Fantastic and original "Harlequin Intrigue" about a murderer on the loose in a Puppet Theater! I really enjoy Jenna Ryan's "Intrigue's", her storylines are always very interesting and different than the usual, and this story was no exception.

Twenty-four-year-old Katarina Lacroix, a beautiful dark-haired Creole beauty from New Orleans, works in Paris as a tour guide by day (in the Puppet Museum) and a performance-puppet by night on stage at the Puppet Theater. She is in a production which re-enacts the centuries old story/legend of Giovanni Verrone (puppeteer and creator of the Puppet Theater who created a puppet, Mignon, fell in love with her, and as legend has it, brought her to life only to have her leave him alone to live in the underground vaults of the Puppet Theater. It is said his ghost still roams the dark vaults beneath the theater.)

Katarina eventually meets handsome Raul Sennett who is currently hiding/living in the underground vaults. He is accused of murdering a staff member of the puppet theater and the police are looking for him. (Raul is from Spain and was originally hired to restore the beautiful theater to it's original grandeur.) He didn't commit the murder and he's looking for proof that someone upstairs did what he is accused of doing.

With an interesting cast of characters/suspects, including the crazy (and unknown) murderer, "the puppet master", this was a totally fun and entertaining read! It kept me turning the pages, wondering what was going to happen next. It also had some slight similarities to "Phantom of the Opera".

A thoroughly enjoyable story with a great backdrop (the Paris Puppet Theater-Museum with it's dark underground vaults), good atmosphere, a strong heroine, a handsome hero, and some strange secondary characters. Fun, unusual read! ( )