Murder on the Eiffel Tower is written by Claude Izner, who  actually are two sisters who are French booksellers based in Paris and, as the jacket describes, “experts on 19th century Paris”.

This is the story of Victor, a bookseller in Paris during the early 19th century and the famous exhibition showcasing the Eiffel Tower. A series of “bee stings” prompts a local paper to start calling them murders and sets Victor off on a path to find out “who done it”. This is one of those old fashioned mysteries. There are no secrets pulled out of a hat at the last minute. Clues are dropped throughout the entire book and you can assist Victor if you pay enough attention.

That being said, however, I think much of the book was lost in translation. What should have been a charming mystery ended up somewhat labored, difficult to understand in parts and filled with so much history and names of places it was hard to follow. Perhaps if I was a Paris native the book would have meant more to me. I felt absolutely zero connection with the characters, but this really didn’t surprise me. It’s difficult to really get the “feel” of a character when the book is not in its native language, in my experience. There have been a few exceptions, The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon comes to mind, but most of the time I have a hard time really getting into the character of the players in these type of books.

Overall, the feel of the book was somewhat like the feel of watching a French movie. Very artsy, almost whimsical in parts, more light-hearted than a good Sherlock Holmes mystery. I wish I could give it more than 2 stars, but I really don’t think the English version deserves more. I had checked out the book following this one, but I don’t think will be able to manage keeping myself awake long enough to read it.