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Elliot Paul (1891–1958)

Författare till The Last Time I Saw Paris

31+ verk 585 medlemmar 16 recensioner

Om författaren

Foto taget av: Courtesy of the NYPL Digital Gallery (image use requires permission from the New York Public Library)

Serier

Verk av Elliot Paul

The Last Time I Saw Paris (1942) 196 exemplar
The Mysterious Mickey Finn (1939) 56 exemplar
Hugger-Mugger in the Louvre (1940) 55 exemplar
Springtime in Paris (1950) 20 exemplar
Murder on the Left Bank (1951) 14 exemplar
Linden on the Saugus Branch (1947) 11 exemplar
Desperate Scenery (1954) 6 exemplar
Understanding the French (1954) 6 exemplar
That Crazy American Music (1970) 6 exemplar
Concert pitch 5 exemplar

Associerade verk

The Girls from Esquire (1952) — Bidragsgivare — 18 exemplar

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Recensioner

Amateur sleuth, Homer Evans, & his Montana cowgirl/sidekick/girlfriend, Miriam Leonard, are enjoying their time in France. Before long, however, they find themselves in the middle of a gang war. The intrepid duo is surrounded on all sides by vicious criminals as they attempt to solve the mystery of a stolen violin, kidnappings, & multiple murders.

This book is one in a series, & I think I would have benefited from having read the previous installments first. Most of the characters are carryovers from preceding books, & there are almost continuous references to things that happened in earlier stories. Without the benefit of being familiar with any of the prior works, I was often lost as to who the characters really were & what was being talked about.

Either way, this book is not very good. The action often cuts quickly from one scene to another without the benefit of clean segues; that made for a very disjointed & choppy reading experience. Absolutely none of the characters are in the least bit likeable or sympathetic; I kept wishing they would all be killed & just go away—the criminals, the victims, the detectives, & the innocent bystanders. And the mysterious method of poisoning that takes up a good part of the storyline is nothing short of asinine.

The story is full of extreme violence. Aside from the obligatory murders (this is a kind of murder mystery, after all), there are brutal fight scenes, torture, rape, &—worst of all—violence against animals & animal cruelty. I love the puzzle of a good murder mystery; I’m not so keen on gruesome, gratuitous brutality--& there is a lot of that within the pages of Mayhem in B Flat.

There is also a lot of unnecessary vulgarity. The book is full of prostitutes, drunkards, naked dancers, sleazy extramarital affairs, & so on & so forth. There was so much of it, in fact, the entire book just ended up feeling sordid. I found the storyline of the middle-aged heiress who is obsessed with the talented violinist extremely disturbing & distasteful. She stalks him throughout the book, is convinced her wealth entitles her to possess him, & then rapes him while he is passed out drunk in the hold of a ship. He then becomes certain this is the most magical moment of his life & his mysterious assailant is the love of his life. That has to be one of the ickiest things I have ever read in my life.

I won’t be recommending this book to anyone, & I definitively won’t be reading any of the other titles in the series.

I tacked on an additional half star for the author’s use of the word ‘yclept’.
… (mer)
½
 
Flaggad
missterrienation | 2 andra recensioner | Dec 20, 2022 |
Every time I read an Elliot Paul Homer Evans murder mystery I am reminded of the movie Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. This series is funny, full of adventure and film-worthy although I don't know if any have actually been made into movies.
½
 
Flaggad
bsnbabe68 | 2 andra recensioner | Oct 26, 2018 |
Loved this history of one street in Paris in the 1920s-30s. Starts off with the sheer enjoyment of getting to know these bonkers, picaresque-type characters - but the tone darkens as France heads towards war - quite tragic. GREAT writing.
 
Flaggad
SharonBT | 3 andra recensioner | Apr 21, 2016 |
This is in the "zany" category of which I am not particularly fond, but nevertheless managed to get through. It has some brief moments of humor that redeem it - especially appreciated is the droll nature of the narrative. Reminds me a bit of the Pink Panther series though the detective in this book is actually pretty smart.
 
Flaggad
dbsovereign | 1 annan recension | Feb 29, 2016 |

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Statistik

Verk
31
Även av
2
Medlemmar
585
Popularitet
#42,856
Betyg
½ 3.6
Recensioner
16
ISBN
39
Språk
3

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