‘A page-turning, morally complex thriller.’ SUNDAY TIMES, Best Historical Fiction Books of 2023
‘More than a historical crime novel, it’s a tour de force.’ ALIS HAWKINS
‘You have a choice which way you go in this war…’
Paris, September 1940.
After three months under Nazi Occupation, not much can shock Detective Eddie Giral. That is, until he finds a murder victim who was supposed to be in prison. Eddie knows, because he put him there. The dead man is not the first or the last criminal being let loose onto the streets. But who is pulling the strings, and why?
This question will take Eddie from jazz clubs to opera halls, from old flames to new friends, from the lights of Paris to the darkest countryside – pursued by a most troubling truth: sometimes to do the right thing, you have to join the wrong side…
‘A terrific slice of historical noir… Sparkles with Lloyd’s mordant wit and gallows humour, illuminating the depravity of an evil regime.’ VASEEM KHAN
****
Praise for Chris Lloyd’s Occupation series, featuring Detective Eddie Giral:
‘Ranks alongside Alan Furst and Philip Kerr … Powerful stuff.’ SUNDAY TIMES
‘A thoughtful, haunting thriller’ MICK HERRON
‘Such a powerful and morally nuanced crime novel. Both a gripping murder mystery and a vivid recreation of Paris under German Occupation’ ANDREW TAYLOR
‘It’s up there with luminaries such as Philip Kerr, Sebastian Faulks and Manda Scott – in fact, it’s probably better than all of those.’ DAVID YOUNG
‘A haunting and eye-opening portrayal of life under occupation’ ADELE PARKS
‘Lloyd does a masterly job of conjuring a hungry, defeated Paris. Eddie is a convincing protagonist; a flawed man trying his best to be a good one.’ THE TIMES
‘More than a historical crime novel, it’s a tour de force.’ ALIS HAWKINS
‘You have a choice which way you go in this war…’
Paris, September 1940.
After three months under Nazi Occupation, not much can shock Detective Eddie Giral. That is, until he finds a murder victim who was supposed to be in prison. Eddie knows, because he put him there. The dead man is not the first or the last criminal being let loose onto the streets. But who is pulling the strings, and why?
This question will take Eddie from jazz clubs to opera halls, from old flames to new friends, from the lights of Paris to the darkest countryside – pursued by a most troubling truth: sometimes to do the right thing, you have to join the wrong side…
‘A terrific slice of historical noir… Sparkles with Lloyd’s mordant wit and gallows humour, illuminating the depravity of an evil regime.’ VASEEM KHAN
****
Praise for Chris Lloyd’s Occupation series, featuring Detective Eddie Giral:
‘Ranks alongside Alan Furst and Philip Kerr … Powerful stuff.’ SUNDAY TIMES
‘A thoughtful, haunting thriller’ MICK HERRON
‘Such a powerful and morally nuanced crime novel. Both a gripping murder mystery and a vivid recreation of Paris under German Occupation’ ANDREW TAYLOR
‘It’s up there with luminaries such as Philip Kerr, Sebastian Faulks and Manda Scott – in fact, it’s probably better than all of those.’ DAVID YOUNG
‘A haunting and eye-opening portrayal of life under occupation’ ADELE PARKS
‘Lloyd does a masterly job of conjuring a hungry, defeated Paris. Eddie is a convincing protagonist; a flawed man trying his best to be a good one.’ THE TIMES
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Reviews
A stellar sequel to 2020's The Unwanted Dead. In 1940 Nazi-occupied Paris, police detective Eddie Giral, a wise-cracking maverick determined to stay faithful to his responsibilities despite the risks to his life, investigates the death of a man found in a jazz club...Little details, such as the occupied city now being governed by German time, which runs an hour ahead of French time, bring the period to life. Admirers of J. Robert Jane's St-Cyr and Kohler series will be delighted.
This smart historical thriller centers on a WWII-era Paris policeman who finds himself working on behalf of the occupiers, pushing him into a moral crisis and a new case that forces him to confront the true extent of the damage being done to the soul of his city.
[A] superbly atmospheric thriller, which oozes moral ambiguity.
A corpse is discovered in a derelict jazz club, its lips sewn tight with twine. The victim, Eddie finds out, is an old lag who should be in prison. After he learns that other criminals are also out on the streets, given early release in mysterious circumstances, he realises that he has stumbled on a conspiracy involving French criminals and German occupiers. A page-turning, morally complex thriller. (Best Historical Fiction Books of 2023)
Chris Lloyd follows up the excellent The Unwanted Dead with another terrific slice of historical noir. In his vivid recreation of Paris under German occupation, French policeman Eddie Giral - trapped between Nazis, gangsters and his own conscience - finds himself morally compromised following the discovery of several mutilated bodies. Once again, the prose sparkles with Lloyd's mordant wit and gallows humour, illuminating the depravity of an evil regime.
Lloyd paints a vivid picture of Paris: the lines of people trying to buy highly rationed food, the jazz clubs where they try to escape their miseries, and their persistent attempts to block out the brutal facts of the occupation. The plot action is suspenseful and intense. The characters-both heroes and villains-are vividly drawn. This is definitely a captivating read!
In Chris Lloyd's historical mystery "Paris Requiem," the year is 1940. The City of Light is occupied by German troops. The Eiffel Tower is closed. All songbirds have fled . . . [Detective Eddie Giral] ekes partial wins out of this amoral game: "Private triumphs I could share with no one"-except the spellbound reader.
It's the book Raymond Chandler might have written if he had lived and breathed the Nazi Occupation of Paris... Paris Requiem is more than a historical crime novel, it's a tour de force. To read it is to have lived in occupied Paris, to have experienced its many-layered devastation. But to read it is also to have walked, in Eddie Giral's skin, through the decisions and betrayals, the compromises and dubious triumphs of an investigation which should, by rights, have killed him.
Lloyd does a masterly job of conjuring a hungry, defeated Paris. Eddie is a convincing protagonist; a flawed man trying his best to be a good one.
A haunting and eye-opening portrayal of life under occupation.