Thank you Net Galley. I had read an earlier book in the series and while that was very enjoyable, this is better. I read it at one go - just could not stop reading. The plot and the quality of translation were both excellent. I look forward to reading more of Izner.

This is the first book that I have read from this author - not realizing it was a series. Saying that - I felt that it was a great story, full of action and suspense - but the characters kind of left me feeling flat. I also felt as if I should have read the previous books to get an understand for this one. I just seemed that I was missing out on some of the story.

It was overall a good story and well written.

Victor Legris, a photographer/bookseller, sleuths around the streets of Paris during the 19th century occult craze in search of the murderer of Lulu Fontane. Unlike most mysteries that have an air of dark weariness, this spritely delight of a novel is a fun read, despite the depressingly dark deeds at the root of this tale. Robust, sybaritic characters burst with life as the mystery unfolds at a brisk pace. Even the insults are snappy, “either you are a simpleton, or you have a singularly eccentric sense of humor.” All loose ends are neatly tied in the perfect epilogue. What joyful mysteries!

I struggled with reading this book. It started so slowly and introduced so many characters at once that did not seem connected to the overall story. I could not finish it.

I found this book a little hard to get into but having done so, I enjoyed the two storyline interweaving as they did, being a romantic at heart I loved the ending. The translation was good and the period of the times was really bought out, I almost felt that I was there. A book to savour

Strangled in Paris is the 6th mystery in the series featuring bookseller and private investigator Victor Legris. This is actually the first book I have read in this series and although I enjoyed it I would recommend reading it from the beginning as I struggled a little with the back story and history of some of the characters and their relationships.

I love the French 19th century setting and the author has done a great job at bringing the squalor and glamour of the time to life; there is a lot of interesting detail that helped draw me into the era.

The story begins with the reclusive Captain Jourdan who leads an isolated yet pleasant existence by the sea. During a terrible storm a shipwreck occurs and he finds a near-drowned beautiful woman washed up on the shore.

The woman is Sophie Clairsange and Jourdan saves her life and then hands her over to some nuns to nurse her back to health. She hastily leaves and goes to Paris. Jourdan finds Sophie's notebook and after reading the contents within he is disturbed enough to follow the mysterious woman to Paris...

Meanwhile, Victor is asked to investigate when a woman is found strangled in Paris.

I think the story was great, very interesting and easy to read. It is a good mystery and I liked Victor and his artist wife Tasha Kherson. I would certainly recommend this book to those who enjoy mysteries and historical settings.

I wanted to like this - and I have to say when we're focused on the enigmatic crime, it's very good - we start way back focused on the man seeking the woman who is murdered (but did he?) and then we get on - eventually, after digressions - to Victor Legris, PI and bookseller - but all the stories around his life, attachment to his wife, relations with fellow bookseller and his etc etc confused me. I get sense that it's all part of ongoing series, and I get that .. but I wait for Legris all the time to get on with it - admittedly the solution is satisfying so I'm keeping an open mind, and will try to find earlier stories to see what I'm missing: definitely intrigued after all.

I tried, but this is just not working for me. The description of the book seemed very interesting, but after reading one third I just gave up. There are sooo many facts regarding the late 19th century just thrown at the reader... Names of people known from history are all put together in different circumstances and this strategy doesn't actually add anything to the story, even if the dates match. It's basically an encyclopedia of the period put together in a fictional story.

Next, there are numerous modern concerns inserted as being present in that time period and I'm not sure that's accurate. For me it's very clear how modernity impregnates the pages, even if it's supposed to be historical fiction. I can't find any place in here for vegetarianism, labor and wage norms, everyday costs, overcrowding in sewing factories -- these are all real and present elements we discuss today, but the way we think about them is completely different. One mistake people make when dealing with history is judging it by current ways of thinking and modern conceptions. It doesn't work like that and we have to understand history as it was, for the people living then. I think it's simply impractical to compare things in this manner.

Whatever story is told in this book fades because of the other elements that don't have anything to do with it. It feels clustered. So, this book definitely wasn't the right choice for me.