Split timelines are plot devices that lay traps for the author eager to offer readers different perspectives and the importance that may attach to the passage of time. Introduced clumsily, or simply to be different, they can confuse the reader and diminish the impact of the unfolding narrative. However, used skilfully they can reward the reader with a clearer understanding of events and their later consequences. Happily, Matthew Blake’s ‘Murder in Paris is an example of the use of the multiple timelines to good effect.
The novel subtly evokes the confused and confusing times as the Second World War was drawing to a close, and the difficulty faced by France and the French in coming to terms with what had happened in occupied France. The teasing out of the connections between individuals and actions is well done and the plot hangs together well. Language and descriptive narrative are effective in capturing the ‘then and now’ and readers will want to keep turning the page to see how the individual stories are brought to a conclusion.
Readers will enjoy the way the mystery at the heart of the plot is exposed, particularly if they are interested in this period of recent history. The only minor niggle from this reader relates to the rather abrupt way the denouement is presented. However, this did nothing to lessen this reader’s enjoyment of the book.

Thank you to the publisher and thank you to NetGalley for the chance to review this e-ARC. Full review will be available soon

Marketed as an "addictive thriller", nothing about this was addictive or thrilling, unfortunately. The mystery was mildly interesting though, hence the 2 stars.

This book had very repetitive language and I just did not enjoy the writing style for various reasons. Firstly, the main character Olivia was very much giving men writing women in the way she was describing her attraction towards various men in the story. There were also multiple POVs that completely detracted from the mystery and suspense that the story should've had. Also, the language used in the book seemed scornful of 'woke culture' (the term 'woke culture' was used multiple times).

Essentially, I probably wasn't the right audience for this book :(

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperFiction for providing a copy of this book for review. All opinions are my own.

Accomplished..
As the past fragmentally returns to her, an elderly lady confesses to a murder. Are these memories in any way or form reliable? Moving seamlessly past and present day, a mystery develops. Another accomplished novel from this author, a wholly different concept yet once again dealing with issues of the mind and of memories. Cleverly plotted and executed and with a well drawn and memorable cast of characters populating a unique plot. A haunting tale.

Hotel Lutetia, Paris, 1945. A body is discovered in Room 11. The body of a young holocaust survivor.
In present day, Josephine, an elderly woman arrives at Lutetia and confesses to the murder. But is she confused by dementia?
Olivia arrives in Paris to piece everything together and bury her own ghosts. An expert in memory, she must uncover the truth about her family’s wartime past.
Told in dual time, this is a fast paced novel. Blake writes solid, believable characters and wastes no time in drawing us into the story. Gripping, twisty and addictive.

'A Murder in Paris' by Matthew Blake is a great return after the amazing 'Anna O'.

This is another psychological thriller and again deals with memories and psychology - but don't expect the same as 'Anna O' as it is a completely new idea and concept.

Olivia is a psychotherapist and single mum. The only family she has is her Grandmother who lives in France. She gets a call one day to say that her Grandmother, who suffers from dementia has confesses to a terrible crime and is not who she says she is.

Olivia has to go to France and unravel the consequences of this confession while also dealing with her own demons.

This story flips from current day to France when it was coming out of the second world war and the horrors that the survivors of the Nazi camps experienced.

This is such a compulsive and addictive story and the flipping in history really adds to this edge of your seat read.

A great follow up to his debut; Matthew Blake has created another thriller that you will not be able to put down.

Thanks to the author, publisher and Netgalley in allowing me to read in return for a review.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Collins for this ARC!

I think I've challenged myself again with the different POVs and timelines in this book, but I do not regret it. It was really an interesting story and I was hooked from page one. We have Olivia, called Liv, and her grandmother, who obviously is not who she claimed to be.

But is her grandmother only sick and confused, or is there more behind it? Find out and get the book once it gets published! 4,5 stars from me.

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.