The Man with the Lead Stomach

Thank you Net Galley. The second in the Floch series, this is a great read. It has excellent plotting and a wealth of detail about eighteenth century France. After reading this at one go I am looking forward to more by the author.

This is a historical thriller translated from the French. It is set in pre-revolutionary France and as you might expect, full of intrigue and gory incidents. Commissioner Nicholas Le Floch investigates what looks like a suicide within an aristocratic family. Le Floch is not convinced that it is suicide. The father of the victim is less than enthusiastic about the investigation. The story moves from the complacent royal court at Versailles and Paris. It is full of historical details and atmosphere that draws you into the tale. It is a complex plot inhabited with interesting characters. I found it an entertaining and absorbing read. Recommended. Thanks to Gallic Books for an ARC.

This series is characterised by complex, convoluted plots combined with superb evocations of pre-revolutionary France. Fans of the pure crime genre may find the books a bit laborious but if you're fascinated by the history and politics of this period then these are very good.

Here Le Floch is at the opera watching over one of the royal princesses when he is called away to a crime scene: a classic locked-room mystery which looks like suicide but which turns out to be a macabre murder.

This is easy reading in some ways yet the politics and court manoeuvring also requires some attention especially if you're unfamiliar with this period in French history. It also helps to read this series in order - I didn't and found myself struggling at times with who people are and their relations to each other. Overall, though, I liked this and the real strength is a genuinely strong sense of time and place.

Jean-Françoise Parot's eighteenth-century series about the Breton Marquis and Commissaire and his side-kick, Bourdeau, has now reached its thirteenth volume. Now retired, Parot was a diplomat with a life-long interest in history, and it is his historical romance side which keeps his readers reading. In this second volume, Le Floch has begun to establish himself not only within the police, but he has made friendships with men of all stations in society, from the Paris executioner, his left-leaning Inspector, and denizens of the city's thriving low life. Above all, he has the confidence of the King, Louis XV. Over a century ago, many young (and not so young) readers learned their history from the long series written by Alexandre Dumas. Parot's books have a similar attraction.