The Unwanted Dead

On the day the Germans invaded Paris - 14th June 1940, four men (thought to be Polish refugees) were found gassed in a railway truck, and across the city, there were people so desperate, and unable to see a future, that they ended up taking the ultimate and tragic step of committing suicide. One of these was another Polish refugee, Fryderyk Gorecki, who stepped off his balcony, falling to the pavement below, and sadly, his death turns out to be even more heartbreaking than it already was.

Paris police detective, Eddie Giral is determined to find out who killed the men in the railway truck, and why, and he also wants to track down any next of kin of the Polish refugee Fryderyk.

Giral is very much your old school detective, and gives scant regard to orders given by the occupying German officers, indeed he takes much joy in treating them with disdain, and taking pleasure in acts of defiance - quite a brave yet dangerous attitude to take, and he doesn’t come out of it unscathed, but of course it makes him immensely likeable!

Giral is a professional, though not always ethical cop, however, his tenacity is to be applauded, and he has a wicked sense of humour, but he also has a dark and unpredictable side - a result of the shell shock that he still suffers after serving in the First World War.

Giral’s search for answers is conducted among so many lies and distortions, against a background of a city trying to adjust to a new normal, under German rule, its citizens’ liberty savagely curtailed. And it results in him being caught between doing his job and trying to remain true to himself, while around him circulate his colleagues (both good and bad) the resistance, foreign journalists and the German establishment made up of the army, the Gestapo and the SS.

Though fictional, The Unwanted Dead does have its basis in fact, which makes the reading of it even more harrowing, and, with a closing chapter that finally brings some long awaited answers, it’s a conclusion that you may find difficult to read, and even more difficult to forget.

Well written, well researched and highly recommended.

This beautifully polished and professional novel is thriller writing at its very best. Set in Paris in 1940 (with flashbacks to 1925) it is a story told by Edouard Giral, a detective.
The period setting is meticulously authentic. The plot is intricate and unfolds with a flurry of excitement. The story of Nazi occupied Paris is told with honesty and respect.
The characters all arrive fully formed, written with empathy and compassion. The solving of the four murders at the heart of the story is done with literary craftsmanship and splendid inventiveness.
I eagerly await the next novel in the series.

Eddie Giral is a policeman in Paris in 1940 when the Germans enter the City but Giral refuses to conform and continues to investigate the murder of 4 refugees.

The author, Chris Lloyd, has created an entertaining, thoughtful and atmospheric historical novel that kept me interested throughout and is one that I would recommend

This is an atmospheric murder mystery set in World War 2 Paris. Eddie Giral is a damaged First World War vétéran but also a Paris Detective. When the Nazis march into the city Eddie is investigating the murders of 4 Polish refugees in an empty railway carriage. They have been gassed but who is responsible and can Eddie still do his job whilst all around the Nazis are taking control?
Major Hochstetter of the Abwehr is sent to liaise with the French police and Eddie becoming one of the main protagonists. However it is unclear what sort of German he is- an out an out Nazi or maybe somebody more sympathetic. His nuanced character is described so cleverly by the author.
This is a well researched historical thriller with a flawed hero. There are flashbacks to World War 1 where Eddie lost his friends and acquired “baggage” which has followed him in his subsequent life. Are these the “Unwanted Dead” or is it the murdered refugees who fit this description ?
Despite the war situation Eddie is still a Detective and is determined to solve the murder he is investigating.
Chris Lloyd describes the darkness and threat in occupied Paris as well as the different types of Nazi soldier and their affiliations including the SS thugs, Muller and Schmidt who latch on to Eddie when they think he has knowledge they want.
The Unwanted Dead looks to be the first in a series featuring Giral and I will certainly be looking out for book 2.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for my arc in exchange for an honest review.

The Unwanted Dead is an intriguing and gripping police procedural, set against the backdrop of Nazi-occupied Paris in 1940. The first instalment in a brand new historical crime series, it is centred around the murders of four Polish refugees slain on June 14 in a railway siding, the day the Germans invaded and occupied Paris. Enter Detective Eddie Giral, an individual weighed down by his worries and whose wife has long left him. The four dead Poles, poisoned by what appears to be phosgene gas, were discovered in the rail yard near the Gare D’Austerlitz. Then another Pole jumps to his death from a balcony still holding his young son and leaving behind a slew of strange documentation. Giral becomes obsessed with the cases and draws parallels between them and the atrocities committed by Nazis in Poland. Unfortunately, because of the war, nobody can be trusted to be who he appears, as the distortions and lies perpetuated cannot be easily distinguished from the truth making Giral’s job all the more difficult. Caught between a strong sense of duty and trying to not to lose himself in the process makes for an additional and engaging facet to the story.

This is a captivating, compelling and superb read, rich in accurate historical detail and an absolute pleasure to pick up. Reminiscent of Alan Furst, this top-notch procedural not only has the intrigue of the murder investigation to keep you feverishly turning the pages but also the danger of being caught between the occupation and the resistance too. The Unwanted Dead is the result of Chris Lloyd’s lifelong interest in World War 2 and resistance and collaboration in Occupied France. Lloyd’s keen interest in WWII allowed the book to have its history grounded in reality whilst telling an engrossing fictional tale. The plot itself is beautifully wrought as well as intelligent and credible, the writing flows from page to page, the characters are developed soundly and there is a thoroughly convincing atmosphere throughout. Protagonist Detective Giral is an intuitive and tenacious investigator who is determined to get to the bottom of the killings but who also has an edgier side. I'm already eagerly anticipating the next instalment. Many thanks to Orion for an ARC.

This is a crime novel with an interesting setting. It begins on the 14th June, 1940, the very day that the German army reached Paris and occupied the city. Detective Eddie Giral is a WWI veteran, who is still damaged from his time in the trenches. With Paris overrun with German troops, he is sent to investigate four dead men in a railway yard and then a man, his young son wrapped in his coat, who steps off a balcony and kills himself. He finds a link – the suicide and, at least one of the men in the railway, came from Bydgoszcz in Poland.

Of course, Giral’s investigation is hampered by the German’s. Commissioner Dax is in charge in name only and the French police force have their guns first removed, then returned. Giral is overseen by Major Hochstetter, who involves himself in the two cases that he is investigating. Meanwhile, Giral’s son, who he has not seen for fifteen years, suddenly appears and complicates Giral’s life still more. Giral is a man beset by demons, who flirts with death and violence. He has immense guilt for what he sees as his failure as a husband, and his father, and does his best to keep his son out of trouble.

I do enjoy novels set in the Second World War and I found the setting of occupied Paris an interesting one. Should this become a series, there are some good characters, including Kate Ronson, an American journalist, and Major Hochstetter, who worked really well. He was urbane and charming, but it is obvious who is in charge and not all of Giral’s colleagues resent the Germans equally. The author explores all of those political affiliations; of those who resisted the occupation and those who collaborated, as well as many Parisians left behind – many elderly - who simply wanted to survive. A good novel and, hopefully, the first in a series. I received a copy of this book from the publisher, via NetGally, for review.

Written in the spirit of Alan Furst, this is a first rate police procedural set in Nazi occupied Paris in which nobody and no-one is quite what they seem to be.

It is atmospheric, historically accurate and boats a clever and credible plot. We are also introduced to a well drawn main character in Detective Eddie Giral, a damaged but talented and relentless detective who is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery of how 4 Polish refugees died in railway siding.

Well written and beautifully researched this book is a page turner and a real discovery.

Set in Paris just after the Germans had taken over in 1940. A French detective tries to retain some authority against increasing imposition by the Germans. He is watched over by the SS and various other factions while he tries to find the murderer of four Polish refugees. Nothing is as simple as it seems. There are plenty of twists and turns and the story runs well although complex. There were times when I lost sympathy with Giral, the detective, which is why the book lost a star. Thanks to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

Chris Lloyd's WW2 historical fiction is set in Paris from the moment in June 1940 that German occupation forces arrived, a city that so many Parisians have fled, leaving behind only the elderly, the poor and the desperate. Many commit suicide, unable to face life under Nazi rule, the streets are empty, a virtual ghost town as the Germans impose a curfew. Detective Edouard 'Eddie' Giral, is a survivor of WW1 whose life was destroyed, war which makes strangers of us all, living a life he accords no value to, constantly entertaining thoughts of ending it all. He finds himself observed by German soldiers, at a crime scene at a railway yard, where four Polish refugees have been discovered tortuously gassed to death, one victim from Bydgoszcz, a town in Poland.

It is soon clear that Giral is not going to be able to conduct a normal police murder investigation amidst the chaos and new order of the Germans taking hold of the reins of power, establishing control, such as imposing Berlin time. Commissioner Dax becomes only a nominal police chief, their guns being removed initially, although they are returned eventually. The police are overseen by an Abwehr officer, Major Hochstetter, who takes a close interest in a determined Giral intent on looking into the murder of the Polish refugees. By what seems to be an apparent coincidence, Giral finds himself outside a hotel and the tragic suicide of the Polish Frederyk Goreski, who had stepped off a balcony with his young son, Jan, sheltered in his coat. Goreski was from Bydgoszcz as well, and despite being an impoverished refugee, had acquired a safe which strangely contains only 3 books, whilst his passport is carelessly left outside in the flat, all of which makes little sense to Giral.

In a narrative that includes a strand from 1925, where Eddie's life with his wife, Sylvie, and young son, Jean-Luc is falling apart, Eddie tries to protect his son, getting beaten up and assaulted constantly, tangling with the murderous Gestapo who are not supposed to be in Paris, becoming close to an American journalist. He remains relentless in pursuing his inquiries into the death of the Polish refugees and what lay behind Goreski's despairing suicide, but is unable to avoid being caught up in German machinations, the different factions and the rivalries between them. This is a wonderful historical read with its blend of fact and fiction, set in a atmospheric wartime Paris with its famous landmarks, jazz clubs and cafes that Lloyd evokes beautifully. Giral makes for a fascinating protagonist, a man with severe PTSD, who cares little if he lives or dies, volatile, estranged from his French soldier son but desperate to protect him, irrespective of the cost to him. Many readers who love their historical fiction set in WW2 will find this a terrifically appealing novel. Many thanks to Orion for an ARC.