Murder with a French Accent
by Janet Hannah
This self-published book was recently reviewed by Shelley Glodowski of Midwest Book Review:
Janet Hannah was born in Toronto, Canada. She earned a Ph.D. in Rutgers University. MURDER WITH A FRENCH ACCENT is the follow-up to her first Alex Kertesz mystery, THE WISH TO KILL, which was well received. She currently lives in Jerusalem.
Alex Kertesz has been tapped by his department at the University of Jerusalem to journey to a small French company who has acquired the rights to an organism for commercial development. Located in Toulouse, France, Alex arrives to a somewhat hostile atmosphere and little to be done on the surface of things. But an explosion in the lab; snide comments; and finally his own kidnapping convince him that all is not well at Agrogenie:
“‘I have to catch a plane,’ he said, extricating himself from her grasp, but the large man he now thought of as Boris appeared at his other side, pressing him toward the open door of a parked car. He spun around to make a dash for it, but Francoise blocked the way, and something hard and heavy smashed into the back of his head.”
Writing about something as complicated as biochemistry is not an easy task, particularly when the intended audience is mystery readers. But Janet Hannah pulls it off with aplomb, breaking complicated theory down into pedestrian language when the occasion calls for it. Dr. Alex is a reluctant traveler and hero in this whodunit, and Hannah has to spend quite of bit of the book putting everything into context for the reader.
But when Hannah gets around to the murder, she totally changes gears to create mayhem as Dr. Alex finds himself pulled into the vortex of a situation he hardly understands. It’s lucky that he is fluent in so many languages and that he has kept himself in good shape. He is called upon to perform stunts worthy of James Bond, and that’s where the real fun of the novel lies.
MURDER WITH A FRENCH ACCENT is a nicely wrought International mystery.
For more information or to order the book, visit the author’s webpage: www.outskirtspress.com/murderwithafrenchaccent
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