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Now here's a little gem from a small UK publisher. David Barrie's debut WASP-WAISTED was a highly readable and a rather classy outing which captured the essence of Paris. NIGHT-SCENTED brings us more of the same – a rumpled cop and sophisticated (but murderous) collection of fashion world and business folk. This time out, a businessman is found murdered backstage at a posh fashion show. Cop Franck Guerin is convinced there's a link to the death of a woman whose car was forced off a country road by a lorry, as both were investors in a new enterprise. He's got to pick his way delicately through the Parisian fashion world, where prima donnas abound, as well as dodging some ghosts from his past. There's the ambitious and precocious Isabelle Arbaud, who has set up a company with the express aim of producing the most exquisite and desirable perfume ever. She has poached enigmatic perfumer Louis Halphen from her rival and former boss Francesca Craveri to help her achieve this. Guerin isn't just any common-or-garden cop. He's been seconded to the Brigade Criminelle, which investigates murders and serious crimes in the city, while the dust settles after a security services job he was involved in went badly wrong – and continues to haunt him as he goes about his new role. NIGHT-SCENTED is an elegant and leisurely read. Barrie leads us through the streets of Paris and behind the scenes of exclusive events and smart buildings (waaaah! Why can't I have an office on the Ile Saint Louis?) as the rumpled Guerin, complete with scruffy parka and ancient briefcase, tries to piece together the seemingly disparate information he has collected. This time out, though, there's a stark contrast to the upmarket settings. A homeless man has been seen on the edge of each crime site, and Guerin ends up at one point sleeping among the homeless on Alexandre III bridge It sometimes feels like Franck is the only cop in Paris! And, as with WASP-WAISTED, Barrie does better portraying the female characters than he does the men. But NIGHT-SCENTED is well-crafted and vivid, and definitely worth tracking down. § Sharon Wheeler is a UK-based journalist, writer and lecturer.
Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, June 2010
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