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Bergeron Mysteries #3
Beauty in Ashes
So Gabe Bergeron is a human ferret. No, he's not the product of a horrific, genetics experiment; he doesn't have any more ferret genes than anybody else. Probably. He's a sweet guy with an extra dollop of nosiness. Or two.
So when Yuri Corzo, erstwhile Cuban spy, tells him that Leanne Bergeron was murdered, he's not about to let it go. Sure Yuri's a smiling sociopath, who values truth as much as he does human life, but even a non-ferret would be tempted to investigate the death of his own mother.
Still, even with all his ferretness, it won't be easy. Gabe can only remember bits and pieces of his life before his mother's death, which happened twenty-three years ago. And no one seems to be willing to help him; not even the people closest to him. But a few, minor problems aren't going to stop him from burrowing to the truth.
So when Yuri Corzo, erstwhile Cuban spy, tells him that Leanne Bergeron was murdered, he's not about to let it go. Sure Yuri's a smiling sociopath, who values truth as much as he does human life, but even a non-ferret would be tempted to investigate the death of his own mother.
Still, even with all his ferretness, it won't be easy. Gabe can only remember bits and pieces of his life before his mother's death, which happened twenty-three years ago. And no one seems to be willing to help him; not even the people closest to him. But a few, minor problems aren't going to stop him from burrowing to the truth.
357 pages, Paperback
Published January 2, 2017
About the author
M.G. Lewis
34 books21 followers The Bergeron Mysteries feature one Gabriel Henri Bergeron, crackerjack accountant and all around good egg. Gabe is willing to admit that he's not really a detective as his nearest and dearest and numerous officers of the law have told him over the years. Told him repeatedly.
And some of those same individuals have suggested that he's “nosy, prying, rude” and others have added “meddling and insatiably curious”, but Gabe rejects all those assessments. He believes that he is moderately curious about his fellow human beings. Which is not a flaw.
He just gets drawn into situations trying to help out friends, relatives, and co-workers.
Like his very first case, which he undertook when he was but one and twenty years old. Raúl Gutierrez, who was only fourteen at the time, had been accused of stealing Aunt Flo's big gold Lincoln Continental.
And why did Gabe decide to help Raúl? They weren't friends and not exactly relatives. Raúl was Ezmeralda's nephew, and Ezmeralda was Aunt Flo's boon companion and comrade. So if he thought of Ezmeralda as a sister-in-arms to Aunt Flo, who was actually Gabe's great-aunt, then Raúl was a sort of cousin. Once removed?
In any case, Aunt Flo had taken Gabe in after the death of his mother, and he was determined to find her Lincoln, The police had managed that on their own, but Gabe had solved the case and exonerated Raúl, which had led to the teenage villains being punished. Of course, those same villains would turn up later, but that was another case, another story.
And then he'd done accounting stuff for a few years at Girard-Hartmann Accounting until Eric Girard, one of the partners, had gotten himself and his yacht blown up on Daugherty Creek. Eric had previously fired one Gabe Bergeron from the aforesaid Girard-Hartmann Accounting, and the police had liked Gabe for Eric's murder until they had liked the other partner and Gabe's best friend, Neil Hartmann, better. Gabe had obviously been eager to help his best friend.
And then all sorts of rogues had wanted the Cabrera paintings, which had put Aunt Flo and Ezmeralda into danger.
And he had just sorted that when he'd learned that his mother's death had been a homicide; unsuspected for two decades. Which nobody but Gabe Bergeron was going to investigate.
So Gabe didn't feel that it was weird that he solved crimes. Nope. Not even weird-adjacent.
And some of those same individuals have suggested that he's “nosy, prying, rude” and others have added “meddling and insatiably curious”, but Gabe rejects all those assessments. He believes that he is moderately curious about his fellow human beings. Which is not a flaw.
He just gets drawn into situations trying to help out friends, relatives, and co-workers.
Like his very first case, which he undertook when he was but one and twenty years old. Raúl Gutierrez, who was only fourteen at the time, had been accused of stealing Aunt Flo's big gold Lincoln Continental.
And why did Gabe decide to help Raúl? They weren't friends and not exactly relatives. Raúl was Ezmeralda's nephew, and Ezmeralda was Aunt Flo's boon companion and comrade. So if he thought of Ezmeralda as a sister-in-arms to Aunt Flo, who was actually Gabe's great-aunt, then Raúl was a sort of cousin. Once removed?
In any case, Aunt Flo had taken Gabe in after the death of his mother, and he was determined to find her Lincoln, The police had managed that on their own, but Gabe had solved the case and exonerated Raúl, which had led to the teenage villains being punished. Of course, those same villains would turn up later, but that was another case, another story.
And then he'd done accounting stuff for a few years at Girard-Hartmann Accounting until Eric Girard, one of the partners, had gotten himself and his yacht blown up on Daugherty Creek. Eric had previously fired one Gabe Bergeron from the aforesaid Girard-Hartmann Accounting, and the police had liked Gabe for Eric's murder until they had liked the other partner and Gabe's best friend, Neil Hartmann, better. Gabe had obviously been eager to help his best friend.
And then all sorts of rogues had wanted the Cabrera paintings, which had put Aunt Flo and Ezmeralda into danger.
And he had just sorted that when he'd learned that his mother's death had been a homicide; unsuspected for two decades. Which nobody but Gabe Bergeron was going to investigate.
So Gabe didn't feel that it was weird that he solved crimes. Nope. Not even weird-adjacent.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 1, 2024
2025 reread, still awesome! :) In a way this feels like the first to really have all the regular series elements in place. It's a little weird rereading it too, because I remember certain things without being sure if they're from the specific book I'm reading. Like there's a guy in this one who attacks Gabe later, and when he appeared I remembered that scene, but couldn't have told you whether it was from this specific book or not. (It wasn't.) Anyway, I'm going to try and not gobble them down too quickly this time around. I've just been feeling a both a little off in my reading since the holidays and in need of a comfort read, and these are what I turned to.
###
In Gabriel Bergeron’s third outing, M.G. Lewis once again shows he wasn’t messing around with the hints he dropped in the last volume. This time hardly anybody’s beating the crap out of Gabe to get something he doesn’t have and doesn’t even know anything about. No, sir. This time we’re going all in on investigating the death of his mother, 23 years earlier. (Poor Gabe’s been goin’ through it his whole life.)
The mystery aspect was definitely firing on all cylinders this time, though I did lock onto the murderer well before Gabe did.
But equally engaging were all the relationship elements. Along with the regulars up to now, Gabe is getting to know all his relations on his father’s side of the family, we get some good interactions with his landlord Mr. Boghossian, FBI Agent Murray and his wife and kids, not to leave out the big event, Gabe gets laid!
Ok, it kind of is left out. I mean, it happens. But even calling it “fade to black” oversells, cuz we don’t even get to see dinner first, and while I find sex scenes incredibly uninteresting, I would really have enjoyed seeing the flirtation and seduction leading up to the event. :(
Still, Gabe’s uncertainty and self-doubt afterwards as to whether it was a one-off or the start of something, and his fear of expressing it were charming.
I’m noticing much more now the disconnect between Gabe’s perception of his interactions and the reactions of the people he’s talking to. There’s an, I think, undeniable implication that something is off in his affect or delivery, such that people often don’t believe him, when he lies or when he tells the truth, whether the content of what he’s saying is outlandish or pedestrian. Likewise people’s reactions would seem to indicate he’s often conveying emotion when he doesn’t intend to or failing to when he does.
My reading of the narration is evolving too. The voice is fairly unique, (in my experience). POV is a close-third sticking to Gabe. (Occasionally using a “he” referring to Gabe where I think his name would be clearer, but that’s minor.) But I’ve mentioned before there are occasional very brief lines (a short sentence or phrase) that seem to slip into a sort of omniscient. But now I find myself asking, were I to go back and reexamine these, could I make them fit as Gabe’s assumption, or interpretation of what the other person might be thinking? There are, I think, cases where this is clearly what’s happening. And there’s the thing with where he describes a comical, exaggerated reaction, (always of someone else, I think, but don’t hold me to that) followed by a “but actually” explanation.
As for the negatives this time around, there’s hardly anything of note. The oversized paragraph indents continue to annoy me, but I’m getting accustomed to it. I noted a few superfluous punctuation marks, a typo or two, and a couple of cringey comments about appearance. Otherwise no complaints from me.
All in all, very fun. I’m glad I gave this series a shot, and I’ll definitely be sticking with it for a while.
###
In Gabriel Bergeron’s third outing, M.G. Lewis once again shows he wasn’t messing around with the hints he dropped in the last volume. This time hardly anybody’s beating the crap out of Gabe to get something he doesn’t have and doesn’t even know anything about. No, sir. This time we’re going all in on investigating the death of his mother, 23 years earlier. (Poor Gabe’s been goin’ through it his whole life.)
The mystery aspect was definitely firing on all cylinders this time, though I did lock onto the murderer well before Gabe did.
But equally engaging were all the relationship elements. Along with the regulars up to now, Gabe is getting to know all his relations on his father’s side of the family, we get some good interactions with his landlord Mr. Boghossian, FBI Agent Murray and his wife and kids, not to leave out the big event, Gabe gets laid!
Ok, it kind of is left out. I mean, it happens. But even calling it “fade to black” oversells, cuz we don’t even get to see dinner first, and while I find sex scenes incredibly uninteresting, I would really have enjoyed seeing the flirtation and seduction leading up to the event. :(
Still, Gabe’s uncertainty and self-doubt afterwards as to whether it was a one-off or the start of something, and his fear of expressing it were charming.
I’m noticing much more now the disconnect between Gabe’s perception of his interactions and the reactions of the people he’s talking to. There’s an, I think, undeniable implication that something is off in his affect or delivery, such that people often don’t believe him, when he lies or when he tells the truth, whether the content of what he’s saying is outlandish or pedestrian. Likewise people’s reactions would seem to indicate he’s often conveying emotion when he doesn’t intend to or failing to when he does.
My reading of the narration is evolving too. The voice is fairly unique, (in my experience). POV is a close-third sticking to Gabe. (Occasionally using a “he” referring to Gabe where I think his name would be clearer, but that’s minor.) But I’ve mentioned before there are occasional very brief lines (a short sentence or phrase) that seem to slip into a sort of omniscient. But now I find myself asking, were I to go back and reexamine these, could I make them fit as Gabe’s assumption, or interpretation of what the other person might be thinking? There are, I think, cases where this is clearly what’s happening. And there’s the thing with where he describes a comical, exaggerated reaction, (always of someone else, I think, but don’t hold me to that) followed by a “but actually” explanation.
As for the negatives this time around, there’s hardly anything of note. The oversized paragraph indents continue to annoy me, but I’m getting accustomed to it. I noted a few superfluous punctuation marks, a typo or two, and a couple of cringey comments about appearance. Otherwise no complaints from me.
All in all, very fun. I’m glad I gave this series a shot, and I’ll definitely be sticking with it for a while.
October 26, 2024
I'm actually on the 9th book in this series, which is A Clue that I can't stop reading long enough to write reviews.
reading dates approximate and fictive because see above
reading dates approximate and fictive because see above
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews