. Is she telling the truth or is this the illness talking?

Memory plays a big part of this book, what we remember and what we think we remember. How memories change over time and how they can be manipulated l it was such an interesting concept and ai couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. You have to read this book, out on July 3rd.

Olivia receives a phonecall from Paris, her grandmother Josephine has confessed to a murder but it happened in 1945. Olivia makes her way to France to see her grandmother to find out what's going on, her grandmother's memory isn't what it was and dementia has plagued her for a few years. Olivia sets out to find the truth and what she discovers is quite shocking. What significance does room 11 at the Lutetia Hotel have?
I enjoyed that the story is told in flashbacks from 1940's Paris to present day. I did find it took a while for me to be really gripped by the book but I think the back story had to be explained.
Thanks to Harper fiction for the advanced copy.

A Murder In Paris is an emotional tale that sits somewhere between a historical thriller and modern crime fiction, the action moving back and forth between 1945, and a Paris dealing with the immediate aftermath of the war, and modern day in which out central protagonist, Olivia, is faced with a very stark revelation - that her Grandmother, famed artist Josephine Benoit, may not be the woman she thought she was. Facing a slow decline due to dementia, Josephine has made a very dark confession. That, in the days after her liberation from Auschwitz, whilst housed in the Hotel Lutetia and waiting evaluation of her condition, she murdered a woman and stole her identity. How much of that confession is recovered memory, and how much a consequence of Josephine's fractured and damaged mind, is something that Olivia must find out. But there are those that don't want the truth to come out, and trying to prove her Grandmother's innocence may prove deadly.

This is a very clever study of the human mind and of psychology as a profession. Not only does Matthew Blake explore the impact of Josephine's dementia diagnosis, on the credence, or lack thereof, of her confession, but also the emotions tied to the condition itself on both Josephine and Olivia. On a secondary level, Olivia is herself a psychotherapist and understands the fragility of the human mind which makes her investigations all the more meaningful, and her discoveries all the more plausible. It also means that I found myself believing in her and perhaps even becoming a little blindsided to the truth. the strength of her convictions proving to be a source of misdirection as it were - both the positive and negative sides of it all.

There is a lot of tension and threat coursing through this book, in part as some of the scenes are conveyed from the point of view of a mysterious third party whose role in the proceedings is always clear, but never of good intent. The 'fixer' if you like who has been engaged to remove some of the conflict in a somewhat dramatic manner. Their own history becomes part of the plot, making them a touch less anonymous, but still keeping their exact mission secret until just the right time for the dramatic reveal. Was I entirely surprised when their employer was revealed? No. Not really. I did figure that there was only really one potential candidate on that front quite early on. But that didn't change my enjoyment of the story, and it was as much about watching Olivia's path to the truth, as the big reveal about the person and their motives, that look into the world of psychology, that appealed to me.

What I really did like about this book though was the way in which Matthew Blake has woven scenes from 1945 into the narrative, in a way that felt like a natural progression of the story rather than a diversion from Olivia's investigations. Each scene had an air of authenticity to it, bringing the Hotel Lutetia of the past to life, allowing me as a reader to feel the oppressive nature of Josephine's confinement and the emotional toll that her time in Auschwitz had in her and her fellow prisoners. from the loss of her beloved father, to the discovery, or at least confirmation of the betrayal that cost them everything, there is a melancholy to the text, but also a slight sense of hope. There are other characters in these scenes, ones who are vital to the course that Josephine's story will take, all brought to life, and death, brilliantly by the author. I felt a mixture of emotions about one in particular, whose actions may have seemed unforgivable but also understandable.

If you love a book that delves into the world of psychology, mixing intrigue and suspense with an interrogation of human nature and whether or not memories can every be truly trusted, addled by dementia or not, then I would definitely recommend this book. It blends character and mystery perfectly, highlighting all the ways in which trust can be abused, and making you wonder whether the ends can ever justify the means.

Having read and enjoyed Anna O I was really pleased to be given the opportunity to read this title. As with Anna O it is well written but did not grab me quite as much as the previous title.
In was definitely interesting but did not hold my attention quite as much. It was a little confusing in places and I felt some parts were extraneous to the story. There were twists and turns and it did keep me guessing. I did feel the ending was rather rushed.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Matthew Blake/HarperCollins UK for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

This is the first book that I've read from this author and I thought the title and description sounded really interesting.

Olivia returns to Paris following her Grandmothers confession to a murder which happened 1945.

We follow multiple points of view, both in the past and present. I struggled with the writing style as it was all in third person, and I was often getting confused between Sophie and Josephine. There were too many characters to keep up with for me. I also found it to be quite slow and very repetitive in parts. I felt as if I was rereading sections and I didn't feel the story moved very far along at all.

I'm not usually a fan of historical fiction and I wasn't expecting so much to be set in WW2. I feel this would be a great book for those who enjoy complex historical thrillers but it just wasn't for me personally.

Thank you to Harper Fiction for this advanced copy.
Although I did not enjoy this read, I appreciate the opportunity to read it.