PARISIAN PARANOIA: MARK PRYOR'S A BLOOD RED MORNING

In Mark Pryor's Henri Lefort series, the German occupied Paris his homicide detective moves into a different personality with each book. The first one, Die Around Sundown, dealt with the humiliation and self disgust of being recently conquered. As a resistance builds up in The City Of Light with the follow up, The Dark Edge Of Night, anger and rage build. The latest, A Blood Red Morning, fits perfectly for a mystery thriller as he examines the growing paranoia in the city.

Beginning on The New Years Eve Of 1940, with the occupation in place for its first seven months, a murder occurs in Lefort's apartment building while he slept. Pryor uses the apartment and it's tenants as for a microcosm of the place and time as well as a list of suspects. Leforts soon learns the victim, Guy Remillon, was a snitch for the S.S., so the list of possible killers is long. The building superintendent is an alluring Greek woman trapped in France. One woman living there is having an affair with a German officer and the couple on the top floor have gone missing. Further investigation leads to activity in the building, bringing suspicion on Lefort from his peers.

The story utilizes the building and suspects to convey much of its mood. Most of it takes place inside there, giving a claustrophobic feeling. Everyone of varying political stripe are packed together. The more Lefort learns about the victim, the more he wonders how sympathetic the killer is. Much of the suspense come less from the whodunit as what action the inspector will take when he finds the culprit.

The book taps into the distrust of an occupied city. As time has moved things closer to "normal", Lefort feels the difference under the appearances. Every choice you make is taking a side, which makes everybody under suspicion and naturally secretive. As Lefort investigates, he learns how little he knows of his neighbors.

Mark Pryor uses the traditional mystery yo delve into a noirish place and time in history. Everyone , including our hero, carries at least one guilty secret, Survival and justice lead to sins if not full out crimes. Inspector Henri Lefort wakes up to A Blood Red Morning that greets him with lies and distrust. The major mystery becomes if he can trust himself.

For those in the Austin area, I will be discussing the writing of historical crime fiction with Mark and author James Wade at Vintage bookstore and wine bar, August 20th, 7pm