Review: The Bones of Paris, Laurie R. King

*Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book on Netgalley from the publisher in return for an honest review*

Paris, France: September 1929. For Harris Stuyvesant, the assignment is a private investigator’s dream—he’s getting paid to troll the cafés and bars of Montparnasse, looking for a pretty young woman. The American agent has a healthy appreciation for la vie de bohème, despite having worked for years at the U.S. Bureau of Investigation. The missing person in question is Philippa Crosby, a twenty-two year old from Boston who has been living in Paris, modeling and acting. Her family became alarmed when she stopped all communications, and Stuyvesant agreed to track her down. He wholly expects to find her in the arms of some up-and-coming artist, perhaps experimenting with the decadent lifestyle that is suddenly available on every rue and boulevard.
As Stuyvesant follows Philippa’s trail through the expatriate community of artists and writers, he finds that she is known to many of its famous—and infamous—inhabitants, his investigation takes a sharp, disturbing turn. At the Grand-Guignol, murder, insanity, and sexual perversion are all staged to shocking, brutal effect: depravity as art, savage human nature on stage.
Soon it becomes clear that one missing girl is a drop in the bucket. Here, amid the glittering lights of the cabarets, hides a monster whose artistic coup de grâce is to be rendered in blood. And Stuyvesant will have to descend into the darkest depths of perversion to find a killer

Laurie R. King has lived most of her life in the San Francisco Bay area. Her background is as mixed as any writer’s, from degrees in theology and managing a coffee store to raising children, vegetables, and the occasional building.

I got pulled in by Paris and bars and 1929 and mystery. The combination plus the pretty cover attracted me. When I started reading I noticed I had the feeling I was not connecting to the story, still I was not able to put the book away either. I guess part was that I felt I missed some back story from the first book which made it hard for me to understand some of Harris thoughts and decisions. Second was that I had hoped on a bit more Paris, I missed some flair. Harris is moving in the artist scene and even though they where primarily painters I usually get some music in my head if the atmosphere is right. I missed some of that swing that atmosphere setting where you feel as if you where there. I also felt the story stayed a bit save in the American community.
Harris himself though is a detective, investigator I like. A bit rough in his behavior but you know that deep down he is an honest guy who wants the best for everyone. Though I still have a hard time to picture him. He was easy to walk along with.
The whole suspect pool was creepy though. It is the period that Dali and Picasso and Surrealism are big. The movie is becoming popular and used but for weird things too and of course the used le Theatre du Grand-Guignol. There is a lot of hidden and not so hidden horror in the story giving you small creeps or big ones.
I am now going to look for the first book in this series to check that one out!

The Bones of Paris
Author: Laure R. King
Publisher: Bantam
Pages: 432
Format: eGalley
ISBN-10: 0345531760
ISBN-13: 9780345531766
Series: Harris Stuyvesant #2
Bantam: eBook | Hardcover

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