Cold Winter in Bordeaux eBook Allan Massie
Download As PDF : Cold Winter in Bordeaux eBook Allan Massie
Winter. 1942-3. The war is turning against Germany on the Eastern Front. The Americans land in North Africa. Meanwhile, in Bordeaux, Superintendent Lannes - himself an object of suspicion, with one son in Vichy and another with de Gaulle's Free French - investigates the murder of a woman. It looks like a crime of passion. His subordinate, Inspector Moncerre, calls it 'a pre-war crime', one which they may be allowed to solve. But the dead woman has been engaged in activities which have attracted the attention of the Vichy Secret Service, the Germans, and even the Resistance. The investigation will lead Lannes into dangerous territory. He has family problems, too, with his wife sinking into depression and his daughter in love with a boy of whose politics and ambitions he disapproves. His own disaffection is sharpened by Vichy's complicity in the deportation of the city's Jews. Things, he fears, will get worse before they get better, as divisions between Vichy and the Resistance threaten civil war. The third instalment in Allan Massie's acclaimed crime series continues the story of dogged detection in a world seemingly gone mad. And, by popular demand, a fourth title will follow - set in 1944, the year of the Liberation as well as the 'Épuration' of those who collaborated with the Nazis...
Cold Winter in Bordeaux eBook Allan Massie
This very good WWII mystery series continues with Superintendent Lannes of the Bordeaux Police walking a political tightrope between the Vichy authorities who are his bosses, the German occupying forces and the burgeoning French Resistance. It's 1943 and it's beginning to look like the course of the war is turning in favor of the Allies. Anyone in France who has thrown in with Vichy and or the Germans is getting nervous. In the midst of the changing political environment, traditional activities like theft, prostitution, blackmail and murder go on without reference to politics. Protagonist Lannes is called to investigate one such garden-variety (pre-war) crime--the murder of piano teacher. Looks like a crime of passion at first glance, but the inevitable procedural quickly uncovers the woman's sleazy background and extracurricular activities. Lannes makes use of a very exotic network of contacts and informers to gradually pull out a solution to the crime.The crime at the center of this book is often secondary to several other storylines that include the ups and downs of Lannes family members, the interactions between political factions of the times, the social history of Bordeaux and a running commentary on food and wine. These are all enrichments that place this book several notches above the ordinary.
One suggestion I would make about this novel: because it is the third book in a series, there are frequent references to earlier events that might be distracting for the first time reader. The series is good enough to go to books one and two before tackling this episode..
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Cold Winter in Bordeaux eBook Allan Massie Reviews
I can hardly wait for the fourth volume!
Well written thriller set during wartime in France really hits its target has me wanting the next chapter of the very well drawn characters lives. Good read.
Potboiler perhaps? This book took hardly anything at the end of the second book any further. Very atmospheric and reflective etc but most unsatisfying. Hopefully the fourth book will move things on and if you are short of money, don't buy this one but wait till the next one
Cold Winter in Bordeaux is the third in a series that follows police inspector Lannes through the ethical dilemma of his job in occupied Germany. I enjoyed the trilogy's progress through the occupation from 1941 until 1944. That said, the character development in the characters other than Lannes, the primary protagonist, are flat, disappointing, and the book's ending is unsatisfying.
The three books in the series, Death in Bordeaux, Dark Summer in Bordeaux, and Cold Winter in Bordeaux, do not fit neatly into the mystery-thriller genre. They are serious novels, recreating the lugubrious atmosphere of the Occupation and the fearful,
tentative lives of their characters. Always well-written, at times hard to follow, they are intricate probes into the period and well
worth the reader's efforts. Advice read them in order.
Cold Winter in Bordeaux is the third, and for the time being last book in this excellent historical detective series set primarily in Occupied France.
The book explores the difficulties faced by good and moral people when faced with the reality of German occupation. Superintendent Jean Lannes finds it nearly impossible to do his job when his murder investigations keep leading to those known as Untouchables because of their political connections no matter how unsavory their character and deeds. Is the murder here a typical pre-war crime that his squad can finally bring to completion?
Contrary to a previous review, I found that Cold Winter in Bordeaux does indeed advance the story lines developed in the first two books. Moreover, this book could be read as a stand alone novel as Massie makes numerous references to earlier plot lines. But I don't recommend it; why deny yourself the pressure of reading the entire series?
I read all four books of what is called The Bordeaux Quartet. I loved the basic premise of all four books—following the life and work of a police investigator in Occupied France. The novels succeed exceedingly well in offering interesting insights in what daily life was like and what the major personal issues are for inspector Lannes (for example, one son joins Vichy and begins to become a collaborator, the other joins the Resistance). The novels are atmospheric and at their best when dealing with the personal issues and life of Lannes, who emerges as a kind of French version of the very likable Chief Inspector Foyle of the BBC series Foyle’s War. Where the quartet falters is in the cases that Lannes investigates and the people involved. I won’t get specific or give away any plots but the supporting characters, the situations they are put in, and the crimes have a sameness to them that feels repititious and, frankly, kind of boring. Because I like the era and the Bordeaux region, I hung in there and read all four books. Yet for me the actual reading experience was often sluggish and lacking pace because I found the majority of the numerous supporting characters (both the “good guys” and the villains) unengaging and put in the same situations again and again. The commulative affect is that the reading becomes somewhat fatiguing for books that are so short. Really wish I could have given this more stars because it has some very good qualities.
This very good WWII mystery series continues with Superintendent Lannes of the Bordeaux Police walking a political tightrope between the Vichy authorities who are his bosses, the German occupying forces and the burgeoning French Resistance. It's 1943 and it's beginning to look like the course of the war is turning in favor of the Allies. Anyone in France who has thrown in with Vichy and or the Germans is getting nervous. In the midst of the changing political environment, traditional activities like theft, prostitution, blackmail and murder go on without reference to politics. Protagonist Lannes is called to investigate one such garden-variety (pre-war) crime--the murder of piano teacher. Looks like a crime of passion at first glance, but the inevitable procedural quickly uncovers the woman's sleazy background and extracurricular activities. Lannes makes use of a very exotic network of contacts and informers to gradually pull out a solution to the crime.
The crime at the center of this book is often secondary to several other storylines that include the ups and downs of Lannes family members, the interactions between political factions of the times, the social history of Bordeaux and a running commentary on food and wine. These are all enrichments that place this book several notches above the ordinary.
One suggestion I would make about this novel because it is the third book in a series, there are frequent references to earlier events that might be distracting for the first time reader. The series is good enough to go to books one and two before tackling this episode..
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