I shouldn't but I'm going to. Karen at Bookbath and Tamara at Thyme for Tea are hosting the Paris in July Readalong beginning July 1, and as I have loads of books with French settings and by French authors I'm going to pull one or two or maybe even three out to read. My goal is to just read one (better to start small), but it's good to have several backup choices just in case.
I'm starting with Jean-Francois Parot's The Chatelet Apprentice. I had not heard of this author before he made the CWA International Dagger Longlist. Actually this is his first Nicolas Le Floch mystery set in 18th century paris, though his fourth made the longlist. I like to start from the beginning when it comes to mysteries, however. One of the blurbs reads "brilliantly evokes the casual brutality of life in eighteenth-century France". That's an intriguing comment and I am curious about what that they might mean, though I have the impression that life then probably was indeed very brutal.
I loved Catherine Delors' first book Mistress of the Revolution. For the King sounds even better to me. It is due to be released in paperback on July 5, so this is perfect timing to read it. Although it is a novel, there is something of a mystery to the story as it concerns an assassination attempt on Napoléon Bonaparte on Christmas Eve 1800. The crime is investigated by Chief Inspector Roch Miquel. You can see the book trailer here.
And on my Nook (via Project Gutenberg) I have loaded Balzac's The Vendetta. I've never read any Balzac and am not sure this is the best place to start, but it is a novella and the story is very appealing. "A foreigner—along with his wife and their young daughter—stands before the Tuileries, waiting for an audience with Napoléon. Only the great leader, he reasons, will understand his wretched plight and the vendetta that has driven him here. When Ginevra Piombo falls in love 15 years later with a young Corsican officer hiding from the authorities in the aftermath of Waterloo, she does not realize that this one moment from her past will force her to make the greatest decision of her life: a choice between two loves, and between life or death."
To be honest I'm very pleased with my choices and hope I can read all three. I know July is meant to be a catch up month when it comes to my book stacks (all the more so as two that I meant to have finished by the end of June are going to carry over into July), but I may have to alter my plans somewhat, and that's okay, too. There's always August (and then RIP for September and October). But it's the journey, not the destination, right? And July my journey will take me to Paris--at least for a little while.