About this item
Someone is spying on American author Helen Hancock. While in Paris to conduct research and teach a small class of writers, she discovers a spy camera hidden in her room at the Sorbonne Hotel. She notifies the US Embassy, and former FBI profiler Hugo Marston is dispatched to investigate. Almost immediately, the stakes are raised from surveillance to murder when the hotel employee who appears to be responsible for bugging Hancock's suite is found dead. The next day, a salacious video clip explodes across the Internet, showing the author in the embrace of one of her writing students - both are naked, and nothing is left to the imagination. As more bodies pile up, the list of suspects narrows; but everyone at the Sorbonne Hotel has something to hide, and no one is being fully honest with Hugo. He teams up with Lieutenant Camille Lerens to solve the case, but a close call on the streets of Paris proves that he could be the killer's next target.
About the Author
Mark Pryor is the author of the eight (soon to be nine!) Hugo Marston mystery novels, six of which are set in Paris, France, but also feature London and Barcelona. The books have been translated into eight languages and the film and television rights were recently optioned to Like Entertainment, with a view to putting Hugo on the screen!Mark also authored two psychological thrillers set in Austin, Texas, where he lives. HOLLOW MAN and its sequel, DOMINIC, received high praise from reviewers:"[Hollow Man's] Dominic is not your grandmother's psychopath. . . . This noirish twisty tale will appeal to those who enjoy Jeff Lindsay's Dexter series, Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, and Pryor's own Sherlockian international thriller series starring Hugo Marston." - BOOKLIST, STARRED REVIEW "Devilishly clever ... As the mishaps escalate for the conspirators, so does the suspense, culminating in a denouement worthy of the neo-noir film classic The Usual Suspects." - PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, STARRED REVIEW"Pryor's exquisite stand-alone is a gem. . . ." -- RT BOOK REVIEWS, 4 ½ stars (Fantastic - Keeper) "Pryor's skillful narrative crystallizes in the best possible way, in the novel's last sentence. Pryor ... can write realistically about the mind of a psychopath. Maybe that is useful for an assistant district attorney. It certainly is for a murder mystery writer." -- San Antonio Express-News"Dominic goes into action, pulling several diabolical tricks that solve the murders, simultaneously confirming Dominic's own status as a psychopath in a clever book that has a significant number of puzzles and an equal list of tantalizing answers." -- Toronto StarA former newspaper reporter from England, and now an assistant district attorney with the Travis County District Attorney's Office, in Austin, Texas, he is the creator of the nationally-recognized true-crime blog D.A. Confidential. He has appeared on CBS News's 48 Hours and Discovery Channel's Discovery ID: Cold Blood. THE BOOKSELLER was his first Hugo Marston novel and upon release was Library Journal's Debut of the Month with a starred review. RT Book Reviews called it "a fantastic debut!" and gave it 4 and 1/2 stars, and Oprah.com listed it as an "unputdownable mystery." His second in the series, THE CRYPT THIEF, was released in May of 2013 and reviewers said:"[G]ood character development, increasing levels of action and suspense, a complex and deranged antagonist, and - once again - appealing Paris settings. The Hugo Marston series now belongs on every espionage fan's watch list." - Booklist"Haunting imagery in Père La Chaise cemetery sets the stage for Pryor's chilling sophomore entry, and the City of Light becomes a backdrop for Marston's adventures. The clever antagonist leads him on a merry chase that will keep the reader entertained throughout." - RT Book Re
