The dark edge of night

The uneven second installment in Pryor's WWII-set historical series (following 2022's Die Around Sundown) finds police detective Henri Lefort investigating two cases in occupied 1940 Paris. The first, and most pressing, involves the death of a Frenchman during what appears to be a botched robbery; the second has been thrust on Lefort by the Gestapo, and concerns the disappearance of a doctor who was working on a mysterious project for the Nazis. While exploring some of Paris's seedier neighborhoods, Henri connects the doctor's disappearance to a series of disturbing missing children's cases, and the narrative's disparate strands begin to converge. Before long, he's caught in a bind that will force him to either let a killer remain at large or risk angering the SS. A subplot involving a psychoanalyst, Napoleon Bonaparte's great-grand-niece, and Henri's treatment for a rare hearing disorder clutter the otherwise-enticing story and feel like unwelcome hangers-on from the series launch. Henri's inner conflicts about upholding the law while living under Nazi rule, though, are the stuff of gripping drama, and Pryor's attention to historical detail is first-rate. This isn't a home run, but WWII buffs will find plenty to latch onto. Agent: Ann Collette, Rees Literary. (Aug.)

Murder and mayhem in Nazi-occupied Paris. Success is a double-edged sword for detective Henri Lefort. As one of the few remaining police officers in Paris, he can continue his work keeping the peace for the occupied French only if he can also solve cases for the Germans. When Dr. Andreas von Rauch, who's clearly an important figure in Nazi medical research, wants Henri's help finding Dr. Viktor Brandt, a missing colleague, Henri can hardly say "non." But his good friend Princess Marie Bonaparte wants him to turn his attention to the apparent kidnappings of young charges from a local children's home. And of course there are still routine police cases to be solved, like the beating death of Edouard Grabbin, whose brother, Dr. Jean Grabbin, whisks his corpse underground almost before it's cold. Nicola Prehn, administrative assistant at the prefecture and secretly Henri's sister, weighs in on Princess Mimi's side, but the consequences of Henri's failure to solve von Rauch's case would be severe. Balancing the challenges of his detective's job with the more prosaic problems of finding eggs and cheese in an occupied city, Pryor creates a vivid picture of life in wartime Paris, a place where the struggle for good over evil may require compromise but must never be abandoned. It takes a village, but in the end, justice triumphs. A satisfying puzzle in a carefully crafted setting. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.