Set across different eras this book explores the notion of memory. Can memories be manipulated?
The book touches on some difficult subjects. I was gripped and enjoyed the narrative

Well when your Gran whose suffering from Dementia admits to Murder 80 odd years ago things are going to her interesting.

So when Oliva gets called to Paris by the police to help her Gran whose claims she's not who you think she is but another lady altogether who killed someone with the name you've always her as you know you've got a task ahead of you. There is a lot in her pass, Oliva's as well as her Grans and a whole history to unpack and this is what you get to read and it's a heck of a journey to take. The cast is relatively small which I found a relief sometimes there are too many if this kind of novel but this was spot on enough to be fascinating but not too much to blow your mind or get confused. The tale told from today's context weth a bit of last year to give you context and the events of the end of the war in Paris as the Nazis are evicted and the collaborators sort from the hero's. I won't elaborate as it gives to much away but this is a great take on events and a real eye opener is fiction but based on a very real experience (in a fashion) very believable and very addictive or if that gripping?

I definitely was hooked in every page desperately wanting to know what happened what's next and where is this going, it's got events a great thriller needs and some more. This is a 100% 5 star read and I can't recommend it enough.

Without memories, who are we?
Hôtel Lutetia, Paris, 1945. Survivors of the Holocaust make this their temporary home but there’s a body in room 11, is it murder or natural causes?
Present day – Olivia Finn is a single mum to TJ and a psychotherapist and memory expert who works at the Memory Unit at Charing Cross Hospital. She receives a call from The Hôtel Lutetia and is asked if she knows a Sophie Leclerc who claims to be her grandmother. However, her grandmother is called Josephine Benoit, a reclusive famous portrait painter, who indeed has a famous painting hanging in the Lutetia, entitled Room 11. However, the description provided does indeed sound like a 96-year-old grandmother and the worst bit of all, is that she wants to confess to a crime, a murder no less. This is just the start as this confession has ramifications that date back to Paris of 1945.

This is a rollercoaster read with the well constructed plot going this way and that and it’s an emotional rollercoaster too, making it a compelling and absorbing piece of storytelling. I like the way the reader is taken backwards and forwards in time until the truth is revealed through several points of view, although principally that of Olivia.

The focus on memory is especially intriguing. There’s the issue of Olivia’s grandmother who has dementia, the painting she creates of Room 11 and sits beneath, Olivia‘s job concerns memory as does that of Olivia‘s mentor and contemporary of her grandmother, Louis de Villefort. What emerges a bit like the memories of someone battling the cruelty of dementia. You have some of the memory pieces but a lot are missing which results in an enigmatic puzzle. What is real and what is the result of Josephine‘s confusion or of some trauma? The connection between past and present is cleverly done and it gets increasingly intriguing, especially as secrets or potential secrets, are dangled in front of the reader resulting in continuing on in order to discover the elusive truth. In amongst this is of course, the sadness of Josephine‘s deepening dementia and what occurs as a consequence.

It’s a very atmospheric tale and frequently the atmosphere is a chilly one. Paris is a wonderful city and I have visited it many times and it looms large here, particularly through the Hôtel (Lutetia does exist and it’s iconic) and it’s past and of course the atmosphere of Paris in 1945 is crucial. There’s the inescapable darkness of the Nazi occupation and all that entails as well as what unfolds in the chaos and the reprisals following their departure. Paris of 1945 sets the tone for the novel and maintains it throughout, taking the storytelling to Auschwitz and back again and propelling it forwards in the present day.

I do guess part but not the overall reveal. Matthew Blake has delivered a very good follow-up to the best selling Anna O. It’s different and a page turner.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to HQ for the much appreciated early copy in return for an honest review.

Olivia is a psychotherapist specialising in memory issues. She is summoned to Paris, where her French grandmother, a noted artist now living with dementia, is found in the Hotel Laetitia claiming that she killed woman there at the end of the war. Sh picks up Gran and takes her back to her apartment, and is trying to work out whether there is any substance to her grandmother's claim or whether it is just the dementia talking, when the apartment is broken into and her grandmother murdered. Paris after the war was chaotic, no one knew for sure who was a collaborator and who was in the resistance and now, decades later, there are still people who will kill to protect the secrets of the past. This is a terrific story, well written, utterly compelling and absorbing and an examination of what memory is and can be.

I am sure a lot of people are going to disagree with me about this book and that is fine.
I did finish it but didn’t really enjoy it. I found it very hard to get into and it didn’t grip me and make me want to read it all the time. I did see the twist at the end. I would still recommend other people to read it just because it wasn’t for me, it doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy it .

I loved Anna O and was so excited to read A Murder in Paris - sadly it didn't live up to expectations.
Whilst the story is interesting the twist was easy to spot from the offset, I was hoping for something as unexpected as Anna O.
3 stars.

The plot revolves around Olivia, a modern-day protagonist who receives a shocking phone call informing her that her grandmother has confessed to a murder committed in 1945. This revelation sets the stage for a dual-narrative exploration of secrets long buried, as the reader is taken back to the days just after the of the liberation of France.

After travelling to Paris, Olivia is determined to uncover her French grandmother’s secrets. As her grandmother is suffering from dementia Olivia has to discover what really happened. This quest leads her and the reader on to the richly drawn individuals inhabiting the Lutecia Hotel in 1945.

The multiple timelines and POVs are clearly set out and easy to follow.

A Murder in Paris has a unique and well-executed plotline. the overall pacing and emotional depth make this a highly satisfying read.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley UK for the ARC.

The last thing that London based Olivia Fin expects is to receive a phone call from a policeman in Paris informing her that her grandmother, Josephine, has confessed to a crime. That too, a crime committed decades ago.

While Olivia and the police are inclined to dismiss Josephine's claims, evidence emerges to indicate that there may be more to the story. But Olivia has no idea how deeply the roots of what she is about to discover actually lie...

An interesting story that holds the reader's attention throughout, this gets 3.5 stars.

This gripping novel unfolds through multiple perspectives and spans across different timelines.

Olivia Finn, a London-based memory expert, receives an urgent call from a Parisian police officer. Her grandmother, the renowned painter Josephine Benoit, has turned up at a hotel claiming to have committed a murder there at the end of World War II.

Rushing to Paris, Olivia finds Josephine in the hotel lobby, fixated on one of her own paintings—an image of an Auschwitz survivor sitting on a bed in Room 11 of the same hotel. Though confused, Josephine remains adamant about her confession. Hotel records confirm that a woman was indeed found dead in that very room during the time in question.

Believing that Josephine might be confusing memory with art, Olivia and the police dismiss her claims and she is allowed to take her grandmother home. But when Josephine is suddenly killed, Olivia begins to suspect that her grandmother's memories may have been more than just imagination. Determined to uncover the truth, she launches an investigation of her own.

This was a compelling read—fast-paced, thought-provoking, and offering a fascinating glimpse into events at the end of the war.

An interesting story entwined with the theme of memories and how true they are.

The narration begins with a call saying that a grandmother is claiming to have killed someone and swapped identities eighty years ago at the end of WW2. Liv drops everything to go to Paris to help work out what is going on and face her own demons of the past.

ARC review
Publication date 03 Jul 25 (UK)

“A Murder in Paris” by Matthew Blake is a psychological thriller.

I received a digital review copy of the book from HarperCollins UK, Harper Fiction (via Netgalley).
Opinions from this review are completely my own.

Olivia Finn is a memory expert and lives in London with her son.
Afer she receives an urgent call from the police regarding her grandmother that lives in Paris, she needs to travel there.
Her grandmother is confused and claims that she committed a murder in 1945 and took the victim's identity.

The story is told through multiple POVs and timelines.
I liked that the chapters are short, the pace is fast and the plot kept me interested.
The investigation reveals secrets and lies from the past.
The characters are well constructed and the mystery is slowly revealed though information from the past and present.

There are some unpredictable twists and it was hard to know who you can trust and who is lying.

Overall this is a captivating read that I would recomand to mystery thriller readers.

I love books based on the Second World War. This is set after the liberation of Auschwitz and concerns two women who were friends before the war. A present day psychiatrist has a call from Paris about her grandmother, who has made a startling confession regarding her friend from the liberation days. The grandmother has dementia so things are very confused and confusing. The psychiatrist has an interest in memory so is well placed to explore the truth of the grandmother’s revelation. I liked the dual time lines for both main characters and I liked the comments about the transient nature of memory. An enjoyable read.

Another excellent mystery novel from Matthew Blake. This one revolves around Dr Olivia Finn, a psychotherapist specialising in memory issues. It all comes close to home for her when she is called to Paris to care for her grandmother, who has dementia. She is making some strange statements about a murder in the immediate post war period.

The novel develops in three time periods, the present, an affair and a trail of eminent French psychologist and Olivia's mentor a year ago, and the 1945 of post war Paris. The intrigue is high, and the reader is constantly trying to establish truth from lies from false memories.

A Murder In Paris is a well written and captivating novel. There are hints to the solution from early on, but nothing is revealed until the very end. It's complex and twisting, with a lot of characters in the different timelines, and leaves the reader wondering just how much of our memories is actually accurate.

3.5

This was a really fast paced book, I couldn't put it down as I needed answers! It really had you second guessing who you can trust! I did have my suspicions around who the villain was quite early on but it still didn't take away the mystery or intrigue. I really enjoy how Blake rights (Anna O was one of my favourite reads) and you can clearly see the amount of effort and research that goes into these books. I find the concept of memory super interesting and will regularly tell my friends 'no you can't remember being 2, you are remembering the first time someone told you about the memory' and to see that in print was exciting haha!
I found the different timelines and POV really added something extra to the book.

If you’ve read Anna O, then Matthew’s second book is – you’ll be pleased to hear – every bit as twisty and turny and altogether a great tale. A woman travels to Paris after learning her grandmother, for whom she cares deeply, is in a hotel with a revelation. She must get to her, and to the person they both trust, to try and figure what’s going on. But when your memories are ebbing and flowing like the tide, but more precarious, and all you know is that Room 11 in this hotel is the place where it all began, how do you put that across to others? With pithy back and forwards between the past and the present day, you’ll be kept on your toes, but comfortably so.

A different story written over 3 timelines. The grandmother contributes to the story as her granddaughter searches for the facts that can tell her who she really is.
The different characters weave the story through the years as each plays a part. “Who is the untrustworthy character?” runs through the story to the end.
I enjoyed the story, waiting to discover the truth at the end. I did find it difficult to engage with the main character- she was the least interesting for me.
Recommended

I raced through this book and couldn't put it down! Kept me guessing right until the end

Olivia Finn is a memory expert at Charing Cross Hospital in London. One night, she receives an 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.

Traveling to Paris, Olivia finds her grandmother confused. But Josephine insists it is a recovered memory from the past. More disturbingly, hotel records show that a woman did die in that room of the Lutetia in 1945. Could her story really be true?

As people start dying in the present day, Olivia is plunged into a race against time to uncover the truth about Josephine and what really happened all those years ago. Set among the glamorous streets of Paris, this addictive thriller what if a memory could get you killed?

Josephine says, 'Sometimes we have no choice, Sophie. Sometimes bad things have to be done for the greater good'

I liked this one. The writing is good and the pacing just right. I had good time reading it. Longer review to come.

This was a great follow up to Anna O and completely different. I loved the alternation of time periods to depict the past history of the characters and its a moving insight into the horrendous activities during the holocaust and at the end of the war which had repercussions down through the generations. I thoroughly recommend d this read.

WOW! From page one, in 1945, The luxurious Hotel Lutetia, Paris, a murder……Auschwitz survivors liberated and sent to the Hotel Lutetia to be medically and physically assessed at the end of the war. To the present day, another murder. Is there a connection?

In the present day, we meet Dr Olivia Finn, psychologist, working in the Memory Clinic, London. She has a 6 year old son, TG. Olivia’s past has been difficult. Returning home from school, she found her mother dead, suicide. Olivia was sent to Paris to live with her grandmother, Josephine Beniot, an artist. Olivia has a secret which haunts her and was treated at a Quai Voltaire, a clinic specialising in memory recall, run by Louis de Villefort, a prominent psychologist. He was Olivia’s mentor and her reason for becoming a psychologist.

There is so much going on in the book. Chapters are narrated by a different character and keep you reading.

I enjoyed this author’s writing style, which was descriptive, emotional, punchy with lots of great quotes throughout. The characters are well developed and mysterious and the author keeps you guessing to the end. The past to present chapters are my least favourite to read, but I needed to know the ending.

I would recommend this novel and give a 4 star rating.


MY THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND PUBLISHER FOR THE OPPORTUNITY OF READING AN ARC OF THIS BOOK IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW.