Carousel

St. Cyr & Kohler #2

by J. Robert Janes

Paris, December 1942. The corpse of a naked girl has been found, strangled. Not far away, the body of a young man is discovered with his throat slashed, tied to the back of a carousel animal. A Wehrmacht corporal is killed. Scattered ancient Roman coins connect the three victims. Is it the Resistance? Or are sex and greed, the oldest of motivations, still rampant in a country groaning under the burden of Occupation?

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Crime, France, Historical Mystery, Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1992

About the author

J. 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.

Reviews

[Tristan Robin Blakeman · Rating 1 out of 5]

The set up for this story was intriguing: Nazi-occupied Paris with an odd-couple of detective partners, one a French police detective and the other a Gestapo detective. Together they've been assigned to work as a team to solve murders during the occupation. And the set up for this mystery was intriguing, too. I think. I say "I think," because I'm not really sure what any of it was. This has to be the worst translation I've ever tried to wade through. Garbled sentences, incomplete thoughts, partial phrases rendered meaningless by the 'translation by Google translator." It took me over four hours just to read 100 pages. And I wasn't even sure what was going on. I know it involved antique coins, a possible maybe or maybe not murdered prostitute, a criminal murdered on a carousel (or maybe it was a Resistance fighter? I'm not sure) ... or maybe those were just sidelines in the story. I just knew I wasn't going to attempt another 300+ pages.

I have a feeling if you read French and got a copy of the book in the original language, it would be quite good. But, this is like trying to listen to music while you're underwater.

[David C Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. This is a decent series whose premise is two ordinary detectives - French and German - investigating “normal” crimes during the occupation. However, the crimes are not normal but almost immediately connected to skulduggery by the Nazi hierarchy and its French collaborators. My main problem is that the writing is peculiar with a lot of jump cuts and shifting points of view that are confusing. Sentence structures are frequently garbled and the attempt to render French idioms into English - eg changing “mon vieux” to “old one” - doesn’t work. This one used the ruminative “Ah yes.” so often - seemingly every other page - to signal world weary French comprehension/acceptance that it became a major irritant. I started hearing WC Fields.....

[Michael Springer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the premise of the two detectives -- one French, one German -- forced to partner with each other in wartime France. This story picks up where the first one, Mayhem (or Mirage), left off. Louis and Hermann investigate the murder of a young girl, a German corporal and a carousel operator and find themselves on a hunt for a cache of gold coins. Janes's stylized writing often gets in the way of the plot, but it comes together at the end.

[Kat Walter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Occupied Paris in 1942. Two detectives, one French and one German, are partnered to solve crimes/murders in the city. They form an uneasy relationship as they maneuver through the politics and horrors of the times.

[Karla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Carousel, J. Robert James (2.5)
The premise of this book drew me in, but the execution was not as good as I had hoped. The book is a mystery set in occupied Paris during WWII. It is one, though not the first, of a series featuring an unusual pairing of a Gestapo agent and a French detective. The complications of this pairing and the time period portended a deep, interesting setting. The story starts with three seemingly separate deaths: a strangled young girl, a carousel operator and a German corporal. The crime fighting pair seem to be set-up for failure with all three deaths by various complicated parties (French underworld, multiple German overlords, etc.). Linking all the deaths seems to be a possible bevy of gold coins. Part of my problem with the book is coming into the set-up with no knowledge of the preceding books (my own fault). There were many confusing references that seemingly would have been clear with earlier books. But the main oddity was in the writing that continued to cause stumbles, specifically the practice of writing from each characters point of view, without clarifying who was ‘thinking’. By content, one could usually figure it out, but the flow was slow and cumbersome. I feel that I missed a lot of the depth of the story, as the reading experience was painful and I hurried to finish. This book was recommended by a mystery buff friend, who apparently has a lot more patience than I do!

[Laurel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a total struggle for me from page one. I love the setting and the camaraderie the two such disparate detectives have for one another, but the number of characters really got in the way of my enjoyment of the book this time. SS, Gestapo, Surete, gangsters, Resistance....And the habit Janes has of switching gears from St. Cyr to Kohler almost within paragraphs makes for a very difficult and intense read.

I won't give up though.

[John Form · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have a love-hate relationship with this series by J. Robert Janes. This was one of his mediocore entries. Some have been really engaging. I am not sure why but there are times in his books that the story just grinds and Carousel had that trait. Try Salamander or Sandman for a more engaging story. That said, reading Jane’s mysteries set in France (Paris, mostly) during WWII is a treat. He captures the time and city so well. As he does the atmosphere of an occuppied country.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carousel is dark and a twisted tale of occupied Paris and the oppression of occupation and of competition among the occupiers (German Army, SS, Gestapo). I have been critical of this series in the past, for plotting, for problems with point of view and those problems remain. But I keep coming back for the setting and for St-Cyr and Kohler. Their friendship is central to this story and makes the competing darknesses almost bearable.

[Al · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. One of a series of WW II detective stories set in occupied Paris, featuring an odd couple of investigators--one a Gestapo officer and the other a French Surete man. This could be an appealing combination, but in this incarnation it didn't work for me. The author's style is clunky, looking suspiciously like a bad translation. The plot and relationships are hard to follow. Just not worth the effort.

[Rebecca Anjali · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is very interesting in that it gives a view into the time of the nazi occupation and makes the point that ordinary crime still continues even amidst all they are doing. I really read this book for the first time and fell in love.

[Eddie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Second in the series.

[Ann Repetto]

tried c 20 pages and couldn't get into it

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast-paced, dangerous and exciting. St Cyr and Kohler are on the run after the murderer of a lovely young woman.