I’ve read most of Mark Pryor’s Hugo Marston mysteries this year. Now that I’ve read the seventh one, The Sorbonne Affair, I’m more satisfied with his relationship with his friend Tom Green. Although the story from their past is the secondary plot in this book, it’s the more important one for storyline development.
Hugo meets American author Helen Hancock at the funeral of a friend. Hancock seems a little tipsy when she introduces herself, saying Hugo’s boss, the American ambassador, told her where she could find him. She has a problem, and says she’ll contact him later if she needs to. She’s been staying at the Sorbonne Hotel, and she found a camera in the frame of a picture in her room. Although Hancock claims she doesn’t want police involvement, Hugo insists the police must be informed. He brings along Lieutenant Camille Lerens. While they’re investigating, believing it could only be someone connected to the hotel who planted it, the body of a hotel employee is found stabbed to death. Although he bought the camera in Hancock’s room, he was already dead when a video is uploaded showing Hancock and one of her writing students having sex. The subsequent murders all revolve around Helen Hancock, her writing group, and the Sorbonne.
Hugo is caught up in the author’s messy situation, and isn’t interested in dealing with Tom’s paranoia. Fifteen years earlier, Hugo and Tom were still young FBI agents in Texas who dealt with a bank robbery. One thief ended up dead. One went to prison. Now, Rick Cofer has been paroled. Tom has talents from his years with the CIA, and he’s convinced Cofer is heading to Europe to get revenge on the two former agents who put him in prison.
While it’s always interesting to watch Hugo put together the pieces of a puzzle it’s Lt. Lerens who sees the truth behind Tom’s behavior. And, that’s the more personal part of the story. The Sorbonne Affair offers an interesting mystery featuring Americans in Paris. It’s that secondary story from the past that reveals the truth about Hugo Marston and Tom Green, and the men they became.
Mark Pryor’s website is http://www.markpryorbooks.com/
The Sorbonne Affair by Mark Pryor. Seventh Street Books, 2017. 290p.
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