The Paris Affair

The Paris Affair (2013) Teresa Grant

It is the summer of 1815, and Malcom & Suzanne Rannoch are in Paris, following the Battle of Waterloo. They are supposed to meet with a French informant who wants out of Paris, and is willing to blackmail multiple members of the British diplomatic corps in his effort to leave. He also gives Malcolm a bit of intelligence to spur him on as well–his half-sister may have had a child.

First, the Dramatis Personae was invaluable, because there are a LOT of characters, and many of them are related to each other, through complex histories of marriages and re-marraiges and bastard children. Really complex. It took me a long time to get the characters straight, and even towards the end there were a couple people who I couldn’t keep straight.

However.

This isn’t necessarily a flaw in the story. Marriages and re-marriages and illegitimate children were complicated, and the British aristocracy was just plain complicated with people having names and titles and referring to each other interchangeably with each. For example, Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh is called Stewart, Castlereagh and Robert by different people, depending upon his relationship with those people.

That’s simply part and parcel of reading historicals. (The British aren’t the only ones who did this, either.)

So the ability to jump back and forth between the Dramatis Personae and the story was a huge help. And the fact that I can bring up a bookmarked page within the page of the ebook I’m reading is even better, but that’s my personal preference.

Additionally, the mystery was really complex and complicated, although in a way that was perfectly appropriate to the time period. (Women regularly went away to hide pregnancies, and there was no DNA testing to prove paternity.) I found the twists and turns very enjoyable.

That isn’t to say that there weren’t occasional problems.
Take these passages, that occurred within a few paragraphs of each other:

“Our nurse hid me before she was killed.
…
He tracked down my nurse to see that she was all right and learned from her that I’d survived.”

So… was the nurse killed? Or did she live to tell where he had been hidden?

But there were plenty of other passages I thoroughly enjoyed.

“You must be thinking what I’m thinking.”

Paul lifted his brows. “Romantic as the idea of two minds being in tune is, I haven’t the least idea what you’re talking about.

Never mind the Pinky & the Brain voices I heard when I read that.

I’d also like to note that the cover is absolutely gorgeous. Stunningly beautiful AND although there is a feeling of intrigue and danger, the woman on the cover looks neither scared nor meek. Lovely.

All-in-all, it was a fun and engrossing story.
Rating: 7/10

Published by Kensington Books

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