Flykiller

St. Cyr & Kohler #12

by J. Robert Janes

It's February 1943 and the famous old spa town of Vichy, France, has been closed for the duration of the German occupation. All the grand hotels are taken up by the Government of Marechal Petain, but corruption and murder reach into its highest levels. Detectives Jean-Louis St-Cyr and Hermann Kohler are summoned from Paris by Premier Pierre Laval who is desperate for outside Flykiller slays mistress of high-ranking Government employee. Murder follows murder, but is The Flykiller guilty or has he or she used the murders to focus on the corruption? Is there a threat to Petain's life and that of the Government itself? Set against the oppressive backdrop of a captive society, this latest novel follows Beekeeper in an astonishingly original and gripping series of crime novels.

Genres: France, Historical Fiction, Mystery

408 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

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

[Ann Tonks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm turn in my response to this book. I found the Vichy France environment fascinating but feel that I should have read earlier books in the series first in order to understand the main characters. I find the way the author provides insights into all the characters thinking fascination most of the time but occasionally I was just irritated by all the different perspectives, getting confused as I read. So my recommendtion would be start with the first book in the series.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: February 1943 in Vichy, France. Detectives St-Cyr and Kohler are summoned from Paris because murder may reach the highest level.

[Cerisaye · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love, lust, jealousy and murder are the basis for this twelfth outing for St-Cyr and Kohler, one of Janes' sordid sex based storylines that leaves you feeling soiled and grubby for reading the novel. I would add assassination and incipient civil war to the book's outline, with its setting in Vichy right in the heart of Pierre Laval's Collaborationist government, in early February 1943 when Germany's eventual defeat is becoming almost certain. As ever, St-Cyr and Kohler must navigate their way through a complicated criminal investigation without jeopardising their personal safety, and keeping their bosses satisfied so they can continue to work together. Not easy with the Resistance growing more bold and Vichy's supporters and collaborators keen to keep power and influence. Fly killers are those who get rid of traitors and those who know too much.

This book really confused me. There are four young women murdered, and I couldn't remember their individual names or details, therefore it was hard to care. Likewise the assorted suspects. Laval and Petain feature on the periphery, and the spas and cures for which Vichy used to be renowned, before becoming a by-word for collaboration and moral compromise.

Don't choose this book if you haven't read any others in the series. I keep going because I care to know about St-Cyr and Kohler, and their relationship, more like brothers than colleagues or friends. Each worries about the other, with good reason for they have many enemies and justice is devalued in Occupied France. Janes' knows his stuff, and you simply can't beat this series for insight into the murky workings of Occupied France. However you need a high tolerance threshold for graphic sexual violence and salacious detail. This novel is just too confusing and my attention kept wandering. Not one of the best in the series. I think a break is needed before I read any more.

[Richard Boyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was a very good book cant wait to read tapestry and carnaval

[Carol · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too many people, too many motives, I just finished the book and I am not really sure who did it, and don't care enough to go back and figure it out