The bookseller The first Hugo Marston novel

Aging bookseller (bouquiniste) Max Koche, who has a stall on the bank of the Seine, has become a friend of Hugo Marston, head of security at the American embassy in Paris. So when Max is kidnapped at gunpoint as Hugo is buying two first editions from him, and the investigating detective doesn't take the abduction seriously, Hugo takes matters into his own hands. His old FBI colleague Tom Green, now retired from the CIA, has both time and resources to lend a hand, along with crime reporter Claudia Roux, who turns out to be more than just an attractive bedmate. As the bodies of bouquinistes are pulled from the Seine, Hugo uncovers still-painful secrets from World War II and becomes involved in a drug war. In his first mystery in a projected series, Pryor shows some of the signs of a debut novelist, notably with somewhat stiff characterizations and prose. But this will have some appeal for bibliophiles, and it has a nice sense of place. For readers who will always have Paris, the novel's flaws will be ignored.--Leber, Michele Copyright 2010 Booklist

Austin, Tex., ADA Pryor introduces, in his amiable first mystery, a former FBI profiler, and transplanted Texan, Hugo Marston. Wandering the City of Light on vacation from his official position as the U.S. embassy's security chief, Hugo sees a gun-toting thug kidnap elderly book dealer Max Koche straight from Max's Seine-side bookstall. When the police are slow to act, Hugo undertakes his own investigation, discovering a pattern of similar crimes against Max's community of booksellers, the bouquinistes, possibly linked to feuding drug gangs. Hugo's developing romance with journalist Claudia de Roussillon, his first since an unpleasant divorce, provides relief from the stress of the case, until a connection appears between Claudia's aristocratic father and Max's surprising past as a Nazi hunter. Pryor minimizes any of the true crime grittiness readers of his true crime blog, D.A.Confidential.com, might have expected, instead sketching a somewhat touristy but nonetheless convincing France and a refreshingly unconflicted, likable hero. Agent: Rees Literary Agency. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Hugo Marston, a former FBI agent, works security at the U.S. embassy in Paris. He is enough of a maverick (he is from Texas, after all) to investigate when his friend Max, a bouquiniste (one of those famed booksellers along the Seine), is kidnapped. Dumbfounded by the police's lackluster response, Hugo calls in Tom Green, his buddy from Quantico, now a retired CIA operative who's bored out of his mind. Then there's the lovely Claudia, a reporter who smells a good story and who just happens to be the daughter of a count. As the bodies of more missing booksellers are found floating in the Seine, Hugo finally gets a police detective on his side. The chase is on! VERDICT Pryor's steady and engrossing debut combines Sherlockian puzzle solving with Eric Ambler-like spy intrigue. With a cast of characters you want to know better and a storyline cloaked in World War II betrayals (think Nazi collaborators), the author winningly blends contemporary crime with historical topics. Pair with Cara Black's Aimee Leduc series for both locale and tone. [See also Claude Izner's Parisian bookseller-themed historical, In the Shadows of Paris, in Series Lineup.] (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.