It took me a little longer to get into the second Hugo Marston novel by Mark Pryor, The Crypt Thief. The first book, The Bookseller, was more personal to Marston. It was a friend of his who was killed. But, once again, murder and politics are entwined, and Marston and his friends drew me in.
It was a double murder at night in Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris that sucks in the head of security at the American embassy. One of the young people killed was a new intern there, but he was also the son of Senator Norris Holmes. That was enough to draw their attention, but the young woman was a Pakistani who entered the country with a man on the CIA’s watch list. That interested Tom Green, Hugo’s friend, and the Senator. Hugo tried to convince both of them there was no reason to search for a terrorist, but they needed to look for a killer. No one wanted to listen to Hugo, other than his friend, Capitaine Garcia of the French police.
Chases through cemeteries, boats on the Seine, dancers from the Moulin Rouge. Pryor picks up speed as Hugo follows his own hunches with the help of a reporter and sometimes lover, Claudia. Claudia has instincts and Parisian history that helps Hugo search for a killer.
The Crypt Thief has one of my least favorite tropes in crime fiction. It not only follows Hugo and other law enforcement friends, but we see the killer’s viewpoint. I’m not a fan, but I am a fan of the characters and setting in the Hugo Marston books. Unless we continue to see the thoughts of killers in future books, I’ll continue to read the Hugo Marston novels.
Mark Pryor’s website is http://www.markpryorbooks.com/
The Crypt Thief by Mark Pryor. Seventh Street Books, 2012. 252p.
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