Salamander

The investigative team of St-Cyr of the Surete and Kohler of the Gestapo is sent to Lyon to catch the arsonist who set a fire in a crowded cinema. One hundred and eighty three Frenchmen and women from all walks of life are dead. Is the crime linked to the Resistance, several of whose members were trapped in the flames? Or is there a pyromaniac at large who kills for sexual thrills and release? St-Cyr and Kohler face their most difficult challenge as they take on the case of the firebug who has been given the name of Salamander.

Reseñas (4)

Reseña de Publisher's Weekly

Sandman, the previous title in Canadian author Janes's series about an unlikely team of detectives in Occupied France, was chosen by both PW and the New York Times as one of the best mysteries of 1997. This new titleÄonly the fourth to appear here but actually written in 1994 and one of nine books in the series already published in EnglandÄis equally compelling. Chief Inspector Jean-Louis St-Cyr of the French Sret and Inspector Hermann Kohler, attached to the Gestapo in Paris, arrive in Lyon on the day before Christmas, 1942. They are investigating an arson fire in a movie house that has killed 183 peopleÄmany of them railway workers gathered to watch Jean Renoir's La Bte humaine. "They were a pair, these two detectives," a Nazi officer observes. "St-Cyr was a patriot and therefore untrustworthy; Kohler a doubter of Germanic invincibility. They'd been in trouble with the SS far too many times." And indeed, the two cops quickly raise the hackles of Lyon's top NazisÄincluding ambitious Obersturmfhrer Klaus BarbieÄas they search for an arsonist known as Salamander who has struck at least three times previously. As in previous books in the series, sexÄtwisted and perverted by the timesÄplays a large part in the investigation. One example of Janes's artistry: in a city starved for food, he spends three richly ironic pages describing the remains of a Christmas Eve feast in an exclusive bordello without slowing down the action or lessening the power of his terrible vision of a world full of large and small crimes. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Kirkus Review

Two days before Christmas 1942, some 450 citizens of Lyon crowd into the local cinema to watch La Bête humainea little proletarian crime drama to take their minds off the war. And before the film is over, a fire has claimed the lives of 183 of them. Visiting fire chief Karl Johann Weidling tells the investigating officers called in from Paris, the Surêtés Jean-Louis St-Cyr and the Gestapo's Hermann Kohler, that the fire has all the earmarks of the work of the Salamander, who set three smaller blazes in prewar Germany before hitting the jackpot in Lyon. Despite the horrifying numbers of the deadincluding the bishop's personal secretary, a priest adorned with a suspiciously valuable bejewelled crossKohler and St-Cyr are drawn to three other casualties who weren't even in the theater: Madeleine Aurelle, found dead in the apartment behind the theater; and Claudine Bertrand and her mother, gassed in La Belle Époque, the neighboring brothel. It's Claudine, in fact, whose ``very special'' perversion holds the key to the case. But each of the leading suspects, as in Janes's three previous Occupation mysteries (Sandman, 1997, etc.), has close enough ties to sinister higher powers--in this case, to Klaus Barbie, of the Hotel Terminus--to keep the atmosphere alternately ablaze and achill. The most brilliantly unsettling of this fine series to date.

Reseña de Booklist

As premises go, this one is about as odd as they come. In German-occupied France, in the middle of World War II, a Gestapo officer and a French detective team up to solve crimes. Janes' fourth Jean-Louis St-Cyr and Hermann Kohler novel is a gritty, gruesome, and entirely captivating mystery. Someone has set fire to a movie theater, killing 183 patrons. Was the arsonist the mysterious "Salamander," responsible for several previous fires, or was this an unrelated blaze, designed to cover up a rather nasty murder? Readers will enjoy following the unlikely pair of sleuths as they sort out legitimate clues from false leads. They'll also enjoy the lighthearted (but politically charged) verbal sparring between the pair--men who should be the bitterest of enemies but who are, against all odds, slowly becoming the best of friends. An exceedingly clever novel that should appeal to World War II buffs as well as mystery readers. --David Pitt

Library Journal Review

In another installment of Janes's mystery series set in France during the German Occupation (e.g., Stone Killer, LJ 5/1/97), Detectives Jean-Louis St-Cyr of the French Surêté and Hermann Kohler, a Gestapo agent, seek an arsonist who has set a devastating fire in a crowded movie theater just before Christmas. The evidence resembles that from previous fires and points clearly to a serial killer. The detectives pursue his trail through the backstreets of Lyon and the brothels, tenements, and cathedrals as they try to piece together the relationships among the arsonist's prey before another fire is set. As in his previous novels, Janes creates a distinct picture of the decadence and dissolution of Nazi-occupied France, focusing on the victims as well as the oppressors. Even St-Cyr and Kohler mistrust each other, and their complicated dance to solve the crime without giving any advantage to the other is interesting to watch. The reader should be cautioned that there are graphic descriptions of sex and violence. Recommended for public libraries, especially those that own previous novels in the series.Kathy Sorci, IIT Research Inst., Annapolis, MD (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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