The Most Mysterious Bookshop in Paris by Mark Pryor

 

First Line: The darkness was complete and, for someone who'd never received so much as a parking ticket, the starless night sky and black leafless trees were a protection greatly valued as The Shadow slipped a key into the front door.

Former head of security at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, Hugo Marston, has retired. It's time to make his lifelong dream of owning a mystery and antiquarian bookshop come true. Then comes the call from J. Bradford Taylor, the U.S. Ambassador. A chocolatier has been targeted for blackmail, and the ambassador calls in Marston to investigate. Hugo must find a way to make the ambassador happy and get his bookshop ready for its grand opening at the same time.

~

A few years ago, I read the first of Mark Pryor's Hugo Marston mysteries, The Bookseller, and although I did like the book's window into Parisian life and its strong mystery, the characters failed to "click" with me. I decided to give Hugo another chance in Pryor's The Most Mysterious Bookshop in Paris, the first in his new Paris Bookshop series.

Once again, I was transported to Paris. I enjoyed watching Hugo and his assistant, Blake Holmes, talk mysteries while getting the shop ready for business. I learned a great deal about the chocolate business, and the 18th-century chateau and former convent was the perfect location for Eclat de Chocolat. I even learned about what is entailed in being given a Royal Warrant.

The mystery is strong and kept me guessing, but-- once again-- the cast just didn't click with this character-driven reader. Why? It's a mystery to me because I do like Hugo Marston and his friends. It's like real life, I suppose. I've met many people that I've liked, yet had no desire to further an acquaintance with them.

However, don't let my lukewarm reaction keep you from giving this book a try. There's a lot to like about it, and it may just be your perfect cup of tea.

The Most Mysterious Bookshop in Paris by Mark Pryor

eISBN: 9781496756404

Kensington © 2026

eBook, 272 pages

Thriller/Suspense, #1 Paris Bookshop

Rating: C+

Source: Net Galley

At The Poisoned Pen with Jeffrey Siger & Mark Pryor!

It was the day before Denis and I were leaving for California, and where was I? Sitting in my favorite bookstore, The Poisoned Pen, to see Jeffrey Siger, author of the Andreas Kaldis mysteries set in Greece and Mark Pryor, who writes the Hugo Marston series set in locations like Paris, London, and Barcelona.

There wasn't any reason why I shouldn't be there. I had all the packing done. Denis was working. Why not? Naturally, I was early so I spent the time browsing, reading, and writing down ideas for blog posts.

L to R: Jeffrey Siger, Mark Pryor

When the event began, host Barbara Peters immediately hit the two with a question: "Why write about where you're writing?" 

Mark was the first to respond. (I'd never met him before, so I have to admit that I was a bit surprised to hear an English accent.) "I had written three books that went nowhere. I was walking along the bank of the River Seine in Paris when I saw a lovely old man next to a book stall. My first thought was 'I wonder if I should throw him in the river?' My next thought was 'Why did I just think that?' I walked to a nearby café and began outlining a story."

Evidently I wasn't the only one who hadn't expected Mark's accent because Barbara enlightened us all by saying, "Mark is a Brit who practices law in Austin, Texas."

Now it was Siger's turn to reply to Barbara's question. "I visited Greece, fell in love with it, and now I live there half the year. I've always felt so comfortable writing a main character who's Greek that I didn't realize how unusual it is until Martin Limón and Tim Hallinan told me. Now I feel a bit self-conscious!" 

"You both write about big tourist destinations which means you avoid the dreaded Cabot Cove Syndrome," Peters observed. The two men agreed.

Mark Pryor

"My character, Hugo Marston, is partly based on my father," Pryor told us. "Hugo is the head of security at the American Embassy in Paris. Occasionally my publisher sends me off on vacation to check out different locations for my books." Mark looked over at Jeff and said, "I'm surprised that you don't speak Greek because Sons of Sparta reads like a Greek novel that's been very well-translated into English."

Siger laughed and said, "I understand a lot of the language, but when I speak Greek, they switch to English to save their mother tongue!"

The next question Barbara had for was "Do you have your story first and then decide on the setting, or does the setting come before the story?"

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"I'm a pantser," Siger replied. "I never know what it's going to be. Right now I want to write about immigrants which is going to limit my choice of locations."

"I'm very happy to say that Jeff [who writes for Barbara's Poisoned Pen Press] is the only writer who is successful writing about Greece."

"I think my books are a collage of different elements of Greek society," Siger said. Barbara agreed. "The books are contemporary, but they're also tied to ancient tropes like hubris. This makes them timeless."

Barbara turned to Mark. "Speaking of tropes, we have another one in The Paris Librarian: the body in the library!"

Mark smiled. "I love Agatha Christie. My publisher told me that readers tend to love reading about books, so I decided to write a mystery that took me back to books and libraries. I wrote to the small library in Paris and asked them 'Do you mind if I kill someone in your library?' Their response was 'We love it!'

"I wanted to find a place for the bad guy's escape route, so I went down to the library's basement-- which is really creepy. I decided that there was one spot that was the perfect place to have a secret door. Shortly after I was there, they closed the library for some renovations, and they discovered a secret room!"

Barbara looked at Mark and said, "I wish you hadn't killed the librarian. I really liked him!" Mark replied, "Somebody had to die!" Speaking of his characters reminded him of another one. "The American actress in the book is based on Olivia de Havilland. I tried, but I didn't get a chance to meet her, so I had to change the character's name."

Jeffrey Siger

When Barbara mentioned that the Greek military has a rather large role in his latest book Santorini Caesars, Jeffrey Siger said, "Greece has four times as many top-of-the-line German tanks as Germany. The Greek military takes very good care of itself, and it has a lot invested in the government."

A fan in the audience asked about editing. Peters [Siger's editor] said Siger takes the editing process very well. Jeff replied, "Mark and I are both lawyers. We're used to submitting something to a judge and having sixteen other lawyers criticize it. Editing? This is easy!" By the way Mark was nodding his head, we could see that he agreed.

Another fan wanted to know if authors needed to travel to the places they wrote about. Mark Pryor commented, "You have to go to a place to be able to write about it. Yes, you can use Google Maps, but there are all sorts of things that Google Maps can't tell you-- like how the area smells."

"There's also a famous instance concerning Dan Brown and Google Maps.  He used it for a scene in one of his books, and in real life it wouldn't have worked because the buildings are too tall," Barbara said. 

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Another fan wanted to know about Pryor's law practice. "I'm a prosecutor," Mark replied.

Siger's next book? "Immigration, and it's probably going to be set on the island of Lesbos," Jeff said.

"I'm writing another Hugo Marston book set in Paris and a follow-up to Hollow Man," Pryor added. "I have two other ideas competing for space in my head. I have more ideas than I have time to write!"

This jogged Jeff's memory to tell us about Sunshine Noir, a collection of short stories to which he's contributed his very first one. (I'm just about to finish it now, and I have to say that it's a great collection of both authors and some very fine short stories.)

And just like that, the event was over. In less than twenty-four hours, I'd be on the road to California-- but I was certainly glad I'd made the decision to come to The Poisoned Pen to see these two talented writers first!

The Bookseller by Mark Pryor

First Line: The largest of Notre Dame's bells tolled noon just as Hugo reached the end of the bridge, the brittle air seeming to hold on to the final clang longer than usual.

Hugo Marston, head of security at the U.S. Embassy, enjoys his posting in Paris, and has made friends-- or as much as he can-- with irascible old Max, a well-known bouquiniste (bookstall owner), who can usually find the books Hugo is looking for. When Hugo is forced to stand and watch Max be kidnapped at gunpoint, he is determined to find the elderly man before it is too late. When local police insist there has been no kidnapping, Hugo takes some time off to conduct his own search with the help of his friend, semi-retired CIA agent Tom Green.

When the two men learn more of Max's background, they don't know if he was kidnapped because of the books he sold or because of his past. Then other bouquinistes begin to disappear only for their bodies to be discovered later floating in the Seine. Hugo himself becomes a target, and he's going to have to find some way to convince the police to become involved.

I enjoyed The Bookseller for its window into Parisian life and for the background it provided of the bookstall owners. I've seen so many photographs of the bouquinistes, yet this is the first time I've read anything of their history. It was fascinating.

Unfortunately, the rest of the book wasn't on par with its insights into Paris and one of its institutions. Having deduced what was happening to the booksellers and why very early on, I wondered how long it would take Hugo Marston to put the pieces together. Too long, as it happens. Moreover, Marston himself never really clicked as a main character for me, and neither did his friend Tom Green. Both have promise, but both lacked that indefinable spark that would bring them to life.

Now that I've said all that, I will say that this is a promising debut mystery, and I am more than willing to give the next book in the series a try. 
  

The Bookseller by Mark Pryor

ISBN:  9781616147099

Seventh Street Books © 2012

eBook, 312 pages

Law Enforcement, #1 Hugo Marston mystery

Rating: C+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.