Sunday, March 31, 2013

The Paris Affair-Teresa Grant

The Paris Affair


Teresa Grant

Kensington, Mar 26 2013, $15.00

ISBN 9780758283931



Two months have passed since Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo and chaos remains the order of the day as the restored Ultra-Royalists cleanse anyone with Bonaparte ties in a new wave of terror. Ironically the Emperor’s Foreign Minister Talleyrand (and now the Prime Minister) and Minister of Police Fouch survive the Bourbon restoration fervor.



At the Trois Amis Tavern in Paris, British Attaché Malcolm Rannoch and his wife Suzanne meet frightened French double agent Antoine, Comte de Rivère. While Suzanne distracts the other patrons, fearing Bourbon cleansing, Antoine demands Malcolm sneak him out of the country into England with a pension and two homes or he will expose a secret that the Duke of Wellington would pay anything to keep buried. Suddenly a brawl breaks out and during the melee, someone kills the Comte. At the British Embassy, the Rannoch couple reports to the Duke what transpired; as the espionage agents believe someone purposely silenced Antoine. The British war hero orders Malcolm and Suzanne to investigate and learn what Antoine believed would take him to England.



The third Rannoch Regency mystery is a terrific thriller as Teresa Grant deftly provides a spotlight on the aftermath of Napoleon’s defeat. The investigation is super as the “we spy couple” looks into the homicide to try to learn what Antoine’s ticket was; while also providing the audience with a tour of dangerous Paris after the fall and restoration.



Harriet Klausner

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