I found this book to be very slow paced and just not that engaging.
The book leads with the death with no build up of why he would have been killed; thus I was not invested in the whodunit.
The Paris setting was vividly described but from an outsider's perspective not a native.
Overall, I would take a pass on reading any further books involving these characters.

This book was too boring. I honestly couldn't finish it. I'm not one to give up on a book easily, but I had to give up on this one. The characters of Rachel and Magda were very flat and annoying. This book just wasn't for me.

Death in Paris is a light-hearted, light-weight read that appropriates Parisian locales and phrases frequently and interestingly. The story line, the characters, and the dialogue are reminiscent of Rosemary and Thyme, another sleuthing pair from another day.
Ada and Rachel are best friends who are always looking for a mystery to solve, preferably a good murder. As it happens, one falls into their laps, or into the soup as it were.
Edgar, the first victim (alas, there are two), Rachel's love, Alan and Ada's intimate friend Benoit are the most outstanding of the characters. It would have been nice, and better for thne story, had we had more insight into these three men. Each of them is someone we'd like to know a little better.
Most of the dialogue is conversation between the two women amateur detectives. It moves along as one would expect and then just becomes tedious. Each time there is an action or a discovery that is designed to precipitate the solution, Ada and Rachel get together and rehash everything they know thus far, then make hash of why each scenario will or won't work. This seemingly endless repetition of the facts and how one little thing changes every possible motive and motion is the weakness of an otherwise harmless, happy diversion for those whose tastes in literature run along those lines.
It is really a good-hearted read. Maybe three and a half stars.
My appreciation to Netgalley and the publisher.

What a lovely little cozy mystery this is. Two friends decide to try and solve a murder and they get exactly what they want, but not the way they want it. Most characters are not very deep and you can see the end coming up a mile away, but it was a pleasure to read. The author admits she's never been to Paris herself but she really did her best to describe this beautiful old city. She even put in a glossary of French but you don't really need that because you can understand the meaning of the French words from the context.
The one thing I don't understand is the name of the little shop of one of the characters because it is in English and all signs on the shop windows are in English too. Something you won't see in France because the French love their language too much.
Some scenes are very funny and show the author has a good insight in people. I hope the author will surprise us with more stories.

Thank you Thistle Publishing and NetGalley for this book.

A very good start for a new cozy series.
The book is fun to read, well written, and with a cast of lovely characters.
I loved the humour and descriptions of Paris.
The plot was sound and kept me guessing till the end.
I look forward to reading further instalments in this series.
Recommended!
Many thanks to Crooked Lane and Netgalley for this ARC

This book was very slow and exhaustively detailed. I found the last two chapter interesting but struggled to read this book. It felt very contrived and stereotypic in its approach. The characters were under-developed and I didn’t develop an interest in them and their pursuit of justice.

I love the setting in Paris and I enjoyed this book. It was clever, and a fast read. I will definitely look for more from this author.

Set in Paris I was all set to enjoy the real city. It starts off as a death by soup but is it Murder? Rachel the dead man’s ex is not happy with a last drink of rose wine found as Edger never ever would drink rose. She joins her friend Magda to investigate further. Turns out many of the suspects drink rose.
The interaction between our two amateur detectives is very light and enjoyable and keeps the story moving at a good pace.
I was given an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

French financier Edgar Bowen drowned in a bowl of soup — literally. When his former girlfriend, American ex-pat Rachel Levis, overhears the details surrounding the strange death, she immediately suspects foul play, but the police rule it an accident.

With little more than a hunch, Rachel and her best friend, Magda, delve into the Parisian upper-class world determined to find out what really happened during Edgar’s last meal. As the suspect list grows, so do the number of deaths. With someone tying up loose ends, Rachel and Magda must uncover the truth without landing on a killer’s target list.

Emilia Bernhard’s debut, Death in Paris, offers a predictable and borderline comical tale in the vein of cozy mysteries. Expecting something along the lines of Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None or Eric Keith’s Nine Man Murder, I instead encountered a slow-paced narrative that I struggled to get into. I could have easily skipped pages and missed nothing.

Rachel and Magda came across as bored busybodies in a foreign country with too much time on their hands. Their theories, though many times right in the end, felt like lucky guesses that they pulled out of nowhere. For the most part, I struggled to take them seriously. Even Rachel’s own husband, Alan, seemed to mostly indulge his wife. As is, Rachel and Magda don’t have what it takes to carry a series, their current success appearing more like a fluke.

Extensive telling versus showing, and the fact that the author reveals a lot of the details and accounts through conversations between characters after the events take place rather than in “real time,” ensured my placement as a spectator instead of experiencing the story for myself.

The setting, though picturesque and nice, could have been any generic European city, and the novel as a whole felt too implausible and required too much suspension of belief. Readers who enjoy cozy mysteries and slower stories might still like Death in Paris.

This book i feel was more for the younger generation, teens, Who would no doubt enjoy reading about a couple of sleuths trying to find the murderer in Paris, It was not my kind a book and i couldnt finish reading it.

Thank you Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for the ARC.

Death in Paris is a well crafted cosy mystery set in the elite part of Paris. Beautiful surroundings, good food, and two fun ladies with hardly any resources investigating a possible crime.
A highly entertaining and fast paced read.

♥I got an ARC from the publisher through NetGalley and this is my honest uninfluenced review♥

Rating: 4 of 7; 4 of 5; 9 of 10

General view: It took me a while to get hooked up, but I must be honest and admit that it was my fault, not the book. I was in a kind of bad place when I started reading, and I know I would have been way more interested if I was in my normal self. Also, there are so many plot twists! Fucking loved it!

Ending: can't fucking believe it. Of all the suspects I just never thought it would have happened like that. I mean yes I disagree with Rachel like half of the time, but this? Never saw it coming.

Positives: i LOVED Rachel and Magda. Honestly! They're amazing and so realistic. How doesn't wanna to be a detective?

Downsides: I have a language problem. Something I didn't understand, it looked like people always spoke English with the Rachel. I mean, ok, she's American, but she lived in Paris for decades so why do people speak English?

Side note: just realised one of my updates vanished and now I'm upset. On a more important side note, I finished the book ages ago, but husband was home these days and also, c'mom, World Cup dude!

First, what a fantastic cover! Loved it!

When a French businessman is found dead next to a bottle of rose, the French police believe it an accidental death. But his ex-girlfriend knows better--her former boyfriend loathed rose. So, Rachel recruits her best friend, Magda, to figure out what really happened.

Such a fun read! I loved the Paris setting and the funny, witty characters. I really hope there are further adventures with Rachel and Magda!

#DeathInParis #NetGalley

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

After reading so many detective stories and watching all the detective shows, sometimes I wonder - when the opportunity comes, will I be able to play a cool detective myself. When Rachel Levis got this chance - she used all her knowledge and help of her best friend Magda to resolve the murder of a Parisian financier Edgar Bowen. Well, the fact that Edgar and Rachel had a short love affair many years prior also gave detective Levis additional push to hunt down the cold-hearted murderer.

The story begins one lovely winter morning, during the breakfast, Rachel comes across the article that informs her of the passing of Edgar Bowen. She quickly shares the news with her husband, who simply dismisses it. But Rachel is not a person who gives up easily. She decides to pay respect to her old friend/lover by attending his funeral, where she hears more details regarding the state of the room where Edgar's body was found. And at last, Rachel makes her debut as a detective, lists of the suspects and starts her own investigation. But what our little detective doesn't expect is another murder (or two).

The ending of the story was quite unexpected. Emilia Bernhard caught me off guard there. A wonderful novel, perfect descriptions of Paris areas and cafes/restaurants. Fantastic set of characters, and the right amount (you know I always complain when there are too many characters that don't really play a big part in the story). After reading this book - I will definitely follow Rachel and Magda's future "cases". The story is short, easy to read and takes you straight to the point with all gripping details to captivate reader's attention.

The premise for "Death in Paris" was intriguing - two female American expatriates in Paris try their hand at detection after a French financier dies (comically) face first in a bowl of soup. Rachel (one of the ex-pats) who was an ex of the deceased, suspects foul play based on one of the victim's quirks - a bottle of rose was present at the scene of the crime, and the victim hated rose. Using this discrepancy as a lead Rachel and her best friend Magda decide to investigate, despite the police ruling the death as an accident. A clutch of suspects abound, with some requisite twists and turns to an unexpected conclusion.

The story as a whole was atmospheric, though at times a bit self-aware, as Rachel references other well known literary detectives. Setting the story in Paris gives the narrative touches of glamour, though one needed a French / English dictionary to figure out some of the French words and phrases (it would have been better to have had the "Useful French Words and Phrases" glossary at the beginning of the book instead of at the end).

I'm not sure if this story is a standalone or the start of a series - Rachel and Magda, quirky as they are, do not seem to come across as a formidable detective duo (at least not one the French police would seek out for assistance). Their lives prior to this event are not fully developed, nor are some of the supporting characters, namely Rachel's husband Alan, who seems to not have too much concern over Rachel's sleuthing - he's missing for much of the story, and seems to serve as a support prop and font for information. It might have been better if Rachel were single if her husband was not intended to have any substantial role (except handing over to the pair a piece of critical information).

Nevertheless, the narrative flowed well as a cozy mystery would, following all the set "rules" of the genre.

Okay first off, the description is nothing like the actual story. The blurb gives a whole serious vibe of a cold blooded murder, the case of which is looked into by two 'amateur' sleuths one of which happens to be an ex of the murdered. But actually it's a story of novice shamuses who have no experience whatsoever (but they still do a pretty good job though) It's more whimsical I'd say. Magda and Rachel are the female (and less funny) version of Scully and Hitchcock (please someone tell me they get the reference) and honestly I skipped a lot of pages because I knew where it was going.

A man dies at his dinner table, drowned in his vichyssoise. You’d say it’s a rather awkward but natural death, but Rachel, one of our two expat heroines, knows that the man despised rosé, thus the bottle of rosé wine found on the table is for her a sure sign of murder. So begin the adventures of the two wannabe ‘investigatrices’.
Although the two wannabe detectives are very naive and the culprit was somehow predictable, this was kind of fun..

Death in Paris is a perfect choice for lovers of the "cozy" mystery. It begins with American ex-pat friends Magda and Rachel learning of the death of one of Rachel's old boyfriends, Edgar, who they discover drowned in a bowl of vichyssoise!! How does that happen?! And if that weren't strange enough, they learn that there was a bottle of rose on the table, and Rachel knows that Edgar would never allow such a plebian wine on his table. Intrigued, Rachel and Magda become amateur sleuths to discover the truth behind Edgar's death.

Death is Paris is a light, breezy, and quick mystery, and I love books set in Paris. I wouldn't recommend it for die-hard mystery lovers or those looking for thrills and suspense, but it would be good as a beach read.

I enjoyed this mystery featuring ex-pat Americans Rachel and Magda, living in Paris and trying their hand at solving a murder mystery. Edgar’s death is assumed to be a result of drowning in his soup, but Rachel knows that Edgar would never have rose wine, which was on the table. Rachel is organizing the Library Edgar leaves to his son, when the murders start to multiply. I liked the banter between friends, Magda and Rachel, and look forward to more from these two characters.

I live in Paris and love my city. I tend to read almost anything that takes place in Paris and get a thrill when my neighborhood is mentioned or areas I know well are part of the book local. I'd say I have a high percentage of wins choosing books that way! Death in Paris got a couple of good reviews so I was looking forward to a good old fashioned mystery in the City of Light.

I believe this is a first outing for Ms. Bernhard and the book is fine. Not great. In some ways, it is fun. Two long time friends get together to play detective when the ex-boyfriend of one of them dies "in his soup" The women are trying to figure out how to detect and there is a lot of dialogue. We get to follow along with them as they settle on clues, throw away misdirection and try to go where the police are not going as the police are not convinced a murder, then murders, has taken place.

This is a very quick read, sometimes repetitious and slow. But mostly amusing. The writing is good and the dialogue is actually quite snappy. The plot is interesting. It misses somewhere and I'm not sure where.

So if you have a rainy afternoon to wile away in front of a fire and would like a virtual voyage to Paris without too much intensity, this is the book for you.