The Blood promise : Hugo Marston novels #3 / Mark Pryor.

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Title:

The Blood promise : Hugo Marston novels #3 / Mark Pryor.

Author:

Pryor, Mark, 1967-

ISBN:

9781616148157

Publication Information:

Amherst, NY : Seventh Street Books, 2014.

Physical Description:

287 pages

Series:

Hugo Marston Novels #3

Abstract:

"Hugo Marston must figure out what lies hidden inside an old sailor's chest before a 200-year-old blood promise is revealed and claims another life. In post-Revolution Paris, an old man signs a letter in blood, then hides it in a secret compartment in asailor's chest. A messenger arrives to transport the chest and its hidden contents, but then the plague strikes and an untimely death changes history. Two hundred years later, Hugo Marston is safeguarding an unpredictable but popular senator who is in Paris negotiating a France/U.S. dispute. The talks, held at a country chateau, collapse when the senator accuses someone of breaking into his room. Theft becomes the least of Hugo's concerns when someone discovers the secrets hidden deep inside the sailor's chest, and decides that the power and money they promise are worth killing for. But when the darkness of history is unleashed, even the most ruthless and cunning are powerless to control it"--Provided by publisher.

Subject Term:

Americans -- France -- Paris -- Fiction.

Treasure chests -- Fiction.

Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction.

Genre:

Detective and mystery stories.

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Item Barcode	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... Avon-Washington Township Public Library	Adult Fiction Book Paperback	120791002349185	F PRY	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Hugo Marston must figure out what lies hidden inside an old sailor's chest before a 200-year-old blood promise is revealed and claims another life. In post-Revolution Paris, an old man signs a letter in blood, then hides it in a secret compartment in a sailor's chest. A messenger arrives to transport the chest and its hidden contents, but then the plague strikes and an untimely death changes history. Two hundred years later, Hugo Marston is safeguarding an unpredictable but popular senator who is in Paris negotiating a France/U. S. dispute. The talks, held at a country chateau, collapse when the senator accuses someone of breaking into his room. Theft becomes the least of Hugo's concerns when someone discovers a sailor's chest and the secrets hidden within, and decides that the power and money they promise are worth killing for. But when the darkness of history is unleashed, even the most ruthless and cunning are powerless to control it.

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In Pryor's engaging third Hugo Marston novel (after 2012's The Bookseller), Hugo, a regional security officer at the American embassy in Paris, is less than thrilled to learn that he must babysit Charles Lake, a U.S. senator and presidential hopeful, at the chateau of the aristocratic Tourville family outside Paris. An isolationist, Lake is an unlikely official to be charged with sensitive diplomatic negotiations between France and the U.S. regarding the French island of Guadeloupe. When Lake is drugged at dinner and claims that intruders broke into his room and searched his papers, Hugo's detective friend, Raul Garcia, discovers that one of the distinguished guests is linked to an unsolved murder. Stonewalling by the Tourvilles and subsequent killings tell Hugo that a missing antique chest may hold the key to the case. Despite some clumsy treatment of character details that are irrelevant to the plot, the cliffhanger chapter endings and an exciting chase involving the Queen Mary II liner keep the reader riveted. Agent: Ann Collette, Rees Literary Agency. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

An old sea chest full of hidden compartments contains explosive secrets from 1795 in this third Hugo Marston mystery. Marston, head of security at the American embassy in Paris, spots the chest at a country estate where he's babysitting isolationist U.S. Senator Charles Lake, a presidential hopeful, who's on a diplomatic mission. By the time the chest is linked to an unsolved burglary and murder, there have been more killings, one of them of a police officer, and Marston is working with French authorities and his friend and former FBI colleague Tom Green, who uses his CIA contacts when legitimate means are lacking. Pryor seems to have hit his stride in this series, as he adroitly juxtaposes the light banter between Marston and Green with some scenes of intense emotion, particularly those detailing Marston's heartfelt reaction to the death of a friend and those exploring a transsexual police officer's background. And, all the while, the suspense ramps up. Top-notch mystery in a skillfully delineated Parisian setting.--Leber, Michele Copyright 2010 Booklist