Elliot Paul (1891–1958)

As described on the back cover, this is a biography of a street that brings to life a cast of characters. It is a wonderful cast of characters and they are brought to life with the most beautiful writing in the most charming (not banal) way. The description also says this is one of the great portraits of an unforgettable city. This is very true. What it doesn't say is this is the best book I've read in a long time and will take pride of place on the shelf of my all-time favorites.

It spans the years between the two great wars of the 20th century, includes a little about the Spanish Civil War because a couple of the characters from the street went there as volunteers. What started out as a charming portrait of great characters evolved into a serious description of what happened when things became difficult. What started out as a very pleasant read turned into a very sad story. The pre-war chapters were difficult for me read because they were so disturbing and I am easily upset. I had no idea that France was so fascist before WWII even began.

It was an unique and welcome experience to read a book about Paris in the 20s and 30s, written by an American, and not populated by all the famous American expatriots. None of them took part in this story except in one paragraph that named many (Hemingway, Anderson, Gertrude Stein, Fitzgerald, etc.) and said that they knew the street and had visited one or other of its restaurants or bars.

I loved many of the characters but had a favorite. I wonder if you will too. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Paris, in France, in interesting characters (such as described, in American version, by Sherwood Anderson -- a friend of Paul), in the history of Europe (mostly France but also Spain and the role of England) between the wars, or in beautiful writing.… (more)

I recently read Paul's The Last Time I Saw Paris which was one of the best memoirs I've read about Paris in the 1920s. So I expected to like this mystery, but I didn't. Paul writes well but I didn't care for the type of book it was, I guess a kind of tongue-in-cheek, totally unbelievable mystery. I think his inspiration might have been Maurice Leblanc's Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Thief, which I didn't like very much either but at least I could FOLLOW that one a little bit. This one just had me run in circles and made me dizzy.… (more)

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’.… (more)