The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn’t say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up – to find a very nice apartment, could Ben really have afforded this? – he’s not there.

The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother’s situation, and the more questions she has. Ben’s neighbors are an eclectic bunch, and not particularly friendly. Jess may have come to Paris to escape her past, but it’s starting to look like it’s Ben’s future that’s in question.

The socialite – The nice guy – The alcoholic – The girl on the verge – The concierge

Everyone’s a neighbor. Everyone’s a suspect. And everyone knows something they’re not telling.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Guest List comes a new locked room mystery, set in a Paris apartment building in which every resident has something to hide…

Paperback, 368 pages

Published February 22, 2022

 by William Morrow

4/5 stars

This book has been on my shelf since it’s release back in 2022. Sometimes you need a little extra push with certain books and while there was no reason why I didn’t start this. It is the fact that in a few short weeks I will be meeting Lucy Foley at an event here in Canada.

The book begins with a chapter that grabbed my attention right away. And then what follows is a cast of characters and their various points of view. When Ben's sister comes to town and cannot locate him she sets out on a quest find out what happened.

There’s so many aspects to the story that kept me guessing, suspicious of pretty much everyone. The twist and turns kept me on my toes with an ending that was not anticipated at all.  The Pairs Apartment is a well written puzzle where all the pieces come together nicely in the end. I should have listened to the hype and read this sooner so that I can now go through her backlist and see what I have been missing.

This book was about 2024 reading off my shelf challenge.

Review: The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

Everyone's invited. Everyone's a suspect.

All of them are friends. One of them is a killer.

During the languid days of the Christmas break, a group of thirtysomething friends from Oxford meet to welcome in the New Year together, a tradition they began as students ten years ago. For this vacation, they’ve chosen an idyllic and isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands—the perfect place to get away and unwind by themselves.

They arrive on December 30th, just before a historic blizzard seals the lodge off from the outside world.

Two days later, on New Year’s Day, one of them is dead.

The trip began innocently enough: admiring the stunning if foreboding scenery, champagne in front of a crackling fire, and reminiscences about the past. But after a decade, the weight of secret resentments has grown too heavy for the group’s tenuous nostalgia to bear. Amid the boisterous revelry of New Year’s Eve, the cord holding them together snaps.

Now one of them is dead . . . and another of them did it.

Keep your friends close, the old adage goes. But just how close is too close?

Paperback, 352 pages

Published March 3rd 2020 

by William Morrow Paperbacks

3.5/5 stars

Sounds like a great time together with friends right? Hummm..when I first started reading I thought to list who was who to whom etc., but it actually wasn’t hard to keep the relationships straight. Aside from each chapter telling who the narrative was coming from I got to know the players.

What can I say, the guests were a superficial group of friends that left me wondering how they could be friends. A mixed bag of personalities which just added to the mystery.

For me this was a slow burn suspense mystery. The setting was cold as well as some personalities and I felt it. There were many red herrings that kept me stumped for the longest time and the ending wasn’t what I expected but it worked with everything clicking into place.

Lucy Foley is a new author for me, The Guest List promises to be another winner, which I already have in my TBR pile.

My copy was part of my '2020 reading off my shelf challenge' and obtained from my Spring Thriller Box by the fine folks at SweetReadsBox