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St. Cyr & Kohler #13
Bellringer
In a resort town turned internment camp, a female prisoner is brutally murdered
Before the war, the hotels of Vittel hosted the wealthiest members of French society. Now, in the winter of 1943, two of France’s most luxurious resorts have been converted into an internment camp for British and American women who failed to escape the country when the German army stormed across the border. For two years, the prisoners have lived quietly, surviving on Red Cross aid packages, but now they are beginning to die. An American woman is found stabbed through the heart with a pitchfork. By the time inspectors Jean-Louis St-Cyr and Hermann Kohler arrive from Paris, rigor mortis and the February frost have frozen her solid. In her pockets are Cracker Jacks and Hershey bars—bribes intended for one of the guards. To bring justice to Vittel, St-Cyr and Kohler will have to unravel the conspiracy that is at the heart of this luxurious, elegant hell.
Before the war, the hotels of Vittel hosted the wealthiest members of French society. Now, in the winter of 1943, two of France’s most luxurious resorts have been converted into an internment camp for British and American women who failed to escape the country when the German army stormed across the border. For two years, the prisoners have lived quietly, surviving on Red Cross aid packages, but now they are beginning to die. An American woman is found stabbed through the heart with a pitchfork. By the time inspectors Jean-Louis St-Cyr and Hermann Kohler arrive from Paris, rigor mortis and the February frost have frozen her solid. In her pockets are Cracker Jacks and Hershey bars—bribes intended for one of the guards. To bring justice to Vittel, St-Cyr and Kohler will have to unravel the conspiracy that is at the heart of this luxurious, elegant hell.
334 pages, ebook
First published January 1, 2012
22 people are currently reading
104 people want to read
About the author
J. Robert Janes
32 books20 followersJ. Robert Janes is a mystery author best known for writing historical thrillers. Born in Toronto, he holds degrees in mining and geology, and worked as an engineer, university professor, and textbook author before he began writing fiction. In 1992, Janes published Mayhem, the first in the long-running St-Cyr and Kohler series for which he is best known. These police procedurals set in Nazi-occupied France have been praised for the author’s attention to historical detail, as well as their swift-moving plots.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
May 23, 2012
Beauty never guarantees safety, and that could not be truer regarding the luxurious Vittel resort town. During the Second World War, France’s wealthiest deserted the resort, and the place was made into an internment camp for British and American women who failed to flee the area after Germany’s invasion. When a prisoner’s stabbed and decaying body is discovered, inspectors Jean-Louis St-Cyr and Hermann Kohler are certain that Vittel is undergoing an even more violent transformation. The once beautiful resort has become a killing ground, and only they can uncover the secret behind these murderous machinations. Bellringer is the 13th novel in the St-Cyr & Kohler series, which Publishers Weekly assures "will keep readers turning the pages."
May 30, 2012
A vintage French resort bombarded by the strife of war becomes a scene for murder and mayhem, and when an innocent woman is found dead there, no one can imagine the conspiracy that lies behind her killing. "Bellringer" is the 13th in Janes's St-Cyr and Kohler series, but it is such a strong story, it could be read in isolation of the other twelve (which are also great). To readers who love murder mysteries set against the backdrop of 20th century military history, you will love reading this book. It's very clear that Janes knows his facts, and he is an expert story teller. I highly recommend this book.
May 29, 2012
I received this book through the GoodReads Giveaway.
Have you ever had a book that you had to force yourself to finish? This book was like that for me.
I'm pretty bummed because I enjoy period fiction, mysteries, foreign lands and cultures. This book had all of that, but it was put together in such a confusing, cluttered manner that it was not enjoyable to me at all. If I hadn't received this as a giveaway and felt a committment to finish reading it, this would have been an abandoned book early on.
Two detectives, one German and one French, are sent to an internment camp for British and American women in France. There have been two murders that they must solve. And this is pretty much all I got out of the book.
It was difficult to understand if the characters were thinking thoughts or saying them out loud. There were too many instances of a character thinking one thing (and us being able to "read" it) and saying another.
It was difficult to figure out if the two detectives were even working together or at cross purposes.
It jumped around in English liberally sprinkled with French and German bits.
There were too many characters and it was impossible to keep up with who knew what, when, where, why. What was speculation and fact...
There were even too many fortune tellers, oracles, hoodoo gurus.
And after plodding through all that, I found the conclusion seriously wanting.
It was just too much.
Have you ever had a book that you had to force yourself to finish? This book was like that for me.
I'm pretty bummed because I enjoy period fiction, mysteries, foreign lands and cultures. This book had all of that, but it was put together in such a confusing, cluttered manner that it was not enjoyable to me at all. If I hadn't received this as a giveaway and felt a committment to finish reading it, this would have been an abandoned book early on.
Two detectives, one German and one French, are sent to an internment camp for British and American women in France. There have been two murders that they must solve. And this is pretty much all I got out of the book.
It was difficult to understand if the characters were thinking thoughts or saying them out loud. There were too many instances of a character thinking one thing (and us being able to "read" it) and saying another.
It was difficult to figure out if the two detectives were even working together or at cross purposes.
It jumped around in English liberally sprinkled with French and German bits.
There were too many characters and it was impossible to keep up with who knew what, when, where, why. What was speculation and fact...
There were even too many fortune tellers, oracles, hoodoo gurus.
And after plodding through all that, I found the conclusion seriously wanting.
It was just too much.
May 9, 2012
*I won this book from a Goodreads giveaway*
I thought that the setting and the plot of this book was very interesting. I had never heard of what had happened in these hotels and was very intrigued. The relationship between the 2 detectives also kept me reading.
My main problem with this book was that it doesn't give you much background of these two men.(I realized later that this book was apart of a long running series, but usually in the first two chapters there will be a little recap of characters in a situation like that.)It was harder to get into the book when you didn't have much of a back story on the main characters.
I thought that the setting and the plot of this book was very interesting. I had never heard of what had happened in these hotels and was very intrigued. The relationship between the 2 detectives also kept me reading.
My main problem with this book was that it doesn't give you much background of these two men.(I realized later that this book was apart of a long running series, but usually in the first two chapters there will be a little recap of characters in a situation like that.)It was harder to get into the book when you didn't have much of a back story on the main characters.
March 16, 2017
I read this for my historical fiction group. It ended very abruptly on my Kindle saying I'd only finished 81% of the book. Evidently there is another book from the series included. I found this a very complicated and confusing mystery set in WWII France in two former luxury hotels in which American and British women are housed. Two women end up dying, one murdered and the other a possible suicide. Two investigators are sent from Berlin, one French and one German. There are so many characters and so much French and German in the text which is not translated that I would not recommend this book.
June 28, 2017
Set in the Winter of 1943 in the spa town of Vittel, where two former grand hotels are being used as internment camps for British and American women in German occupied France. There's a girls' school atmosphere but mostly boredom with a few thousand women of different backgrounds and class cooped up together with nothing much to do. Two suspicious deaths bring St-Cyr and Kohler to investigate, called in by the camp commandant who has been replaced by another officer by the time they arrive. Seances and kleptomania feature prominently in the story, a group of Senegalese male prisoners and a resourceful priest.
As always with this series there are complications and confusion in the telling that makes it difficult to understand exactly what is going on, to whom, and why. Characters other than St-Cyr and Kohler aren't easy to distinguish and don't generally inspire much interest or empathy. This is Book 13 and, to be honest, I struggle on purely because I love their relationship and don't pay much mind to the murder mysteries that keep them occupied together. This novel has the added interest of an aspect of the Second World War I knew absolutely nothing about before starting the book, so there's that, too. The prisoners are forced to live together under difficult conditions, with no privacy and many constraints, jealousies and intrigues, absent loved ones, lives put on hold for the duration of the war.
I am nearly halfway through the novel and have no idea where it is all going. Will update when done.
Well, I finally limped through to the end of another St-Cyr & Kohler novel. This one almost completely baffled me because I just couldn't distinguish its various British and American women (some French ,too, married to enemy nationals) held together (by national group) in some old spa hotels in Vittel in February 1943. Neither to be honest did I care who actually killed whom, or why. Seriously, readers who complain they could't follow Hilary Mantel's Cromwell books should have a go at Janes' then they'll see truly confusing writing! The POV switches are sometimes obvious but it becomes tedious having to continuously work out whose thoughts or dialogue you are in and makes following the story too much of a challenge for enjoyment. And Janes simply can't write convincing female characters.
Some interesting detail on conditions for the internees, nothing like a labour or concentration camp, obviously, but not much fun. You certainly get the idea that boredom was a major problem, cooped up together with just enough food but nothing much to do other than gossip and tell tales on each other, spurred on by the nasty German officer scheming to avoid being sent off to the Russian front (a death sentence by this point in the war).
I believe Janes wrote this novel after a prolonged break from writing the characters and I think it shows, though by the end some of the old magic of their relationship has kindled so I have hopes for the remaining books in the series. Back to Paris, I hope, and some mention of Oona and Giselle, and St-Cyr's singer whose name I forget. I feel there's too much plot happening in the novels and not enough character development, and that's what interests me most so I end feeling disappointed.
Two-stars seems churlish but I was very confused and frustrated and that's down to writing. It would be lovely to see a proper TV adaptation of this series, which would lend itself well to a visual medium. There's the example of the excellent Un Village Français documenting life under the Occupation in all its complexities.
As always with this series there are complications and confusion in the telling that makes it difficult to understand exactly what is going on, to whom, and why. Characters other than St-Cyr and Kohler aren't easy to distinguish and don't generally inspire much interest or empathy. This is Book 13 and, to be honest, I struggle on purely because I love their relationship and don't pay much mind to the murder mysteries that keep them occupied together. This novel has the added interest of an aspect of the Second World War I knew absolutely nothing about before starting the book, so there's that, too. The prisoners are forced to live together under difficult conditions, with no privacy and many constraints, jealousies and intrigues, absent loved ones, lives put on hold for the duration of the war.
I am nearly halfway through the novel and have no idea where it is all going. Will update when done.
Well, I finally limped through to the end of another St-Cyr & Kohler novel. This one almost completely baffled me because I just couldn't distinguish its various British and American women (some French ,too, married to enemy nationals) held together (by national group) in some old spa hotels in Vittel in February 1943. Neither to be honest did I care who actually killed whom, or why. Seriously, readers who complain they could't follow Hilary Mantel's Cromwell books should have a go at Janes' then they'll see truly confusing writing! The POV switches are sometimes obvious but it becomes tedious having to continuously work out whose thoughts or dialogue you are in and makes following the story too much of a challenge for enjoyment. And Janes simply can't write convincing female characters.
Some interesting detail on conditions for the internees, nothing like a labour or concentration camp, obviously, but not much fun. You certainly get the idea that boredom was a major problem, cooped up together with just enough food but nothing much to do other than gossip and tell tales on each other, spurred on by the nasty German officer scheming to avoid being sent off to the Russian front (a death sentence by this point in the war).
I believe Janes wrote this novel after a prolonged break from writing the characters and I think it shows, though by the end some of the old magic of their relationship has kindled so I have hopes for the remaining books in the series. Back to Paris, I hope, and some mention of Oona and Giselle, and St-Cyr's singer whose name I forget. I feel there's too much plot happening in the novels and not enough character development, and that's what interests me most so I end feeling disappointed.
Two-stars seems churlish but I was very confused and frustrated and that's down to writing. It would be lovely to see a proper TV adaptation of this series, which would lend itself well to a visual medium. There's the example of the excellent Un Village Français documenting life under the Occupation in all its complexities.
May 12, 2012
Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed with this novel. The synopsis caught my attention and led me to try it in the first place, but I struggled to get through it. The premise is interesting; a mixture of history and suspense is definitely carried throughout the novel. However, the mystery seemed to drag on too long. I was expecting there to be some sort of a separate side story in addition to the focus on the women in the internment camp. Instead, the story became bogged down in some tedious details of the single plot piece. There were plenty of different characters introduced, and the detectives had different approaches to the case, giving some different viewpoints. Some sections of dialogue were difficult for me to follow for some reason, sometimes leading me to be unsure who exactly was talking, and to whom. Even though I struggled with pieces of Bellringer, I found the historical details to be really interesting, and this was definitely a point of view on that time period that I had never encountered before.
**I Received This Book In A FirstReads Giveaway**
**I Received This Book In A FirstReads Giveaway**
January 28, 2015
I didn't like this novel nearly as much as I've liked others of Janes's books, largely because of the setting of this story. As always I like St. Cyr and Kohler, but an internment camp for British and American women holds little appeal. It's the pettiness of the squabbles and irritations, which is exactly what they would be in such close confinement with the added harassment of the SS commandant. Petulance, immaturity, greed, the constant grind of disparate personalities--Janes does a wonderful job of conveying that atmosphere. That is precisely what turned me off. I didn't care who killed whom; except for St. Cyr and Kohler, the rest of the lying characters could go to the Devil for all of me. I didn't find a single one of them to be interesting or sympathetic.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews