Publisher: Bookouture
Format: ebook
Series: Fen Churche Mysteries, Book 2
Genre: Historical Fiction, Cozy Mystery
Synopsis
Meet Fen Churche, as she steps off the night train with the sun rising over Paris. Cat whisperer, crossword puzzler... accidental detective?
Autumn, 1945. Fen cannot wait to see her beloved godmother Rose, who has invited Fen to stay with her in the city of lights. As she arrives, Fen is dreaming of strolls by the Seine, taking tea at the Eiffel Tower and above all French feasts with Rose where they can trade stories of how they survived the terrifying war years.
But Fen has barely made friends with Rose’s bad-tempered poodle when she returns to the apartment to find her godmother murdered, a paintbrush stuck in her neck. Suddenly Fen is thrown into the middle of a truly puzzling mystery. Who on earth would want to murder Rose, a gentle artist and generous friend?
A blackmail letter convinces Fen that the police have got everything wrong and Fen knows she has to solve the case just like one of her crosswords, one clue at a time. As she meets her godmother’s friends, she makes a surprising discovery: Rose was part of the Resistance during the war…
When a second body turns up, another of Rose’s wartime contacts, Fen must act fast. But as the killer turns their sights on Fen, does she have what it takes to solve this mysterious murder and get justice for her darling godmother?
You won’t be able to put down this utterly addictive historical cozy mystery! The absolutely perfect treat if you love Agatha Christie, Rhys Bowen and Jacqueline Winspear.
My Thoughts
In the first book of the series, A Dangerous Goodbye, Land Army girl, Fenella (Fen) Churche and her fiancé, Arthur, share a love of cryptic crossword puzzles. To get past the redactors, Arthur uses cryptic clues in his letters to Fen. His final letter to her in 1944 reads like a goodbye. When Arthur doesn't return after the end of the war, Fen travels to France, following the clues in Arthur's letter, to find out what happened to him. In Morey-Fontaine, a village in Burgundy, she finds work in a vineyard, meets Captain James Lancaster, Arthur's friend, and sadly learns Arthur's fate.
Night Train to Paris begins with Fen's arrival in Paris accompanied by James Lancaster. She intends to spend a few days with her godmother and old family friend, Rose Coillard, before heading home to England.
Rose is an artist surrounded by controversy. Her passion is studying the techniques of famous artists and replicating their works, which gives rise to the rumour that she is a forger. However, it is her wartime activities that surprise and intrigue Fen. When Rose is murdered, and also one of her wartime contacts, Fen begins to suspect that these deaths are related to what Rose did as part of the Resistance.
The pilfering of art by the Nazis during World War II is the background to this latest mystery involving ex-Land Army girl Fen Churche. The role attributed to Rose Coillard in the novel was inspired by the true story of Rose Valland, an art historian and member of the French Resistance, who kept records of the details and whereabouts of national and privately owned Jewish art that was looted by the Nazis, thus facilitating the return of the artwork to the rightful owners after the war.
I found Night Train to Paris an excellent continuation of the series. Like the first book, I read it in an afternoon. The mystery kept me guessing, the characters were engaging and I enjoyed the depiction of Parisian life immediately after the war, which included the worlds of fashion and art. I'm hoping there will be another Fen Churche mystery soon.
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