Sunday, August 28, 2011

Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday is currently on tour and this month's host is Staci from Life in the Thumb. MM is a gathering place for readers to share what books came into their home last week.

Caveat: MM can cause wish lists to explode exponentially!

Here are the two books that showed up Chez-moi last week.







Paperback, 416 pages
Expected publication: September 6th 2011 by NAL Trade

ISBN0451234618 (ISBN13: 9780451234612)
From Goodreads:
Join the fun and frolic with American heiress Penny Nichols and her English hero Jeremy Laidley, as the adventurous couple sets off for more elegant travel and delightful sleuthing together!

Penny and Jeremy are just returning from their honeymoon, only to be greeted by eccentric friends of Prince Charles bearing a rather royal request: to rescue a historical village on the coast of Cornwall, England. A property developer is bulldozing his way across the countryside to build a monstrous new development, and he's heading straight for Grandmother Beryl's old homestead where the newlyweds first met long ago as kids. Can Penny and Jeremy solve an ancient puzzle in time to save Grandma's house-and the entire village-from total destruction?

On the romantic rocky cliffs of Cornwall ! ( love books set in Cornwall), amid Celtic lore and tales of Shakespeare, smugglers, and shipwrecks, Penny and Jeremy must contend with a rakish cast of local characters: a bird-watching earl, a famous TV chef, a vain actor, a New Age farmer, a pair of thuggish real-estate tycoons, a rebel rock-and-roller, and a band of determined "eco-warriors." Following a trail of cryptic clues, Penny and Jeremy's new caper takes them to the lush island of Madeira and the legendary castle of Tintagel, in a race against time to find the astonishing truth... before the wrecking ball strikes.
With her trademark wit, wisdom, and verve, C.A. Belmond's newest novel in her beloved "Rather" series provides a perfect armchair voyage of Europe's glamorous locales, with plenty of mystery, history, food, wine, love, and life's little pleasures.

Received from Nal for review



Hardcover, 432 pages
Expected publication: September 20th 2011 by Crown
ISBN:0307452891 (ISBN13: 9780307452894)
primary language:English

From Goodreads:
Death in the City of Light is the gripping, true story of a brutal serial killer who unleashed his own reign of terror in Nazi-Occupied Paris. As decapitated heads and dismembered body parts surfaced in the Seine, Commissaire Georges-Victor Massu, head of the Brigade Criminelle, was tasked with tracking down the elusive murderer in a twilight world of Gestapo, gangsters, resistance fighters, pimps, prostitutes, spies, and other shadowy figures of the Parisian underworld.

The main suspect was Dr. Marcel Petiot, a handsome, charming physician with remarkable charisma. He was the “People’s Doctor,” known for his many acts of kindness and generosity, not least in providing free medical care for the poor. Petiot, however, would soon be charged with twenty-seven murders, though authorities suspected the total was considerably higher, perhaps even as many as 150.

Who was being slaughtered, and why? Was Petiot a sexual sadist, as the press suggested, killing for thrills? Was he allied with the Gestapo, or, on the contrary, the French Resistance? Or did he work for no one other than himself? Trying to solve the many mysteries of the case, Massu would unravel a plot of unspeakable deviousness.
When Petiot was finally arrested, the French police hoped for answers.

But the trial soon became a circus. Attempting to try all twenty-seven cases at once, the prosecution stumbled in its marathon cross-examinations, and Petiot, enjoying the spotlight, responded with astonishing ease. His attorney, René Floriot, a rising star in the world of criminal defense, also effectively, if aggressively, countered the charges. Soon, despite a team of prosecuting attorneys, dozens of witnesses, and over one ton of evidence, Petiot’s brilliance and wit threatened to win the day.

Drawing extensively on many new sources, including the massive, classified French police file on Dr. Petiot, Death in the City of Light is a brilliant evocation of Nazi-Occupied Paris and a harrowing exploration of murder, betrayal, and evil of staggering proportions.

Received from Crown/SA.

25 comments:

  1. I got both of those two and think they look great! I hope you enjoy them!

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  2. The C.A. Belmond book sounds good! I need to check out that series. Enjoy!

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  3. Two very different reads, but they both look so good! If you get a chance, check out My Mailbox!

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  4. The first book sounds wonderful and adventurous. Enjoy your books!

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  5. I also got Death in the City of Light, and am rather curious about it. It has a great and creepy cover as well. It looks like you had a great mailbox this week. Enjoy them!

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  6. Homecoming sounds sweet! Enjoy your reads!

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  7. Enjoy your new books. Death in the City of Light sounds very interesting.

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  8. Death in the City of Light sounds like my type of read. Can't wait to hear your thoughts next. Enjoy the reads :)

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  9. the first sounds fun--the second intense. Thanks so much for your kind words that you left on my blog.

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  10. Death in the City of Light sounds interesting. Creepy cover!

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  11. What delicious-looking books! I love adventure mixed with some mystery and romance. Set in Cornwall? I'm there!

    Thanks for sharing.

    Here's MY MONDAY MEMES POST

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  12. Homecoming sounds like such a fun book. I also got Death in the City of Light.

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  13. I think I want both of those. Hope you have a great week!

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  14. Both of these sound good Kaye. Enjoy!

    Once again, Thanks for your thoughts of concern for me during Hurricane Irene; I appreciate that.

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  15. Can't wait for your thoughts on Death in the City of Light. It's a perfect book for both of us.

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  16. A Remarkable Honeymoon is right up my alley. I also love those old Cornwall stories. Maybe this new one will be just as good.

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  17. Two interesting books, enjoy!

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  18. Talk about book covers that are polar opposites!!

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  19. Looks like some good hours of reading. Enjoy.

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  20. when I saw that Death in the City of Lights all I could think was the cover looked so familiar...then I figured it out. Seems the artist for Spycatcher by Matthew Dunn had the same idea.

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  21. Those both look like fun - enjoy!

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  22. You got some great books this past week!!

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  23. The Belmond book looks really good. Enjoy!

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