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’.… (plus d'informations)

Signalé

missterrienation | 2 autres critiques | Dec 20, 2022 |

Mayhem in B-Flat (Detective Stories) par Elliot Paul

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.

Signalé

bsnbabe68 | 2 autres critiques | Oct 26, 2018 |

A Narrow Street par Elliot Paul

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.

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SharonBT | 3 autres critiques | Apr 21, 2016 |

Hugger-Mugger in the Louvre (Dover Mystery Classics)… par Elliot Paul

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.

Signalé

dbsovereign | 1 autre critique | Feb 29, 2016 |

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