The Paris Mystery (The Charlie James series) by Kirsty Manning

Title: The Paris Mystery (The Charlie James series)

Author: Kirsty Manning

Genre: Crime/Historical Fiction

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Published: 30^th August 2022

Format: Paperback

Pages: 320

Price: $32.99

Synopsis: In a city that flouts all the rules, journalist Charlie James has come to Paris to break news and, even more importantly, to break with her past.

‘A superb evocation of pre-war Paris … a mystery I couldn’t put down.’ – Kerry Greenwood

‘A glittering party, a dead body, and a room full of alluring suspects, this book is everything you are looking for. With deft light strokes, Kirsty Manning takes the reader on an Agatha Christie-style journey in 1930s Paris, led by infallible hero, journalist Charlie James. The Paris Mystery will transport, titillate and ultimately, satisfy. Run don’t walk to get your copy!’ – Sally Hepworth, author of The Younger Wife


Paris, 1938. The last sigh of summer before the war.

As Australian journalist Charlotte ‘Charlie’ James alights at the Gare du Nord, ready to start her role as correspondent for The Times, Paris is in turmoil as talk of war becomes increasingly strident.
Charlie is chasing her first big scoop, needing to prove to her boss that she can do this job as well as, if not better than, her male counterparts. And the best way to forge the necessary contacts quickly is to make the well-connected expats, Lord and Lady Ashworth, her business. Lady Eleanor knows everyone who counts and at her annual sumptuously extravagant party, Charlie will meet them all.

On the summer solstice eve, the party is in full swing with the cream of Parisian society entranced by burlesque dancers, tightrope walkers, a jazz band and fireworks lighting the night skies. But as Charlie is drawn into the magical world of parties, couture houses and bohemian wine bars, secrets start to unravel, including her own. Putting a foot wrong could spell death …

In this magnificent new beginning to the joyful Charlie James series, Manning beguiles with glamour and mystery set in pre-war Paris.

~*~

Charlie James has just arrived in Paris to work as a correspondent in the days before the Second World War breaks out. All of Europe is on edge, and negotiations are in play in a futile attempt to prevent the inevitable breakout of war as Hitler does all he can to consolidate his power and influence. To prove herself, Charlie must write a profile of the Ashworths, and write about them. Yet as Charlie works on the article and attends one of their lavish evenings, complete with a circus performance, the death of a prominent guest interrupts the festivities, and sends Charlie down a rabbit hole of reporting on the case, whilst trying to grapple with the police investigation run by Inspecteur Bernard, and help him where she can whilst trying to ensure the case is dealt with respectfully in her stories. Charlie must also see where new friends Milly and her photographer, Conrad, are implicated, especially when secrets about everyone start coming out, pointing to a variety of motives that mean the case could be more complicated than it seems.

The Paris Mystery is the first in the Charlie James series by Kirsty Manning, and places a writer, a journalist, in the thick of things. Usually a character like this would frustrate the police – as Phryne does with Jack in Miss Fisher at times, yet there was a kind of mutual respect between Bernard and Charlie, which I found refreshing and I think it will make for interesting dynamics as the series goes on, to see if this respect is maintained and they are able to work together and help each other, or the tensions that will arise in future books, and if we will head into the years of war. Set in the 1930s in the build-up to the war, much like Sulari Gentill’s Rowland Sinclair, The Paris Mystery gives a glimpse into a world of glamour and joy, trying to ignore the threat of war and feeling as though the inevitable won’t happen.  What made this aspect unsettling for me was knowing what was coming – what the characters would face in Europe, because it can be hard to read novels set pre-war without knowing that, without the thoughts that come with hindsight. With engaging characters, and a clever way of exploring pre-war France, the role of women and feminism is examined throughout. Charlie is a great main character to drive a mystery series, and I think she will be a very memorable character.

Kirsty also manages to set up the crime and the suspects very well – alluding to red herrings and reasons as to why someone might have killed the victim over someone else. Throw in a bit of presumption of guilt based on past acts, and some who would do anything to ensure the whole thing is kept quiet, and keep themselves out of it, Charlie has an invigorating mystery on her hands that seems to take over her life and ensures her friends in Paris are embroiled in something they never thought possible. As the clues are unveiled throughout the novel and the resolve of some characters breaks own, and secrets and motives revealed, I think Kirsty has cleverly revealed a mystery that exposes human emotion, raw and primal, that takes us to the very heart of what can drive someone to murder and the lengths they will go to so they can cover it up. One might think these sorts of stories have been done to death, given the popularity of crime. Yet there is always something fresh about a lot of these stories, such as the voice of the author, or the character, and the way the fictional people engage with the crime. Yes, there are familiar tropes, but I think that is what makes amateur detective books so fun. We all have a different take on the tropes, on the basic plots, and the various characters and the roles they inhabit, and that’s where the magic lies. In what we as the reader and what the author does with the known facts, archetypes, and tropes. The way we invite them into our lives, and in a way, become a part of the story, because we’re always solving the case with the detective.

The first in a series is always exciting, and I loved being introduced to Charlie James and her world. I think this is going to be an interesting series and wonder where it will take us, and what it will mean if we head into the war at the same time. Another great series for crime lovers.