The Paris Enigma: A Novel
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In the tradition of Caleb Carr's The Alienist and Eric Larsen's The Devil in the White City comes a gripping tale of murder and the art of crime solving, atmospherically set during the 1889 Paris World's Fair.
It is 1889, and the entire world breathlessly anticipates the Paris World's Fair and the opening of Monsieur Eiffel's iconic tower. The Twelve Detectives—a society of the twelve most famous, compelling, and dazzling detectives from around the world—have been asked to discuss the secrets of their trade as part of the fair's lineup of events. The Twelve travel to Paris to convene as a single body for the first time, but also, if some whispers are to be believed, to debate the very philosophy that underlies their pursuit of the world's most wanted criminals.
But one detective is conspicuously absent: the legendary founding member of The Twelve, Renato Craig, will not attend. In his place he sends his novice assistant, Sigmundo Salvatrio—son of a shoemaker, a lifelong detective-arts devotee, and the only remaining student of Craig's famed Academy for Detectives in Buenos Aires. Salvatrio arrives in Paris, carrying a secret message meant only for Craig's best friend and cofounder of The Twelve, the brilliant, brooding, and fiercely competitive Viktor Arzaky.
When a member of The Twelve is discovered dead at the foot of the gleaming Eiffel Tower, the first in what turns into a series of grisly murders, Arzaky and Salvatrio find themselves in a race against time around glorious fin de siècle Paris, encountering all manner of secret societies, solving philosophical puzzles, while also trying to save a dangerously beautiful woman.
The pair soon realizes that the stakes involved are unimaginably high; they must not only catch the stalking murderer but also alter the fate of their precious brotherhood.
Written in a strikingly original voice, and poignantly evoking a world about to lose its innocence forever, The Paris Enigma opens a window onto crime solving's early days, when wit, common sense, and intelligence were the only tools a detective could rely on.
DESCRIPTION:
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 863.64
EAN: 9780061479670
ISBN: 0061479675
Label: Harper
Manufacturer: Harper
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 256
Publication Date: 2008-11-01
Publisher: Harper
Release Date: 2008-11-11
Studio: Harper
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CUSTOMER REVIEWS:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not What I was Expecting
Comment: I purchased this book expecting an Agatha Christie/John Dickson Carr old style locked room mystery. To my surprise this book fell far short of the mark. Though well crafted overall its characters, including the main protagonist, don't really get off the ground. What could have been the setting for a great mystery, the 1889 Paris World's Fair, fell far short of its mark.
Customer Rating:
Summary: What a Hoot!!
Comment: Here's the idea: Gabriél García Marquez and Isabel Allende meet one day by accident. They begin to talk, and decide to give a dinner party together. The only guests they invite are Franz Kafka and Arthur Conan Doyle. The dinner's a huge success, and after the brandy, the four decide to co-author a mystery novel . . .
That's what this splendid, funny, sly book is: a collision between magical realism and whodunit, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. The author knows we don't really care very much about solving the mystery, but do care very much about the nuanced interactions among all the characters, and the deftly-limned and humorous treatment of the most hallowed conventions of classic detective fiction.
I had a minor bit of trouble with the English translation: for example, the important choice of the word "acolyte" in the English version is justified by a significant explanation that works in Spanish, but not in English; there are a couple of places where I would guess that a Spellcheck-proof typo got into the English text. But I think that I'm gonna get the Spanish version of this book and enjoy it all over again, but just a little bit slower.
Customer Rating:
Summary: OK but Not Great
Comment: It dragged a bit. Probably too European for me. Does not compare with Robert B. Parker, Estleman et al.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Don't read it looking for Agatha Christie
Comment: What a wonderful, fascinating book! This is one of those books that can be enjoyed as a piece of genre writing or as a more philosophical investigation of an anxious historical period of transition.
The main character is a young man, sent by his famous detective mentor to the Paris World's Fair in 1889 to attend the meeting of the 12 Detectives. The 12 Detectives are the World's Greatest Detectives, embodying every detective stereotype (e.g. an all-action American Pinkerton with his silent, but all-noticing Sioux assistant, a British detective who reminded me strongly of Sherlock Holmes). They are all about solving perfect crimes, such as their prized locked-door murders, using scientific methods. Meanwhile, the World's Fair, and the Eiffel Tower in particular, are celebrating a brave new world where science and reason dominate.
Ultimately, the success of the 12 Detectives' scientific methods is dependent on the criminal. Without rationality behind the crime, the motives of a killer are opaque and untraceable, meaning that the unglamorous, disdained "crimes of passion" are more intractable than the classic "plotted" murders. What is the new human condition at the dawn of the 20th century, and are the methods of the 12 Detectives appropriate to solving its crimes? And more fundamentally: what does enigma provide that rationality cannot?
This book is well-written, quickly paced, full of delightful detective anecdotes told by colorful characters. He packs all of this into less than 250 pages with short chapters (2-5 pages). Yet, if you are looking for a classic whodunit, you might be disappointed. I was pretty sure I knew who the murderer was and I was right. The solution wasn't an astonishing Agatha Christie-type reveal. But if you enjoyed Caleb Carr or In the Name of the Rose then you should enjoy this memorable story.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not As Good As I Had Hoped
Comment: The book was good, but not as good as I had hoped. There was little of the excitement of the Paris exposition and the "mystery" was rather mundane. The idea was a good one, but keeping the various detectives and their aides straight was not easy. I think a rewrite would be a good idea.
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