Review ~ Blog Tour ~ A Dead American in Paris by Seth Lynch.

Paris. 1931.

Arty Homebrook lived and died in a world of sleaze which stretched from Chicago to Paris but never beyond the gutter.

He’d been sleeping with Madame Fulton, which is why Harry Fulton promised to kill him. So far as the Paris Police are concerned it’s an open and shut case. Harry’s father has other ideas and hires Salazar to investigate.

As Salazar gets to grips with the case he’s dragged reluctantly into an unpleasant underworld of infidelity, blackmail, backstreet abortions and murder.

Salazar is far too inquisitive to walk away and far too stubborn to know what’s for the best. So he wakes up each hungover morning, blinks into the sunlight, and presses on until it’s his life on the line. Then he presses on some more, just for the hell of it.

Review

Many thanks to the author, Fahrenheit Press and blog tour organiser Emma Welton for the ARC in return for an honest review.

I admit, I wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy A Dead American in Paris, after I was a few pages in! But it’s rare for me to give up on a book and I’m so glad I didnt. The story matures into a first class narrative, with elements of classic noir and feels almost like a Humphrey Bogard film, in the way it is peppered with an anti hero of sorts, a female fatal and a host of villains.

The story brings inter war Paris to life, you can almost sense the despair of those who fought in WW1 from the descriptions of Salazar’s nightmares and also the heady reckless that filled the air after so much loss and despair.  In one section he brings the city to life by describing “the screech of a train as it tore across a viaduct, these were the city’s lullabies..”. We are submerged in the seedy elements of Parisian life as the facade of polite society is is ripped away. The descriptions and story and both excellent and full of atmosphere, so much so I felt myself lost in Salazar’s investigation into Arty Homebrook’s murder.

I loved all the characters, from the flawed Salazar himself to Megan and Belmont. Even the support characters are supberb. Fem Fatal Madame Fulton,  ouzes sexual attraction and  painful need.

I read this book as a standalone, not having read book one in the series and loved it. I am sure existing fans  will enjoy it every bit as much.

It is a highly enjoyable read and I hope there are more on the way.

You can buy A Dead American in Paris directly from Fahrenheit Press and Amazon.

About the author.

Born and brought up in the West of England, Seth has also lived in Carcassonne, Zurich and the Isle of Man.

With two daughters, his writing time is the period spent in cafés as the girls do gym, dance and drama lessons.

You can follow the author on Twitter and Facebook.