The Bones of Paris: A Stuyvesant & Grey Novel

By Laurie R. King

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE SACRAMENTO BEE

New York Times bestselling author Laurie R. King, beloved for her acclaimed Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series, consistently writes richly detailed and thoroughly suspenseful novels that bring a distant time and place to brilliant life. Now, in this thrilling new book, King leads readers into the vibrant and sensual Paris of the Jazz Age—and reveals the darkest secrets of its denizens.
 
Paris, France: September 1929. For Harris Stuyvesant, the assignment is a private investigator’s dream—he’s getting paid to prowl the cafés and bars of Montparnasse, looking for a pretty young woman. The American agent has a healthy appreciation for la vie de bohème, despite having worked for years at the U.S. Bureau of Investigation. The missing person in question is Philippa Crosby, a twenty-two year old from Boston who has been living in Paris, modeling and acting. Her family became alarmed when she stopped all communications, and Stuyvesant agreed to track her down. He wholly expects to find her in the arms of some up-and-coming artist, perhaps experimenting with the decadent lifestyle that is suddenly available on every rue and boulevard.
 
As Stuyvesant follows Philippa’s trail through the expatriate community of artists and writers, he finds that she is known to many of its famous—and infamous—inhabitants, from Shakespeare and Company’s Sylvia Beach to Ernest Hemingway to the Surrealist photographer Man Ray. But when the evidence leads Stuyvesant to the Théâtre du Grand-Guignol in Montmartre, his investigation takes a sharp, disturbing turn. At the Grand-Guignol, murder, insanity, and sexual perversion are all staged to shocking, brutal effect: depravity as art, savage human nature on stage.
 
Soon it becomes clear that one missing girl is a drop in the bucket. Here, amid the glittering lights of the cabarets, hides a monster whose artistic coup de grâce is to be rendered in blood. And Stuyvesant will have to descend into the darkest depths of perversion to find a killer . . . sifting through The Bones of Paris.

BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from Laurie R. King's Dreaming Spies.

Praise for The Bones of Paris
 
“Haunting . . .  a portrait of the City of Light that glows with the fires of Hell.”—Richmond Times-Dispatch
 
“A compelling thriller . . . complex, more than a little kinky, and absolutely fascinating.”—Booklist (starred review)
 
“Highly entertaining . . . Laurie R. King perfectly captures [the Jazz Age] as she explores the City of Light’s avenues and alleys.”—The Denver Post
 
“Engrossing . . . Readers who enjoy Laurie R. King’s noteworthy Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes mystery series are in for a surprise.”—BookPage
 
“A chilling mystery and a haunting love letter to the Paris of Hemingway’s Lost Generation.”—Library Journal

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Sep 10, 2013
• ISBN: 9780345531773

Laurie R. King

Laurie R. King is the Edgar Award–winning author of the Kate Martinelli novels and the acclaimed Mary Russell-Sherlock Holmes mysteries, as well as a few stand-alone novels. The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, the first in her Mary Russell series, was nominated for an Agatha Award and was named one of the Century’s Best 100 Mysteries by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. A Monstrous Regiment of Women won the Nero Wolfe Award. She has degrees in theology, and besides writing she has also managed a coffee store and raised children, vegetables, and the occasional building. She lives in northern California.

Reviews for The Bones of Paris

[liscarey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In Jazz Age Paris, Harris Stuyvesant is looking for a young woman who seems to have dropped out of sight at the end of March. It's now August, and her family is very worried. Harris has a past as an FBI agent, and a friend recommended him to Phillipa Crosby's family to track her down.

Paris isn't new territory for him, but he hasn't been there in a while, and he didn't previously spend his time looking into the darker corners of the Paris art world. As he looks for Phillipa--Pip, as he knew her briefly back in February--the same three names keep cropping up--Man Ray, Didi Moreau, and a distinguished war hero mostly known simply as le Comte. Pip was drawn into the surrealist art world, whose artists react to the brutality of the Great War by challenging all social norms and bringing dreams and nightmares to life.

As he works his way through the evidence, he learns that Inspector Emile Dussaint of the Paris police has more than thirty unsolved missing persons cases over the last two years, and is looking for a pattern among them. Harris begins to fear that he may be right, and that Pip may be part of the pattern. But along the way, he also finds he has to dig into rather than forget his own past. He's still reeling from the events of three years ago, when his own dreams were exploded, and both an old friend and an old love prove to figure in his investigation. He needs the talents of one, and the other is now attached to the same surrealist art world that has seemingly swallowed Pip.

Historical and fictional characters are blended smoothly, without clumsy name-dropping, and Harris and other major and minor characters have those characters beautifully unfolded before us. It's an absorbing, compelling mystery.

Recommended.

I bought this audiobook.

[bookhookgeek · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In short - Paris is a creepy place with creepy people, so be careful.

[spencer28-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

As usual, I enjoyed Laurie King's storytelling. I did find this a little cluttered with extra characters and thought the use of Bennett Grey was probably unnecessary.

[john_warner-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Little did former FBI agent, now private detective, Harris Stuyvesant know that after spending "bed time" when the 22 year old American heiress Philippa "Pip" Crosby, that he would be hired by her uncle to find what happened to her when she stopped all communications with the family. Harris finds himself in post WWI Paris visiting one night club after another in the Montparnasse area of Paris, home for a number of American expatriates including Hemingway, Man Ray, and Cole Porter. Soon Harris discovers that Pip is one a number recent disappearances in Paris. The author, famous for Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes mysteries, ventures in another historical mystery, which frankly is inferior to some of her other series. However, it was enjoyable reading a novel populated by numerous writers and authors of this period.

[jennyo_587543 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love Laurie R. King's Mary Russell books. A lot. So I was excited to try this book with a new protagonist. Well, -ists, I suppose, though one doesn't really feature much until late in the story. This was an enjoyable read. Enough so that I whipped through it in less than a week (not bad, when my only reading time is a few minutes before falling asleep).I didn't love the characters as much as I love Russell and Holmes, but they're pretty exceptional, so I guess that makes sense. I did love the setting. King does a great job of describing it just enough. Not going overboard, but still giving you a real feeling for the setting, the mood. And the mood in this one was CREEPY. If reading the macabre gives you nightmares, you might give this one a miss. i was surprised I didn't have any crazy dreams, reading it at bedtime and all.I never like to give plot summaries for mysteries. That seems to be the whole point of reading the book. I'll just say this one was satisfying all the way through. I'm sure I'll read more of King's books. She tells a good story.

[mwsberg · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Interesting plot that could have been more spellbinding. Disappointing, non-creative ending.

[mldavis2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have enjoyed King's Sherlock Holmes pastiches over the years and usually seek out any new works from this fine author. Her current novel is quite a different work than the Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes stories, rather more in the vein of Stephen King or E.A. Poe. Nevertheless, I found this an interesting and worthy addition to King's growing collection of mystery offerings. It is a fine mystery in its own right and a must for fans of King looking for another side to her talents.This book was received as an Early Reader selection from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

[kali.lightfoot · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Because I have enjoyed the Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes series written by Laurie King, I was looking forward to reading this book. The books is extremely well written, but King's skill as a writer is what ultimately made me put the book down about halfway through. This is one CREEPY story, and it is full of the weird objects and goings-on of the Victorian and pre WWI period. So I gave the book four stars for the writing and plotting even though I personally could not finish it. If you like books that give you the creeps, you may like this one.

[carolo_77 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the second book in the Stuyvesant & Grey series. I very much enjoyed Touchstone so I was a little surprised that I had difficulty getting into the beginnings of this book. I am not sure why that was, by the end I was completely involved, but the start was slow going for me. Perhaps Harris Stuyvesant is not enough to carry the early story on his own, it did pick up when Bennett Grey, Sarah Grey, Inspector Doucet, and Nancy actively joined the plot. Perhaps the Surrealists art movement did not pull me in.I do hope there will be a 3rd book in this series and I hope that Inspector Doucet and Nancy make another appearance.

[anneb10 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Bones of Paris is a stellar sequel to the lackluster Touchstone. The book opens in 1929, three years after the events of Touchstone. with the hero - Harris Stuyvesant - no longer with the FBI. Now a freelance private detective and jack-of-all-trades to make ends meet he knocks about cheaper Europe as work takes him.The mother of a young woman who had been a fling several months before hires Stuyvesant to find her missing daughter. Assuming it's a simple cause of debauchery taken to extremes, he takes the case. It should be easy money, and he has rent to pay. All to soon, however, he realizes that something much darker is at work in the City of Light.King's novel brings the city of Paris in the Roaring Twenties to vibrant life; it is as much a character as any of those that populates the novel. Seeing how Harris Stuyvesant has evolved since Touchstone is interesting. It also helps to have ready the first book, but there are enough deftly-handled clues as to what's come before to make it readable to anyone just picking this up. Definitely worth the read.

[silentq_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I haven't read any other books in this series, so when it was subtitled a Stuyvesant and Grey Novel, I was expecting to have both of them working on the missing person in Paris case. Stuyvesant is hired by an American family to find their missing daughter/niece, mostly because he'd encountered her and her friend a few months previously in another city. He eventually ends up sending some photographic evidence to Grey to get a second opinionn and that triggers his visit to the City of Light. But they end up having maybe three scenes together as the action heats up and they get separated. I was really looking forward to seeing how Grey's ability to tell truth from lie and to quickly infer facts from his keen (overly keen, due to a serious injury from WWI) perceptions, but we barely get to see him at work. Stuyvesant is a big bumbling American, he drinks too much, is susceptible to women, and has a temper, a fairly standard issue private eye. 1929 Paris is more of a character than Grey, inhabited by artists of all stripes. Man Ray appears often, and we see Hemingway a few times, plus a Dali sketch. It was well written and tensly plotted and the gory details weren't too obviously sketched but enough to give a sense of the horror surrounding the Grand Guignol theatre.

[drled_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Synopsis: After the devastating events in England, Stuyvesant finds himself in Germany next to penniless and depressed. He receives a letter from the mother and uncle of a young flapper who has disappeared. In his search for Pip Crosby, he finds a lost love and a nest of sadists hiding under the guise of artists.Review: If you've ever been to the catacombs in Paris, or if you haven't, this will chill your blood. Some surrealists enjoy presenting 'shock' art. This book is based on these sorts of folks. Thankfully many of the chapters are short; you either need a relief from the tension or a place to stop so that you don't read all night.

[cfk_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Stuyvesant is a tough guy American detective in Paris searching for a missing young American girl. The deeper he goes into the steamy, twisted night life of the Left Bank, the riper the stench rising from the local art scene. Murder and torture in the arts and theaters are used as therapeutic catharsis for those still suffering the aftershocks of WWI in the trenches.

[ritaer_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An American ex-FBI man investigates the disappearance of an American girl in a Paris filled with outre artists, Americans escaping Prohibition and ordinary citizens. He discovers a lost love now working for one of his suspects and engaged to a police detective. Fast moving, interesting views of the 20s art scene and the residue of WWI. Will be enjoyed by those who like historical detection with engaging but flawed characters.

[gwernin · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I really like Laurie King's Russell and Holmes books, to the extent that I've been working my way slowly through the series with frequent re-reads. I was hoping to enjoy the Stuyvesant/Grey books as much. Unfortunately this hope was disappointed.Harris Stuyvesant must the be stupidest fictional detective I have ever had the ill fortune to encounter. For four hundred and twelve interminable pages we follow his confused wanderings back and forth (and back and forth...) through the streets, bars, parties, bedrooms, and catacombs of 1929 Paris. Finally a burst of not entirely logical action brings this prolonged peregrination (I can't call it "suspense", because I was alternately annoyed, disgusted, and bored) to a welcome end. Apparently "The Bones of Paris" is the second book in the series. I might read the first book if stuck in an airport - there are, after all, worse ways to pass the time, and at least the writing in this book was good. Pity about the plot.

[tjsjohanna_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've never been disappointed by Ms. King yet. This new series set in post World War I, follows the detective work of Harris who is looking for a missing girl. The author uses the background of the Surrealist movement to great effect in creating a kind of creepy atmosphere to the story. I'm looking forward to more novels in this series!

[christiana5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I did not read the prior book in this series, but didn't find that a significant problem - while I didn't have all the background on the characters' relationships up front, it was filled in over time. This book is set in 1929, primarily in Paris' art world. Stuyvesant is hired to find a missing young American girl, with whom he'd had a liaison several months prior to her disappearance. I found the beginning a bit slow, but the story picked up, and by the middle I was quite engaged. I read the book in two sittings. There is some disturbing imagery in the story, but nothing too haunting, at least for me. A solid mystery, and I will probably seek out the prior book in the series now, to learn more about Stuyvesant, and the Grey siblings. Thanks for the Early Reviewers copy.

[laurabrook_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As a fan of her Mary Russell series, I was hoping that this book would live up to that series by Ms. King. This book didn't quite make it there, but it was still an enjoyably fun romp in the 1920s Paris art world, and I will most certainly read the first book in this series to see if I can figure out a few little questions that I have.

[crucena · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Truly macrabe but says something about how artists can do almost anything in the name of "art" and folks will follow along with it. The fact that such a theatre really did exist is kind of depressing. Plot and storyline were OK--no real surprises but still interesting enough to keep me reading. Not for us though.

[caitemaire · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I am a great fan of this authors Martinelli series..but this one did not grab me.Maybe if I had read the first book in the series, as others suggest is necessary. But I am a believer that very book in a series must also be able to stand alone, so a am not going to let that excuse be used.And I could have done without all the real life famous folk dropping in. Just annoying in my mind.Not, not my cup of tea..Ms. King, is there another Martinelli in the future? Please?

[betty.ann.beam · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I didn't find this to be a captivating page turner. It was a good read but lacked the element of surprise and could have used more character development.

[martitia_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This second book in King's Touchstone series is set in the artistic community of Paris in 1929. The ex-patriot community is well-known through other recent books such as The Paris Wife and the movie Midnight in Paris. Where this book differs is in the greater attention to the trends in photography, film and music. She ties these trends to a culture of death arising after World War I and Paris's particular history with the bones of human remains. This mystery involves a serial killer and the characters from her first book Touchstone. I thought it was an admirable mystery novel with a great sense of place. This series has a darker, more realistic tone than her beloved Mary Russell-Sherlock Holmes series, but keeps the same grounding in historical detail. In the audiobook version, narrator Jefferson Mays delineates the important characters clearly while moving the story forward in a sophisticated rhythm.

[readers_respite · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This novel is the sequel to King's Touchstone and it is recommended you read/listen to that novel before delving into this sequel. That said, many of you might be familiar with Laurie King's work on her popular Mary Russell series (which is fabulous!). This work, like her other writing outside of the Mary Russell series, is very, very dark and disturbing. So much so that it upsets some readers. So....you've been warned. The Bones of Paris is no different. It takes us back to our PI Stuyvesant and 1929 Paris where an American girl has disappeared and it's his job to find her. You can expect some historical figures to make guest appearances but that doesn't lighten the really twisted road King takes here. As with most of her non-Russell books, I felt like I had to take a shower to scrub the ick-factor off of me by the time I finished.

[enemyanniemae · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book shows the dark and seamy side of the City of Light. I received an audio copy of this book from the Early Reviewers program. I love audiobooks- I would rather listen to a book while I drive than listen to the drivel on the radio. I loved the book and I loved the narration. I have to admit that there were times when I didn't want to get out of my car because I wanted to hear more of the story. I had no idea that this was the second in a series and I will definitely be looking for the first. *more to come*

[hemlokgang · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Any fan of Laurie R. King's will be happy to see her in top form with this novel, " The Bones of Paris". Set during 1929 in Paris, the time of Hemingway, Picasso, and other artists' haunting the city of lights, this story is fast-paced, historically interesting, and sufficiently complex to keep the reader's attention. I would have to say that the only flaw was that in my opinion the start was slow. It wasn't until about page 100 that everything clicked into place, and from then on I was hooked. Excellent!

[librolover54 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

As we proceed deeper into this millenium, it's obvious authors are eager to move us past the Victorian and Edwardian eras into the Jazz Age. Now we're reading fiction with bohemian characters, and that's fine with me. I've known for quite some time that I might enjoy this author and thanks to Early Reviewers and Recorded Books I tried to enjoy this book. I'm going to go back to her Holmesian books though, and try those. This one was just too dark and creepy for me to enjoy listening to in the house so it became my auto audiobook and that worked for me.

[liz1564 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is an Early Reviewer's audio book. Thank you.The city of Paris is as much of a character as the people in this book. But Paris is not the City of Light. Paris, in the summer of 1929 is tired, hot, smelly and over-crowded with expats and tourists. Cafes are locations for fistfights, as well as conversation. Artists are apt to create disgust as often as they portray beauty. Both natives and tourists are disappearing. Into this oppressive atmosphere comes Harris Stuyvesant, ex-FBI agent, friend of writers and musicians, womanizer, and detective. While hired to locate a missing young American whose bed he spared for a week of happy sex, he reconnects with his true love, finds a possible new love, and is caught up in the artistic world of Montmartre. Even as jaded a private eye as Harris is shocked by the depictions of horror, torture, and sadistic sex in the artwork and photographs of a select group of surrealistic artists. At the Theatre de Grand-Guignol the stories come to life in one-act plays showing perversions so real that members of the audience regularly faint from shock.How is his missing,joyful American fling involved in this movement? Why is the one woman he loves working for a major backer of the theatre? And why would a genuine French World War One hero and descendant of an illustrious and proud family be a major broker of the horror? Harris has to tread carefully and unofficially work with the Paris police in order find a murderer who may be a highly regarded artist, a highly-placed police official, or even a member of the highest echelon of French society and wealth. And, incredibly, could there be a serial killer loose which could account for so many supposedly random disappearances?As he questions witnesses about the life and last sightings of Pip Crosby, he encounters the expats living in Paris....Sylvia Beach, Josephine Baker, Cole Porter.(Heminnway and the Fitzgerald are out of town.) This name-dropping, though not really necessary to the plot, does add to the atmosphere and I didn't mind it. The mystery itself is not as important as the atmosphere or the characters since the evil genius is fairly easy to spot. The enjoyment in the book is reading about a familiar setting from a different point of view.....sort of Sam Spade wandering into a Poe short story.The audio book is narrated by Jefferson Mays. He does a wonderful job with the various accents and character voices.

[anniemnh · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This review is for the audio book version by Recorded Books that I received for Early Reviewers. Jefferson Mays does a wonderful job narrating this story and I very much enjoyed listening.As for the novel, The Bones of Paris is a follow-up to one of Laurie R. King's earlier novels, Touchstone. I have not read Touchstone, yet, but I did not feel that this hindered my understanding of the storyline. While this time period and subject matter is not a favorite of mine, I found the writing to be superb and the story flowed well. King is such a talented storyteller!

[blbera · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Paris, late summer of 1929. Harris Stuyvesant, a private investigator, has been hired to find a missing American woman, Phillipa Crosby. This book is all about atmosphere. King does a great job of showing the raucous atmosphere of Paris nightlife. Americans, with the booming economy, are everywhere, spending money. Hemingway, Man Ray, and Cole Porter are just a few who makes cameo appearances. Stuyvesant has to navigate the seedy side of Paris to follow Pip's last known movements.King is a good storyteller, but while the action picked up in the last 50 pages, I thought the middle dragged at bit. It was a fun read, not not King's best.

[tricoteuse_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book was not my favorite of Laurie King's novels, but even a bad Laurie King is better than a lot of what's out there. It probably could have used a bit more editing - after the 3rd time the main character wandered into another bar and waited around for someone to give him a clue I was getting a little bored. But if you like books set in Paris this does have some interesting background info and atmospheric descriptions that you'll probably enjoy.