APPOINTMENT IN PARIS, the sequel to Jane Thynne’s acclaimed Midnight in Vienna, which received stunning reviews on its HB outing last year including from The Times (‘evocative, gripping and highly enjoyable’), Observer (‘gripping and surprising’), Financial Times (‘sharply drawn and very enjoyable’) and the Irish Independent (‘beautifully crafted historical thriller’). A finished copy is on its way to you.
APPOINTMENT IN PARIS reunites us with former MI5 watcher Harry Fox and his associate Stella Fry against the backdrop of a 1940s Britain on the brink of a German invasion. Jane takes inspiration from real life Trent Park – the Bletchley Park nobody knows about. Previously a stately home and used during the war as a prison to house high level German POW with it’s true purpose as a way for secret listeners to covertly gather intelligence from prisoners. When the body of a Luftwaffe captain is found in the grounds the day before a listener goes missing, Fox and Fry are called on to investigate before the highly confidential operation is blown wide open.
My thoughts: This was really good, conspiracies abound during the war, and spies could be anywhere. I was fascinated to learn about Trent Park – I am going to get hold of a copy of the book the author recommends on it’s history.
I really liked Stella and Harry – they’re both smart and think on their feet, especially Harry. Stella isn’t an expert investigator but she still finds her man in Paris, and carries out her mission despite the encroaching Nazi army.
I was hooked from the beginning, the writing is compelling and the story is so interesting. The murder of a Luftwaffe captain is taken very seriously – he might be the enemy but his death was never intended, in fact the prisoners are treated very well. Harry is hunting for his killer amongst the ex-pat community in London, where artists, communists, Jews and others who have fled Hitler gather and worry about what will happen to them.
A pretty face distracts him from his case and he makes mistakes. There’s also the issue of his feelings for Stella – it’s apparent to everyone except them it seems. This humanised him a lot for me, he might be a brilliant PI but he’s also a flawed human being.
I haven’t read the previous book to this – but I am going to now. And I hope there’s more for Fox and Fry as I really enjoyed this book.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 