City of Darkness and Light (Molly Murphy, #13) in Ask Rhys Bowen, Deborah Crombie, and Charles Todd!

Jan 20, 2014 Kathy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: series, favorite-authors, mystery, favorites, historical-fiction, highly-recommend, art-fiction

Be prepared to be wowed by lucky #13 in the Molly Murphy mystery series. It is the second of the series to take place primarily outside of New York City, in another country. The country this time is France, and the city is Paris in its heyday of cutting edge artists and intellectuals. The year is 1905, and major cities, such as New York and Paris, are bursting with history and change upon which the twentieth century will be built. Rhys Bowen once again seamlessly weaves the fiction of Molly's ex Be prepared to be wowed by lucky #13 in the Molly Murphy mystery series. It is the second of the series to take place primarily outside of New York City, in another country. The country this time is France, and the city is Paris in its heyday of cutting edge artists and intellectuals. The year is 1905, and major cities, such as New York and Paris, are bursting with history and change upon which the twentieth century will be built. Rhys Bowen once again seamlessly weaves the fiction of Molly's exploits with this metamorphic history, and the reader is presented with historical figures integrally enmeshed in the story line. Of course, one of the strengths of Bowen's writing is transporting readers to an earlier time and place through her well researched connections of people to plot. The Paris of 1905, at the zenith of seminal modernist artists, provides a bevy of real-life characters, such as Degas, Picasso, Monet, and Cassatt. And, the places of Montmartre and Montparnasse will become wonderfully familiar. Bowen even works the Dreyfus affair and Gertrude Stein into a story where the history of Jewish discrimination is evident.

As City of Darkness and Light begins, Molly has no thoughts of Paris and famous artists, other than the occasional letter from her friends Sid and Gus, who have traveled to that progressive city in order for Gus to explore her artistic endeavors. Molly is quite happy with her new family of her husband Daniel and son Liam. However, Daniel's police business intrudes into their lives in a most devastating manner, as retaliation from the newly formed Costa Nostra takes the form of a bomb that destroys Molly and Daniel's cozy home and very nearly costs them their lives. The solution to keeping Molly and Liam safe while Daniel searches for answers to the bombing is for Molly to take refuge with Sid and Gus in Paris. Molly and Liam sail for the safety of Paris, but, to Molly's dismay, her friends are not there to meet her and have seemingly disappeared. In Molly's attempt to locate her missing friends, she stumbles into a murder of a famous American artist who has resided in Paris for twenty years. Molly's journey to locate Sid and Gus will take her into the heart of the artist community and require her yet once more to unscrabble a mystery of complex scope. Molly also discovers that the Paris Surete is no fonder of interference than the New York Ciy police.

Followers of the Molly Murphy series will be well pleased with Molly's latest excursion into murder and mayhem. Although now a married woman and a mother, Molly hasn't lost any of her drive and determination to use her powers of detection in solving yet another confounding death and clear the names of the innocent. This lady is made of far sterner stuff than sugar and spice and everything nice, and she never ceases to win us over with her unconventional bravado. ...more

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Sep 03, 2015 Ann rated it really liked it

History and mystery prove a winning combination in my first encounter with The Molly Murphy series. This novel begins in 1905 when a Cosa Nostra threat forces Molly Sullivan (nee Murphy) to flee New York City with her infant son. She seeks shelter with her friends Sid and Gus in the City of Light, but when she arrives in Paris they have disappeared. Molly makes contact with members (some now well known) in the art community to locate the missing women and encounters murder and mayhem along the w ...more

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Feb 09, 2014 wonderwomand rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

Perfect title for a Molly Murphy novel set mainly in Paris, France. Molly Murphy is as spunky as ever. We meet many characters, including real people like Picasso, Degas, Cassatt, among other famous artists. We get a glimpse of Paris in 1905 and what life was like back then.

You need to read the book to find out why many people enjoyed the book.

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May 26, 2014 Sally Smith rated it liked it

Another solid story in the Molly Murphy series.

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Jan 21, 2014 Joanna rated it really liked it

Once again I loved the story and missed Daniel being in most of it. But alas, he would be a spoil sport and then we'd lose our story wouldn't we. Molly just as great as ever. It was nice to "meet" some real artists of the day as well. ...more

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