Review: The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

Synopsis: Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn’t say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up – to find a very nice apartment, could Ben really have afforded this? – he’s not there.

The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother’s situation, and the more questions she has. Ben’s neighbors are an eclectic bunch, and not particularly friendly. Jess may have come to Paris to escape her past, but it’s starting to look like it’s Ben’s future that’s in question.

The socialite – The nice guy – The alcoholic – The girl on the verge – The concierge

Everyone’s a neighbor. Everyone’s a suspect. And everyone knows something they’re not telling.

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Yet another entertaining story from Foley using her trademark multiple narrative that once again, moves between past and present events. This time, the setting is in a Parisienne apartment complex, a literal hive where all residents are hiding some sort of secret, both from those within and those without. It takes not one but two outsiders to bring fast held (and disturbing) secrets to the fore - and with tragic consequences. Did everything change after the outsiders arrived or did events happened because of them?.

As Foley writes: "... what's that old French saying about family .... le voix du sang est la plus forte  .... the voice of blood is the strongest ..." - will blood hold out ....

Knocked this one over in the space of a few hours as the format was familiar and the storyline engaging.

Review: The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Synopsis: On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The handsome and charming, a rising television star. The smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.

But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?

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Another great read from Lucy Foley. Stuck on a remote Irish island, past secrets and long-held jealousies came to the fore as guests gather for a wedding. Once again, the golden child comes off as rather tarnished once the surface of their facade begins to crumble. The past raises its ugly head as a number of the guests come to realise that their own long concealed skeletons are being slowly let out of the cupboard - and incidents, once unexplained, are now given substantial meaning.

And then the lights go out ...... one victim but more than one guest with ample motive and opportunity.

Foley once again retells events from the viewpoint of the main characters, with the narrative being told in both the past and present tense. Along the way, little pieces of each of these people is being revealed in such a way as to create the "aha" moment as the final few (short) chapters bring events to the apogee we all know is imminent.

Review: The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

Synopsis: All of them are friends. One of them is a killer.

During the languid days of the Christmas break, a group of thirty-something friends from Oxford meet to welcome in the New Year together, a tradition they began as students ten years ago. For this vacation, they’ve chosen an idyllic and isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands—the perfect place to get away and unwind by themselves.

They arrive on December 30th, just before a historic blizzard seals the lodge off from the outside world.

Two days later, on New Year’s Day, one of them is dead.

The trip began innocently enough: admiring the stunning if foreboding scenery, champagne in front of a crackling fire, and reminiscences about the past. But after a decade, the weight of secret resentments has grown too heavy for the group’s tenuous nostalgia to bear. Amid the boisterous revelry of New Year’s Eve, the cord holding them together snaps.

Now one of them is dead . . . and another of them did it.

Keep your friends close, the old adage goes. But just how close is too close?

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Not so much a thriller but a rather engaging mystery wherein you know there is a murder, there are multiple suspects, but the victim is never identified as such until the last few chapters. The narrative moves between the present and the few days leading up the deed, whilst each of those involved add a voice and perspective to chronicle of events. Clues are scattered like the proverbial breadcrumbs in a forest - but not to the extent that they are obvious and leading the reading down the path to deliverance. Much is muted and subtle - a bit like the landscape that provides the setting for our tale of jealousy, deception, betrayal and ultimately ... murder.

This was my first from this author - and I have two more of her books awaiting their turn - The Guest List and The Paris Apartment.