Folly du Jour

Joe Sandilands and Sir George Jardine are back, and they're in Paris. It's 1927, and numerous cultural icons of the time are present -- from Lindbergh to Josephine Baker to a young crime reporter named Simenon. Joe, in Paris for an Interpol conference, is brought in to help when Sir George, recently retired and thus no longer protected by diplomatic immunity, is found standing over the body of a fellow Englishman in a box at the theater where Baker is performing.

The corpse was that of a thoroughly nasty character -- someone who "needed killing" -- and as Joe and his French colleague, Bonnefoye, work to clear Sir George (who really didn't do it, though he might have liked to), they begin to see a pattern in a string of unsolved murders. show more A character from one of the earlier Sandilands novels turns up with exciting results, and the conclusion is surprising and unexpected, if not completely believable.

Barbara Cleverly's Joe Sandilands novels, although they can involve vicious crimes perpetrated on undeserving victims, seem to me to have an essential light-heartedness about them which we don't find in some other excellent series set in the period between the wars. (I'm thinking of those by Charles Todd and Jacqueline Winspear, especially). In Cleverly's books, the British Empire is still the Empire on which the sun never sets, and its representatives still enjoy the self-confidence that brings. Todd's and Winspear's books, with protagonists who are themselves still traumatized by the Great War and who are dealing with situations arising from it, even years later, are excellent reading and perhaps more realistic. But if you like this historical period as much as I do, and need a break from the gloom, Cleverly's books should fit the bill nicely, as will Carola Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple series, which focuses on some of the positive changes brought about by the Great War. show less

Folly du Jour by Barbara Cleverly. The initial books in this series featuring Scotland Yard investigator Joe Sandilands were terrific. Sandilands was assigned to British-controlled India in the years following World War One and the adventures he encountered there were exotic and quite complex: a joy to read. However, once our hero returned to the motherland in The Bee’s Kiss, the stories lost a considerable amount of their appeal and Tug of War was quite dull. However, this most recent title recaptures the suspense and mystery of the earlier works even though it still lacks the exotic locale of the Asian sub-continent. Paris in 1927 is flourishing with jazz music and art, but Cleverly’s insistence on including celebrity characters show more seemed forced and unnecessary and distracts attention away from a worthwhile plot.
Sir George Jardine, an old friend of Joe’s from their days in India, literally stands accused of murdering a fellow Englishman at a performance of the Folies Bergere. Joe is diverted from attending an Interpol conference to assist the French police in solving the crime. He soon discovers old friends and enemies abound in Paris and that a mysterious God of Evil with a flair for elaborately theatrical murders is managing a small group of assassins in the city. Cleverly does an excellent job of hiding the true identity of the villain until the very end (I certainly thought I had it figured out, but was way wrong). Also on the plus side is the fact that although the story is almost exclusively told from Sandilands’ perspective, the criminal presence is frequently felt and there is a prevailing sense of danger in each chapter.
Cleverly has moved on to a new series set in the world of archaeology and with a female investigator, but I found the initial effort there to be mediocre at best. If this is the last Sandilands’ tale, at least it ended on a high note.

For all my book and movie reviews, please visit my blog at http://unsetalarmclock.wordpress.com/ show less

Folly Du Jour is the seventh book in the Joe Sandilands mystery series. Joe is a WWI veteran who has become a policeman. The first four books found Joe seconded to the Indian police in India and were very good. The fifth book saw Joe’s return to London. In 2088’s Tug of War, the sixth book in the series, Joe investigated the case of an amnesiac English WWI veteran living in France to try to determine his identity – as four different families’ claims that he belongs to them. A wonderful story about the nature of memory and identity and the impact of war. Folly Du Jour is set in Paris where Joe is to attend a police conference but instead becomes embroiled in the murder investigation of a British soldier. The setting is very show more evocative and 1920s Paris really comes to life. Also, Sir George Jardine, Joe’s mentor in the Indian years, is accused of the murder. Cleverly is very deft at showing Joe’s relationship with his mentor and Joe’s ability to manipulate the difficult Paris police forces that want to toss Sir George into jail and throw away the key. An excellent addition to the series. show less

Not as good as some of the others, as Cleverly drags in real-life characters such as Lindenburgh, Baker and Simenon for the first time, unnecessarily. Still a good read though.

Not as good as her early books in this series, but interesting because she has Joe Sandilands interact with historical characters living in Paris at the time.

Murder and mayhem in Jazz Age Paris. Commander Joe Sandilands has been sent from Scotland Yard for an Interpol conference and finds himself in the thick of things from the moment of his arrival. Old friends--and enemies--from India are also present.

I prefer the earlier books set in India, but this is worth reading.

Murder and mayhem in Jazz Age Paris. Commander Joe Sandilands has been sent from Scotland Yard for an Interpol conference and finds himself in the thick of things from the moment of his arrival. Old friends--and enemies--from India are also present.

I prefer the earlier books set in India, but this is worth reading.