“My name is Jules Hooker. I have lived through a few crappy moments in my life—and with a name like Hooker, you can just imagine—but nothing, nothing, compares to the two intensely and world-shatteringly crappy things that happened to me this last June.Three, I guess, if you count Gilbert.After my boyfriend dumped me on the day I thought he was going to propose, I’d have to say two other really … other really bad things happened last June. The first would have to be the dead body I discovered in the rental house in France where I went to get over being dumped.
The second—and very possibly I should have led with this—was the dirty bomb that exploded over the Riviera throwing me and everyone else in France back to the 1950s.
So now I’m stranded here—trying to make a living by solving murders the old fashioned way — without help from DNA, databases, CSI crime labs or the police.
And I’m doing it in France.
Where I do not speak the language.
During the apocalypse.
Sound like fun?”
more
The month of June was not being kind to Jules.
Her fiance breaks up with her, when she is
expecting a proposal. She decides to take a trip
to France with tickets she had purchased as a
surprise for her boyfriend. When she gets there
the apartment, she had traded her condo in
Atlanta for, was not as described. Then she finds
a body. In the middle of being questioned by
the police, terrorist detonate EMP bombs….
What else can go wrong?
Loved it. Purchased the second one in the series
Parlez-Vous Murder was written by Susan Kiernan-Lewis. This is the second book I have read by this author and I enjoyed it tremendously. This story is of a young American woman, named Jules Hooker, who travelled to a small French village called Chabenel for a holiday. She house swapped with a couple, who were enjoying her comfortable apartment while Jules was taken back to a very old apartment building with no luxuries at all and their very unfriendly cat for company.
This book is a cozy mystery, with just a hint of romance as it travels along. She finds a young girl murdered in the overgrown garden behind her very old apartment and then something unspeakable happens. There is a bright light and then she finds herself in a world with no power, cars that mostly no longer work, no technology of any kind and worst of all, no way to travel home.
There are some very interesting characters in this story, and as this is the first book in a series of books, I can see that Susan Kiernan-Lewis has left plenty of room for character growth. She made some friends, made some enemies, and learns that not everyone is as they first appear.
I quite enjoyed reading about the laid-back detective Luc DeBray, he becomes overworked as the local people are trying to deal with life without power and technologies, and the murder of this young girl gets somewhat overlooked, and this is where Jules steps in to help and find the murderer and so the mystery begins.
This story was very easy to read, I read it in one sitting. The author was descriptive in her writing, she took me to the cobblestoned streets and alleyways, I saw the community sipping coffee and eating croissants and one of the many cafes she described. This book is quirky, which I liked and it kept my interest
.
An enjoyable book. I will be reading the second book in this series.
Susan Kiernan-Lewis gifted me a copy of this book.
Really enjoyed the storyline and characters… I’m looking forward to reading the next book.
Easy and quick read. Original story. Twists make it interesting.
Read the whole series! Fun!
The premise of this book was a little silly, but the story wasn’t entirely predictable.
I liked how most of the story was in France and that it wasn’t super predictable.
Very unusual plot- can’t wait to read the rest in the series
It was a good story but a little far fetched. Not the best I’ve ever read but not bad either.
I love entertaining mystery books which is what I thought this book was after reading the review. I was fine until the lights went out all over the world. This is more of a sci-fi to my mind than a standard murder mystery even though a body was discovered. I quit reading it. There are far better books out there for me to enjoy.
This series is great! Interesting twist that makes it a very good book. You will love the main characters. Read from book one, then continue on. Best thing I have read in awhile.
It was okay but I thought it dragged a bit.
Interesting reading
Lead character is great: fun and witty. Plot is very very thin though.
Wish I hadn’t bought the entire series
Writing style was good. Easy to read and follow. However, a nuclear bomb set off and took out all power as part of the plot? Lost me at that point. Way too far out for cozy mystery.
Nice change of pace.
This was just fun, all the way around. It was interesting, surprising at times, with a good mystery and fun characters. Don’t read this for “deep”. Read it for fun!
I really enjoyed it. I had already read other books in this series, but hadn’t read this first one, The story was good, but I especially like anything set in France.