Claude Izner

Murder on the Eiffel Tower is the first in a series of crime novels about a 19th Century Parisian bookseller, Victor Legris. Claude Izner is actually a pen name for two authors who are both Parisian booksellers, so I guess their choice of hero is unsurprising.

The book is set during the Paris Exposition, at the time when the Eiffel Tower was first opened. Victor is asked to write a literary column for a new magazine, just as a series of strange deaths starts occurring. The victims seem to have been stung by a bee and died very quickly. As Victor learns more about this story, he has some disturbing doubts and decides to investigate. The only thing linking these deaths seems to be that the victims all visited the Tower.

The strongest aspect of this book is the way the authors capture Paris during the Expo. They are very effective at describing the impact that this strange new structure, and the Expo overall, has on Parisians and visitors alike.

Unfortunately, Victor is too bland and hapless a character to build a series around; he’s certainly no Rebus, Wallander or Erlendur in terms of character depth. Overall the book is lightweight. For lovers of this genre, where detective and historical fiction meet, I’d recommend Boris Akunin’s Fandorin series instead.… (mere)

París, 1890. ¿Cuál no sería la sorpresa de Víctor Legris al ver aparecer a Denise Le Louarn, la joven criada de su antigua amante, Odette de Valois, en su librería de la calle des Saints-Pères? La joven está visiblemente alterada. Le comunica que Odette, convertida desde hace poco en adepta del espiritismo tan en boga por aquel entonces, ha desaparecido tras una extraña cita en el cementerio del Père Lachaise. En un primer momento escéptico, Víctor no puede evitar plantearse interrogantes y así es como emprende la búsqueda de su antigua amante... Tras sus pasos, descubrimos ese París en donde todavía se escucha el trote de los caballos sobre los adoquines y los gritos de los pequeños artesanos, en donde los hombres llevan sombrero de copa, las mujeres corpiño y en donde el crimen florece en cada esquina... ¡El misterio esta servido!… (mere)