I adored this book. I've been short a good French Revolution mystery series since Susanne Alleyn's Aristide Ravel series appears to have trailed off. Really, it's hard to find any good French Revolution fiction from somebody who's done research beyond A Tale of Two Cities and The Scarlet Pimpernel, and in which the sympathies don't appear to be all towards those poor aristocrats who can no longer do exactly what they want. Gastebois himself isn't particularly involved with politics, but the upcoming meeting of the Estates General looms over this book, as well as the popular dissatisfaction that gives rise to government satire in the guise of illegal pornographic stories. I'd love this book even if the mystery were less intricate; so much the better that it turns out to be a knotty detective tale of the first order? I can only hope that the promise of the "a Paul Gastebois mystery" emblazoned across the cover is fulfilled with many more installments of the series to follow.
Overall: A