THE SORBONNE AFFAIR

Fiction

Stalked woman, transgender cop, dead bodies

THE SORBONNE AFFAIR

A Hugo Marston Novel

By Mark Pryor

270 pp. Seventh Street Books

Reviewed by Eric Petersen

Mark Pryor is back with the seventh entry in his popular Hugo Marston mystery series. (Other books in the series are also reviewed on this site.) The middle-aged Hugo Marston, head of security at the U.S. Embassy in Paris, is not your typical diplomat.

Though he’s a big, tough, pistol-packing Texan, (the author is an Englishman who lives in Texas) he possesses a formidable intellect, impeccable manners, and a passion for collecting rare books. He speaks fluent French and adores Paris and the French people. 

Before he took the job at the embassy, he was a criminal profiler for the FBI. Though far from a social butterfly, he does have some friends in Paris. His best friend, Tom Green, is a fat, foulmouthed, ill-mannered semiretired CIA agent who refers to himself as a “freelance spook.” 

Then there’s Camille Lerens, a tough, intelligent, and dedicated police detective. Charming and witty as well, becoming one of Paris’s top cops was no easy task for her – she’s also transgender. Hugo’s love interest is Claudia Roux, a wealthy socialite who happens to be an investigative reporter.

The Sorbonne Affair opens with Hugo approached at a high-profile funeral by Helen Hancock, a bestselling American romance novelist who has come to Paris to do research for her next book and teach a creative writing class. She thinks that someone is stalking her.

Hugo encourages her to keep her eyes open and report anything suspicious to the police – and him, as keeping American citizens safe in Paris is his job, too. Meanwhile, Tom Green is worried that someone may after him and Hugo – a ghost from their past that may have come back to haunt them.

Fifteen years ago, when Tom and Hugo were in the FBI together, they responded to a bank robbery gone bad. Tom, unseen by Hugo, shot and killed one of the robbers. The man’s partner – and twin brother – Rick Cofer, who surrendered, claimed he was unarmed. Tom’s shooting of Cofer’s brother was investigated and deemed justified.

Even though innocent people were killed in the botched robbery, Rick Cofer was offered a plea deal. Believing that Hugo helped Tom cover the up the cold-blooded execution of his unarmed twin brother, he vowed to kill them both. Now, after serving fifteen years in federal prison, Cofer has been paroled.

He requested permission to leave the United States, but was denied. Tom is convinced that Cofer plans to come to Paris and take his revenge. While Tom determines to get Cofer first and finish what he started, Hugo, who doesn’t believe that their lives are in danger from Cofer, is again contacted by Helen Hancock, who has found a hidden video camera planted in her room at the posh Sorbonne Hotel.

Hugo brings Camille Lerens into the investigation, which takes a deadly turn when Andrew Baxter, an employee of the Hotel Sorbonne and an American citizen, is found stabbed to death in the stairway. A search of his room reveals a laptop computer that had been recording the feed from the hidden video camera in Helen Hancock’s room.

Baxter was a compulsive gambler deep in debt – a perfect motive for blackmail. As the police sort through the evidence on the computer, Hancock’s worst fears are realized when a sexually explicit video of her having an affair with one of her writing students, Ambrosio Silva, is leaked and plastered all over the Internet.

As Hugo and Camille work the case, Silva becomes a suspect in Baxter’s murder – until his body is found. He’d been shot with a stolen gun, and his death is ruled a homicide. To make matters worse, Hugo’s boss, Ambassador J. Bradford Taylor, makes a startling confession – he was also Helen Hancock’s lover, and he fears that a sexually explicit video of them together will be leaked next, ruining his career.

While Tom Green goes to Amsterdam to confront their old nemesis Rick Cofer, Hugo Marston tries to solve two murders with several suspects and little to go on. Then someone sneaks up from behind while he’s walking down the street and assaults him, knocking him cold.

The body count continues, and Hugo must put the pieces of the puzzle together and unravel a conspiracy before he becomes the next victim…

With its attention to detail and detective work, and a surprise twist ending in the tradition of Agatha Christie, The Sorbonne Affair is another fine entry in the Hugo Marston mystery series. Highly recommended to mystery fans!

Eric Petersen is an administrator and blogmaster for the Internet Writing Workshop, an international, online writer’s group run out of Penn State University. You can reach him by e-mail at EricPetersen1970@hotmail.com