VERY evocative descriptions of some pretty impressive French sites, such as Mont St. Michel, the Louvre, Les Machines de L’Île. In fact, in Gigi Pandian's books I enjoy the sense of history and the amazing locations more than the plot itself, although the treasure always ends up being something amazing, which if it were real would have museums trampling each other to get ownership. It's always something based on or inspired by real, though perhaps obscure, history. So by the end you feel slightly more educated. :)

The author has a great sense of place. Her strength is the way her characters move around a location and make it their own, which easily brings the scene to life.

The plot itself begins with an Ocean's 12-style heist at the Louvre that seems simple but runs deep. Jaya and her sort-of boyfriend then career around France trying to figure out what's going to happen next. A lot of the scenes would translate well to a movie... ( )

Historian Jaya Jones has settled in San Francisco when she gets a letter from Lane Peters, an old fling, with a ticket to Paris. She has her doubts about going, she has a great job and leaving in the start of the term isn't the best thing, but, in the end, thanks to a little help from a friend she is able to leave her job for a week to see Lane again. But of course, nothing goes as planned...

I had no problems getting into the story even though this is the third book in the series and the first one that I read. This is a wonderful cozy mystery book with a fantastic main character; Jaya Jones. Actually a lot of fantastic characters. We have her friends Tamarind and Sanjay back in San Francisco. Tamarind is a librarian and Sanjay magician. Then, of course, there is Lane Peters, he just happens to be a very good thief and now someone needs his help and they think leverage in the form of blackmail against Jaya is a perfect idea. So Lane and Jaya must help the criminal North with a theft. Finally, have we Sébastien an old magician that helps Lane and Jaya when they are in France.

The story was wonderful and a page turner and I found it amusing to read about Mont Saint Michel again. Never read about the place before, but this is the second book this year I read about when the story takes place on the island.

The story was wonderful and a page turner and I found it amusing to read about Mont Saint Michel again. Never read about the place before this year, but this is the second book that brings up the place and where much of the story takes place. Also, even though I enjoyed all the characters I must admit that I found North to do the most intriguing, yes I know he is the baddie, but he was such a wonderful character and I do have a bit of a weakness for great baddies. So, I like him and I hope to read about him more in future books.

In the end, I want to say that Gigi Pandian has written a book that really suited me and if you like I like cozy mystery books, then I would recommend checking out this book and the rest of the books in the series. I'm lucky, I already own the first two books!

4.5 stars

I received a copy from the publisher and france book tours in return for an honest review! ( )

Halfway through this one I was thinking 3/3.5 stars because the beginning, the premise, was far-fetched, even for a cozy series that has a strong Indiana Jones feel to it. Once I got beyond that though, the story was fun. It's a cozy adventure... a treasure hunt complete with clues in the form of illuminated manuscript scraps and bad guys racing to get there first. If you're looking for dead bodies, you'll be disappointed.

The plot concerns a secret room underneath an old abbey, rumoured to contain vast treasure appropriated from India just before the French Revolution and hidden by the monks to protect it from being looted.

As seems to be then norm with Gigi Pandian's writing, a lot of the story here is tied to historical facts and any liberties she takes with actual people or events she details in an author's note at the back. How can you not like a treasure hunt story that teaches history at the same time?

It was fun, it was well-written, and it kept me entertained well enough to distract me from having a cold. I can't ask for much more than that from a story. ( )

I just love how the author has used her real life experiences and true historical events to craft am action adventure novel. If you like Indiana Jones, Dan Brown, kick ass heroines or history this is the book and series for you.

I love that the author was present IRL when the Louvre was robbed and worked it into this novel, that is so cool. I wonder how close Jaya is to Gigi? ( )

I so enjoy the Jaya Jones books. She and Lane and all her friends more than fill that Vicky Bliss-shaped hole in my reading life. It was great to see Jaya take more risks than ever before, and it was a lot of fun to see her partner with someone who wasn't Lane, at least for a short time. (Provided by publisher) ( )