October 1796, Paris, and Aristide Ravel is called to a double murder of Louis Saint-Ange and Celie Montereau. Clues lead to various people but with the recent possible miscarriage of justice Ravel becomes uncertain who is definately guilty and why.
Wonderful descriptions bring to life the times, and the people in this mystery with its interesting characters. ( )

Another great mystery by Alleyn. Arstide Ravel is an agent for the French police post-Revolution and pre-Napolean. He is tormented, he hates and loves his job. He is lonely and sad, but hopeful. The historical accuracy is excellent. The book moves along at a good pace. Though I knew who the murderer was pretty early on, how Ravel figured it out kept me going easily. ( )

Aristide Ravel is an agent of the police in post-Revolutionary Paris. Assisting the police without actually joining the force means that he can investigate puzzling murders but avoid the tedious public service that also goes with the job. So he dresses in black, 'like a crow that's fallen into an inkwell', and plays patience (or 'solitaire', which would be more appropriate) until his friend and associate Commissaire Brasseur calls on his sleuthing skills. I like him already! (I'm only kicking myself that this book has been in my Shopping Basket for months, nay years, but I have only recently purchased it because I found a Kindle version - with cramped text - that prompted my curiosity!)

Although not a particularly original detective character - Ravel's only distinguishing traits are his card-playing, perhaps representing his ordered and patient mind, and his haunting backstory - Susanne Alleyn has chosen an interesting historical era for her books and done her research well. The French Revolution is my pet subject, but I have never really read beyond the Terror, so following Ravel through the blood-stained and unsettled streets of Paris in 1796 (post-Robespierre, pre-Napoleon) is new to me, yet at the same time grounded in familiar places and events. Although the guillotine is a symbol of the Terror, dispatching royalty and revolutionaries alike, the 'national razor' remained as a method of execution until 1939, so the threat of capital punishment still looms large for Ravel's suspects, even though the Revolution is over. I also love the detail that Alleyn slips seamlessly into the text, bringing time and place alive - historical figures, real crimes, and even a bibliography make for an exciting murder mystery that is all the more interesting for being based on facts. Alleyn knows her stuff, from police procedure to the street names of late eighteenth century Paris.

Despite being a little top-heavy in backstory and exposition, the plot of this first novel is neatly crafted and Ravel is a flawed genius, whose flashes of insight usually occur just in time to rectify his own mistakes. The reader is also quicker to realise what is happening than the detective, as with Celie's secret and Rosalie's influence, but Ravel gets there in the end. The ending was a little too tidy for my liking, and I could only forgive the cross-dressing and 'tortured soul' angle because Alleyn was inspired by a real-life murder investigation (can't argue with history!), but the rest I loved. Definitely recommended, to readers of crime fiction and historical novels, history buffs interested in the French Revolution (Ravel actually reminded me of Chauvelin from Orczy's Scarlet Pimpernel series), or just anyone who loves a well-written story. ( )

Aristide Ravel is a police agent. In his time, 1796, that means that he is an investigator, although some agents are nothing more than police spies. But he is called in on a double homicide. Both victims, a young society girl and an older gentleman are both found shot dead in the man's apartment. The police have a lot of trails to follow, first identifying the dead girl, then trying to decide which was the intended victim and who might have wanted them dead.

At the same time, the whole city is struggling with the aftereffects of the Revolutions. Everything has new names: the days of the week, the months, the streets, the 'citizens' themselves. And the memory of the Terror hangs over everyone, making them reluctant to get involved in a police investigation. Ravel himself is haunted by the execution of a close friends and by the more recent execution of what he believes was an innocent man. This case, he says, must be without any doubts.

I really enjoyed this mystery. I just found it at the library and I'm glad I saw it. I hope the series continues. ( )

Off with their heads!

I can almost hear the vociferous Queen from Lewis Carroll's, "Alice in Wonderland," screaming that phrase at the top of her lungs as this story commences with an old cart containing three prisoners making it's way toward the square where the guillotine and the executioner await them. She would fit right in with the crowd that cheers the cart's arrival and is eager for the "entertainment" to begin. No cable TV back in the day.

Here is an author, Susanne Alleyn, who writes historical novels that are so well researched and are so compelling that you never realize you have been spoon fed a huge dose of French history, quite painlessly, until you realize that no one "ordinarily educated" should know this much about what the French people were doing at this point in history. Alleyn's passion for this period brings this book and the characters vividly to life.

Game of Patience happens to be the first novel published featuring the Aristide Ravel Mysteries, although the chronological order places it as the second in the series, featuring Ravel, as a police spy (investigator/detective) who works with the police department in one of the arrondissements in the City of Paris. The first in the series, [The Cavalier of the Apocalypse], is in my to be read stack, and I am very eager to get to it as soon as possible. The story spins out through the the time period in French history after "the Troubles" and before the rise of Napoleon to power and features the gentleman, Aristide Ravel. However, don't miss this one Game of Patience, after you read The Cavalier of the Apocalypse, or as a stand alone book, and remember also, that Ms. Alleyn is one of our own LT Authors, and definitely worth seeking out for all of her books which are excellent and very entertaining. Incidentally, the title refers to the card game Aristide plays while relaxing and passing time while his clever brain works on the mystery at hand. Solitaire, anyone? ( )