It was an interesting book, somewhat predictable. Characters were interesting, storyline wasn’t that original.

Thanks to Crooked Lane and Netgalley for this ARC in return for an honest review.
A fun light read set in beautiful Paris. Fun witty well drawn characters. A good plot and interesting writing make this Cozy Mystery a must read. 4🌟

Thank you Crooked Lane Press for a copy of Death in Paris for review, available now.

Death in Paris follows Rachel and Magda as they become amateur detectives. Rachel becomes suspicious when her ex-boyfriend of twenty years drowns in a bowl of soup in his own home. With no signs of struggle, the death is quickly ruled an accident but Rachel feels differently.
This one was cute, Magda has a weird sense of humour and the whole caper seemed bizarre to me. I did love the Paris setting and the descriptions of Paris life. But overall, it was all so unbelievable and too whimsical for me. I like my mysteries with real police officers and a little more substance.

This was a nice cozy mystery that had the great advantage of being set in Paris. Hopefully, as the series continues the characters will be more fleshed out because I felt they were kind of shallow,

Rachel and Magda are expats in Paris when Rachel's former boyfriend dies in his soup. Rachel is convinced he's been murdered, but the police think it was a natural death. Rachel knows better and starts looking at the suspects until she solves it.

I loved the Paris setting and recommend this book. Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A bit slow to start - although a quirky way to start! - but I soon got into it and found it fun, funny and quite clever. Two ex-pat Americans in Paris try to get to the bottom of a murder, which becomes two and then three. They start out a little uncertain how to proceed as neither one has done this before, but they eventually get to the bottom of it through some enquiries, a bit of detecting and removal of people from the suspect list, rather than adding to it.

The author wove an enjoyable story around the streets of Paris (a city I need to return to properly), and I will definitely keep my eyes out for the next in the series.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and publisher for the ARC to read and review. All opinions are my own.

A fantastic new cozy mystery series set in paris. Readers will love the two detectives and enjoy the writing.

I really loved this cozy mystery set in Paris. The descriptions were eloquent, the characters were wonderfully well written, and the mystery kept me guessing with all the turns that it took. I am looking forward to reading more in this series. I received a copy from NetGalley and the publisher and this is my honest opinion.

If I can't manage a trip back to Paris, this cozy mystery was a very pleasant arm chair visit. Rachel and Magda are Americans living in Paris and a friend from Rachel's past of 20 years ago, has been found dead, face down in a bowl of vichyssoise. With a bottle of rose and that is the clue that convinces Rachel his death was foul play. She new Edgar well enough to know he wouldn't have that wine in his home. Well, if not Edgar's wine of choice...and it turns out he had a standing order for two bottles every month (Rachel had to start her investigation someplace, no?) the answer is he had a relationship with somebody who drank it. Too bad that it's a rather flimsy reason for the police to change their opinion from natural causes (heart attack) to homicide. As Rachel says..."Magda might not be Columbo and I might not be Sherlock Holmes, but after all those documentaries, we know our way around a murder."
Soon enough, Rachel and Magda are on the case when Rachel is asked to attend the reading of Edgar's will. As she watches each of the people as they hear of the bequests to them, she starts gathering clues from their body language. When it comes time to tell Rachel why she as been added to this group, she learns that Edgar requested that she catalogue his library prior to selling it. That couldn't be better for Rachel and Magda - daily access to his home and clues to his life and death. Magda can't wait to get started but Rachel asks her - who put you in charge? as only a close friend can do to the other. After all, Edgar was asking to handle his library not dig through his life to find his killer. That's not going to stop or even slow down this delightful pair of 'investigators'. Does that make her Rachel Levis, Investigatrix? She wonders if that is actually a word..."it is now" thinks Rachel.
The pace is slow which fits in with the world of Paris. The investigation is far from perfect as the bumble along but, in the end, the crime is solved and I'm looking forward to see what they get to investigate next. I liked hanging out with Rachel and Magda and I didn't want to leave Paris.

Armchair travelers will revel in Emilia Bernhard’s debut mystery Death in Paris, the first in her new series. Rachel Levis is an American: she came to Paris as a student when she was in her early twenties and decades later she’s still there. The ambiance is believable, grounding the story in reality. A middle-aged couple shares a breakfast of croissants and talks over the news: “Edgar Bowen died in his soup,” says Rachel. Her husband Alan corrects her, “His sleep, you mean.”

“No, his soup. It says here in the nécrologie.” Rachel rattled the pages of Le Monde at him across the table, then read aloud, “‘Monsieur Bowen died, dining alone at home yesterday, after falling facedown into his soup.’”

Alan points out that the two of them only care because “he’s also an expat” who “had died in a laugh-worthy way!”

Rachel returned to the paper, hoping her face expressed disdainful hauteur. She would tell Magda when they met later. Her best friend would grasp the significance of the news.

Unlike Alan, Magda knows that Edgar Bowen was Rachel’s “first grown-up relationship,” and that they were together for two years. Magda remembers him fondly: “‘He was kind; he was thoughtful. I remember him as gracious.’” The friends decide to attend Alan’s funeral. One of the pleasures of Death in Paris is its reverence for classic mystery tropes, like a gathering of friends, families, and foes at a funeral. While there, Rachel overhears someone talking about Edgar’s death.

“I was told he was found facedown in the bowl.” She shook her head. “His hand was only a centimeter or two from knocking over a bottle of good rosé.

Rachel gasped involuntarily, then looked studiedly away, hoping the women hadn’t noticed.

Why would something as innocuous as a bottle of rosé wine at Edgar’s last dinner make Rachel think that her old friend’s death might not have been natural? Rachel knows that Edgar “didn’t just have a mild dislike of it; he had a real, determined antipathy.” A reader might think a person’s tastes in wine could change over the years, but Rachel is dogged in her suspicion.

After a funeral comes another set piece: the reading of the will. Rachel receives a call from the law office of Cabinet Martin Frères; they tell her “Monsieur Bowen has made you a bequest in his will, and we are calling to ask if you would be able to attend the reading of that will at his apartment on Monday.” Try and keep Rachel away! She had never been to a will reading—she had “always imagined that they would be a cross between mystery clichés and the scene in Middlemarch where Mr. Featherstone’s will is read.” Rachel is asked to catalog Bowen’s extensive library so that his main beneficiary, his son David, can “decide its fate.” She is to receive the book of her choice for undertaking this task. During the reading Rachel carefully monitors everyone’s reaction to their bequests—the former wife, the son, the current girlfriend, the young assistant—and what she sees confirms her belief that Bowen’s death was no accident.

Rachel decides it’s time to confer with Magda. The budding sleuths meet in restaurants, bars, and shopping galleries; Bernhard brings them all to life. Google their favorite establishment, Bistrot Vivienne, and there it is, complete with a four-star rating. Their dogged pursuit of the truth is fueled by coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and pastries, as they try not to freeze in the chilly month of January.

Bernhard’s homages to other authors are woven through the story. The literary references increase the pleasure of watching the partners doggedly pursue their theories, no matter how unlikely. Magda quotes Sherlock Holmes.

‘“When you have eliminated the impossible,’” Magda said in the voice she used for quotations, ‘“whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.’”

“But we haven’t eliminated the impossible,” Rachel pointed out, thinking that in any case Sherlock Holmes’s assertion was ridiculous. Many improbable solutions were unlikely to be true.

The death count mounts and Rachel and Magda’s amateur inquiries turn deadly serious. Watching them unravel minuscule clues is a testament to their doggedness, observation, and determination. Perhaps Magda isn’t too off-base when she says they could be “’like Holmes and Watson, or Commissario Brunetti and Vianello, or—or those other two—’” “’Nick and Nora Charles.’” Death in Paris is a classic mystery, set in a fascinating city: readers will look forward to Bernhard’s next Parisian-set story.

I found this to be an interesting little mystery. Two women in Paris become involved in a death which they believe to be a murder. They have always wanted to “play detective,” so they start investigating. They stumble around and actually end up solving the murder and are pretty entertaining in the process. Of course, the story being set in Paris doesn’t hurt either!

This was a fun mystery to read due to the characters as well as the setting. I will say that making the two main characters (Rachel and Magda) Americans in Paris was an interesting take. I'm not sure how I felt about learning about Parisian life through the lives of expats; it is definitely a vantage point I have encountered before in a cozy mystery!

The mystery itself provided some suspense and a list of suspects that made it difficult to determine the culprit. Overall, I would consider this a light read with likable characters and a great setting, something I'm always in the mood for.

This is a charming book, and not just because it's set in Paris. Two ex-pat American women who have been best friends for years decide to look into the strange death of the the old lover of one of the women. Rachel, a writer, spent two years with Edgar when she was newly arrived in Paris in her 20s. The affair ran its course but they parted on good terms.

Years later, happily married to Alan, she reads of Edgar's death. He has been found dead of a presumed heart attach, face down in his vichyssoise. Rachel and her friend Magda start listing off the odd things about this scenario: Why was there a bottle of rose wine on the table when Edgar despised rose? And how is it even possible to drown in a bowl of soup?

The scenes where the two women hash over clues and scenarios over wine or coffee at various restaurants in Paris are the meat of the mystery. Their interaction and conversation is great fun. Thanks to the publisher and to Net Galley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review. I will happily read more cafe mysteries with Rachel and Magda.

A cozy set in Paris with two expat Americans on the case! What's not to love? Well, this is a quick read and both Rachel and Magda are fun. They're investigating the death of Rachel's ex Edgar. Of course he wouldn't have drunk rose. which is why Rachel is convinced he was murdered. It's completely implausible and you don't get a particularly good sense of Paris but it is nicely written. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. I'm curious to see where this series goes next.

As I was captivated by the blurb and lovely cover, I had a pleasant time spent in reading this adventure.
Sometimes I wonder how I would do as an amateur detective since I love to read and watch movies with detective and police procedurals. This was a chance for the main character and her friend to experience that and solve the murder of a Parisian financier Edgar Bowen
It was a predictable story but with nice twists and turns, with interesting ending. Nice amount of characters and all in all I had fun reading it.

I would call this a cosy mystery, rather than an edge of the seat thriller, which to be honest was fine by me, I am cosy reader!

I liked the lead characters of Rachel and Magda very much, the descriptions of Paris and the ''cafe culture' took me back there in my mind.

A twist at the end will keep readers coming back for more of the same from this author.

Highly recommended

cozy-mystery, paris, twisty, sly-humor, friendship, suspense

Suspend disbelief and enjoy this comfy and enjoyable light mystery set in the City of Light. The two sleuths have been friends for years and share a fascination with tv cop shows and other mysteries but decide to investigate the death of one they knew years ago simply because there are discrepancies that are bothersome. The characters are interesting and well depicted and made very believable, and so are the descriptions of places in Paris. No car chases, no erotica, no horror or bleepable language, just an interesting mystery guaranteed to tickle the brain.
I requested and received a free ebook copy from Crooked Lane Books via NetGalley. Thank you!

Death in Paris is a slow read. The chapters are short, which is perhaps the book's saving grace, as well as sing set in Paris, I just could not get involved in this book. It was a miss for me.

When her old boyfriend drowns in a bowl of soup, she refuses to believe it was accidental. After all there was a bottle of rosa on the table and he doesn't drink that. So there must have been someone else there.

Crooked Lane Books and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you). It will be published October 19th.

The story moves along slowly but enough happens to keep you interested.

There are more than enough suspects. There's his current wife, his ex-wife, his assistant, his son and more. It seems everyone drinks rosa except the dead man. Then one of the suspects committed suicide. They think she was helped out that window. Then the assistant goes missing. What's going on?

Then she goes to visit the son, David. She finds him dead and this is no suicide. somebody bashed him in the head. She needs to solve this soon before there are more deaths...

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced readers copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately, I have tried reading this book on 2 separate occasions and during this 2nd attempt, I have only managed to make it halfway through so I'd rather stop here and state that this book just wasn't for me.
I wish the author, publisher, and all those promoting the book much success and connections with the right readers.

Death in Paris by Emilia Bernhard is a charming read for all cozy lovers.
When American ex-pat in Paris,Rachel hears that her old boyfriend Edgar died she is shaken but when she hears that he has drowned in a bowl of soup, with bottle of rose by his side, she knows something is not right.
Because Edgar hated rose.
Rachel enlists help of her best friend to help solve this puzzle.
Lovely read about two self proclaimed sleuths with many laugh aloud moments. I especially liked reference to detective shows and how real their struggle was portrayed.
Intelligent dialogue, well established suspects and many twists and turns make this a great read.