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St. Cyr & Kohler #1
Mayhem
December 1942. The body of a bicyclist is found on a deserted road in the Forest of Fontainebleau. A Resistance execution is suspected, and the Germans want the killer found within two days, or else. This is the debut adventure of St-Cyr and Kohler, originally published in the United States as Mirage.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
45 people are currently reading
298 people want to read
About the author
J. Robert Janes
33 books20 followersJ. Robert Janes is a mystery author best known for writing historical thrillers. Born in Toronto, he holds degrees in mining and geology, and worked as an engineer, university professor, and textbook author before he began writing fiction. In 1992, Janes published Mayhem, the first in the long-running St-Cyr and Kohler series for which he is best known. These police procedurals set in Nazi-occupied France have been praised for the author’s attention to historical detail, as well as their swift-moving plots.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
July 11, 2012
I have long been a fan of this series, so am delighted that not only have they been released on kindle, but that there is a new book announced after a long wait. Jean-Louis St-Cyr is a detective in occupied Paris, discovering burning files when the Gestapo roll in. Despite this, he is allowed to continue his work and is now partnered with German detective Hermann Kohler. They are partners, but not equals, as Kohler has control of St-Cyr's weapon and, which probably rankles more, his car.
These books take the interesting premise of who investigated crimes during wartime and when the body of a young boy is found in a forest, the two are sent to solve the murder. St-Cyr thinks it is a crime of passion, but there are complications - the discovery of a handbag containing diamonds and the interest from Berlin about what seems "a nothing little murder". What complicates matters even more are the missing negative of a crime scene photograph showing the two detectives together, when the Resistance is looking for evidence of complicity with the enemy. As the two detectives track the crime from a nightclub, to a chateau, to an abbey and there is involvement from the SS, the Gestapo and the army, it is seems this crime may lead the detectives directly to the Russian front, in Kohler's case, or forced labour in that of St-Cyr.
There are several books in this series, the next being Carousel: A St-Cyr and Kohler Mystery. Each novel leads on to the next and they are best read in order, in my opinion. These are not easy reads - they are often quite complicated and hard to unravel. If you like the author's style, then you will find yourself immersed in his world, but if you do not then you might find the novels simply confusing and long winded. As these are on kindle, I would suggest taking advantage of the ability to download a sample and try reading a few pages before buying the book. Hopefully, you will like these novels as much as I do, as they are something quite unique and I am delighted to find them available again after being out of print for too long.
These books take the interesting premise of who investigated crimes during wartime and when the body of a young boy is found in a forest, the two are sent to solve the murder. St-Cyr thinks it is a crime of passion, but there are complications - the discovery of a handbag containing diamonds and the interest from Berlin about what seems "a nothing little murder". What complicates matters even more are the missing negative of a crime scene photograph showing the two detectives together, when the Resistance is looking for evidence of complicity with the enemy. As the two detectives track the crime from a nightclub, to a chateau, to an abbey and there is involvement from the SS, the Gestapo and the army, it is seems this crime may lead the detectives directly to the Russian front, in Kohler's case, or forced labour in that of St-Cyr.
There are several books in this series, the next being Carousel: A St-Cyr and Kohler Mystery. Each novel leads on to the next and they are best read in order, in my opinion. These are not easy reads - they are often quite complicated and hard to unravel. If you like the author's style, then you will find yourself immersed in his world, but if you do not then you might find the novels simply confusing and long winded. As these are on kindle, I would suggest taking advantage of the ability to download a sample and try reading a few pages before buying the book. Hopefully, you will like these novels as much as I do, as they are something quite unique and I am delighted to find them available again after being out of print for too long.
May 28, 2017
I have not read this series before so I thought I'd start at the beginning. A young man is found dead in a forest, his head caved in, possibly by a rock when he fell off his bike or so the local police would like to believe. Our intrepid duo are not so easily fooled and it soon becomes a complicated murder investigation.
This novel is set in 1942 during the German occupation of France so nothing is as it seems. St Cyr is a French detective but he is partnered with a German Gestapo officer, Kohler who was formerly a German detective ( I think all detectives were forced to join the Gestapo in the late 30s or lose their job) so it is a very strange partnership where they like but cannot trust each other as they have differing loyalties. Add in to this mix the infighting between the various German factions (mostly the army v the SS) and their French counterparts and it's every man for himself. Until I got in to the book I found the writing style quite difficult as nothing seemed explicit and it was all done by inference, except it was hard to grasp what the inference was but once I got it I thought Mayhem was a good read.
I don't know much about occupied France but I think Mr Janes has the tone correct and assume the detail as well. It seems to have been a terrible thing to live through with all the fear, constant mistrust and suspicion, not to mention the cold and hunger and I liked this book for broadening my knowledge. I'm now going to read the other books in the series (not all at once) and hope that they are as rewarding as Mayhem.
This novel is set in 1942 during the German occupation of France so nothing is as it seems. St Cyr is a French detective but he is partnered with a German Gestapo officer, Kohler who was formerly a German detective ( I think all detectives were forced to join the Gestapo in the late 30s or lose their job) so it is a very strange partnership where they like but cannot trust each other as they have differing loyalties. Add in to this mix the infighting between the various German factions (mostly the army v the SS) and their French counterparts and it's every man for himself. Until I got in to the book I found the writing style quite difficult as nothing seemed explicit and it was all done by inference, except it was hard to grasp what the inference was but once I got it I thought Mayhem was a good read.
I don't know much about occupied France but I think Mr Janes has the tone correct and assume the detail as well. It seems to have been a terrible thing to live through with all the fear, constant mistrust and suspicion, not to mention the cold and hunger and I liked this book for broadening my knowledge. I'm now going to read the other books in the series (not all at once) and hope that they are as rewarding as Mayhem.
August 21, 2019
Soho Press publishing house that specializes in International Best Sellers or books with a foreign setting., such as this series. J. Robert Janes has set his mysteries in France during the German Occupation. French resistance, Gestapo and the Black Market all need to be in play while St. Cry, French Detective and Kohler, a Munich policeman must solve a crime of a young monk and his sister. A very different type of tale told in a very different writing style
January 27, 2019
This terrific crime noir is the first in a series set in Occupied France and featuring two detectives--one Surete, one Gestapo. Like the way Jane refuses to make every move and thought clear. He challenges and trusts the reader to keep up.
May 20, 2018
I struggled with this book. None of the character introduction I am used to. Just had to figure it out as i went along
January 1, 2024
Thoughtful plot set against a bucolic backdrop in a nazi occupied France marked by intriguing chemistry between the two protagonist sharing an unlikely bond and a poignant ending...... yet somehow it is a laborious read.....is it the awkward prose or the magnitude of the unfamiliarity of the world described.... don't know
December 14, 2017
How the French Surêté and the German Gestapo worked together
in France during WWII.
in France during WWII.
December 29, 2020
This one for me is between two and three stars, rounded up because it is the first book of a new series and first books of a new series often have bugs to work out. This one for me also took way too long to read. Generally, if I take a while to read a book it is either because the book is rich, thought- and/or emotion-provoking, and I am taking time to chew it over and savour it; or it is because I am not getting into all that well. This book is the latter...
Another reason I found this book too long to read is that Janes quite frequently jumps into one of his character's thoughts with no indication that is what he is doing (often writers, for example, use italics for thoughts). To complicate the matter, sometimes these thoughts are spoken out loud and sometimes not, and sometimes the other characters react whether or not the thought was out loud, and again, no indication of which because even the quotation marks are spotty in their use. So, I figured out I was reading much of this book twice because I had to keep going back to re-read parts to try to discern what was going on. Finally, I decided to read it the way I read books in my less-fluent languages, just go with it, aim to understand the overall story, and stop being bothered by the smaller details. In this way, I did get through it and discovered that the story, while somewhat convoluted, especially at the end, was not bad.
So, overall, this book took some reading but not in a good way. That said, the story was not bad and there is some probability that I will read the second book in the series to see where it goes.
Another reason I found this book too long to read is that Janes quite frequently jumps into one of his character's thoughts with no indication that is what he is doing (often writers, for example, use italics for thoughts). To complicate the matter, sometimes these thoughts are spoken out loud and sometimes not, and sometimes the other characters react whether or not the thought was out loud, and again, no indication of which because even the quotation marks are spotty in their use. So, I figured out I was reading much of this book twice because I had to keep going back to re-read parts to try to discern what was going on. Finally, I decided to read it the way I read books in my less-fluent languages, just go with it, aim to understand the overall story, and stop being bothered by the smaller details. In this way, I did get through it and discovered that the story, while somewhat convoluted, especially at the end, was not bad.
So, overall, this book took some reading but not in a good way. That said, the story was not bad and there is some probability that I will read the second book in the series to see where it goes.
October 31, 2018
Tedious is a good description. I only made it half way through. The author has a most annoying---to me---habit of starting almost every sentence spoken by a French person with the word Me. As in, "me, I prefer novels with a more believable plot". This one throws in everything but the kitchen sink. I have read many, many books about occupied France, the Resistance, spies, and a serial killer that operated in Paris during the occupation (Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris) and this book did not seem authentic IMO. I was hoping for more details about the interconnections between the French Gestapo, the criminal gangs like the Bonny-Lafont gang, and the aforementioned serial killer (who operated remarkably like the one in Devil in the White City).
October 25, 2020
1942 France: A police procedural with a German and a French detective partnering to investigate ordinary crimes in a criminal time, a theme explored also by Philip Kerr and Ben Pastor. The death of a beautiful boy has consequences that reach to Berlin and involve a noble family, wine growing monks, the Resistance, Paris fashion world and cabaret society, a disappearing corpse, a sex scandal, blackmail, and the rivalry between the German authorities; as well there are the domestic travails of St Cyr and his faithless wife. It’s over complicated, in other words, and also a bit over written: too many interior monologues and verbal tics (“ah mon Dieu” does a lot of work) to indicate Frenchness. “Mirage” would have been a better title.
September 9, 2020
This first novel introducing the team of a Surete Detective Inspector and a Gestapo agent former police inspector in peacetime Germany delivered on my expectations after discovering one of their later adventures in a used. bookstore. Following along as they make the best of their forced partnership, and an emerging rather grudging friendship, is an entertaining ride. Facing potential and real threats from the French Resistance and a myriad of German rival agencies and power centers, it can be a tough ride. My deepest secret and likely to be unfulfilled wish would be for an encounter with my favorite Berliner, Bernie Gunther.
October 3, 2017
As tedious a novel as I've ever read. The dialogue is so broken the story gets lost only to pick up again making one wonder if something was left out or missed. The author writes in an exhausting style. I won't add any more in this series to my reading list. The headache I got from plodding through Mayhem probably won't go away fast enough.
April 16, 2022
Tried getting into the story as it’s an intriguing concept - a French inspector and a Gestapo member who must team up to solve crime in occupied Paris. The obstacle for me was that the writing was choppy and shifted between scenes without visual clues. Maybe this was the fault of layout in a digital edition, but it put me off the book.
July 3, 2023
Rating 3.5 The premise of this mystery series is intriguing: in occupied Paris, a detective from the Surete is paired with a former German detective, now with the Gestapo, to investigate a murder in the Fontainbleu Woods. These improbable partners form an uneasy alliance, neither fully trusting the other at first. The crime itself is rather convoluted, but ultimately a good read.
February 16, 2021
An entirely new - for me, anyway - setting for a mystery novel - France during WWII. Partners St. Cyr, who is French, and Kohler, who is German. Both are detectives first, so they make their unlikely partnership work.
September 19, 2017
The main characters were very...complicated.
March 5, 2020
Really didn’t like it very much. Characters were fine but the plot dragged.
Read
April 6, 2025Love the series. This one I have read twice
November 23, 2025
Paris 1942. French police St. Cyr and Bavarian detective Kohler investigate the death of a young man. But he will only be the first. But by whom and why.
An interesting historical mystery
An interesting historical mystery
January 18, 2015
While reading this novel I wondered why it is called Mayhem not Mirage, which ties in to the story more effectively, in my view, then I discover the latter was in fact its original title, so why the switch?
By far the most engaging aspect of the novel is the carefully developed relationship between Jean-Louis St-Cyr of the Sûreté and his officially assigned partner, the Bavarian Hermann Kohler, an investigator with the Gestapo. They must navigate treacherous waters solving murders together under threat of the Russian Front for Kohler and a Silesian salt mine for St-Cyr if their resolution doesn't please higher ups in Berlin, who have taken a surprising interest in an apparently insignificant murder investigation.
To be honest, the crime aspect of the story didn't interest me nearly as much as getting to know St-Cyr and Kohler. I guessed where the story was going fairly early on but that did not spoil my enjoyment because the novel is character led more than plot driven. If the mystery element to a story is paramount for you then maybe you won't enjoy the book as much, though Janes manages to keep everything very tense and interesting (even if you are not always exactly sure what is going on), and the pace is good, a real page-turner. St-Cyr and Kohler, despite being on opposing sides, share a common desire to get to the truth and are both decent, honourable men in a world ruled by dishonesty, deception, back-stabbing and vengeance.
Janes does a marvelous job creating the morally ambiguous atmosphere of German Occupied France, a time of considerable hardship for the general population with people doing what they could to survive despite the constant danger of informers. Those such as St-Cyr forced to work under German command face the threat of Resistance retaliation for being seen to collaborate with the Nazis. Kohler knows the Germans are losing the war and has no more sympathy with Nazis than the French.
As the first in a series, then, Mayhem understandably spends a lot of time building its main characters and developing the complicated strands of their relationship: St-Cyr, who outranks Kohler, earns considerably less, and to rub salt into the wounds the German has been allocated St-Cyr's beloved Citroen motor and given charge of his gun.
I have to say the writing style can be annoying, the way POV switches between St-Cyr and Kohler (and other characters), sometimes from one paragraph to the next and within a 'scene' so you get confused as to whose 'head' you are meant to be in and who is speaking at any one time...probably explains why Janes feels the need to give readers a clue by interjecting Mon dieu! or Gott im himmel!, which made me think of boys' comics I read growing up in the 60s. Also, Janes mixes interior thoughts and spoken dialogue, again leading to confusion as they say one thing aloud and think another, which is illuminating but requires close attention. However, I enjoyed the novel despite these stylistic flaws and will definitely read the rest of the St-Cyr & Kohler series to find out how their partnership develops as the war goes on.
By far the most engaging aspect of the novel is the carefully developed relationship between Jean-Louis St-Cyr of the Sûreté and his officially assigned partner, the Bavarian Hermann Kohler, an investigator with the Gestapo. They must navigate treacherous waters solving murders together under threat of the Russian Front for Kohler and a Silesian salt mine for St-Cyr if their resolution doesn't please higher ups in Berlin, who have taken a surprising interest in an apparently insignificant murder investigation.
To be honest, the crime aspect of the story didn't interest me nearly as much as getting to know St-Cyr and Kohler. I guessed where the story was going fairly early on but that did not spoil my enjoyment because the novel is character led more than plot driven. If the mystery element to a story is paramount for you then maybe you won't enjoy the book as much, though Janes manages to keep everything very tense and interesting (even if you are not always exactly sure what is going on), and the pace is good, a real page-turner. St-Cyr and Kohler, despite being on opposing sides, share a common desire to get to the truth and are both decent, honourable men in a world ruled by dishonesty, deception, back-stabbing and vengeance.
Janes does a marvelous job creating the morally ambiguous atmosphere of German Occupied France, a time of considerable hardship for the general population with people doing what they could to survive despite the constant danger of informers. Those such as St-Cyr forced to work under German command face the threat of Resistance retaliation for being seen to collaborate with the Nazis. Kohler knows the Germans are losing the war and has no more sympathy with Nazis than the French.
As the first in a series, then, Mayhem understandably spends a lot of time building its main characters and developing the complicated strands of their relationship: St-Cyr, who outranks Kohler, earns considerably less, and to rub salt into the wounds the German has been allocated St-Cyr's beloved Citroen motor and given charge of his gun.
I have to say the writing style can be annoying, the way POV switches between St-Cyr and Kohler (and other characters), sometimes from one paragraph to the next and within a 'scene' so you get confused as to whose 'head' you are meant to be in and who is speaking at any one time...probably explains why Janes feels the need to give readers a clue by interjecting Mon dieu! or Gott im himmel!, which made me think of boys' comics I read growing up in the 60s. Also, Janes mixes interior thoughts and spoken dialogue, again leading to confusion as they say one thing aloud and think another, which is illuminating but requires close attention. However, I enjoyed the novel despite these stylistic flaws and will definitely read the rest of the St-Cyr & Kohler series to find out how their partnership develops as the war goes on.
January 30, 2010
This year I once again went to a particular booksale and purchased a Soho Crime novel set in Paris during WWII. Mayhem is a much better book than Murder in the Marais because its characters are well drawn and its plot is clear. Janes provides a dark and fascinating ride as we accompany the French inspector, Louis St-Cyr, and his German partner, Hermann Kohler, from the Gestapo. Not entirely trusting each other, but equally put upon by the competing German powers (SS, Army, Gestapo) they are investigating a murder that has generated interest in Berlin. Mostly we follow St-Cyr, but Janes lets us into Kohler's thoughts and also lets us see briefly the thinking of other characters. The two detectives are likable characters and their appreciation for one another only grows as the book proceeds. Quite enjoyable for all its mayhem.
February 7, 2010
Discovering Soho Crime novels opened up a new and pleasurable reading world for me. Cara Black and now R. Robert Janes. And there are others to investigate.
The first in the St-Cyr and Kohler series, Mayhem, is promising. Pairing a member of the Surete and a Munich-detective-turned-Gestapo in Occupied Paris provides an interesting look at history, murder, and an unlikely and sometimes surprisingly humorous friendship.
It took me awhile to sort things out - the competition and uneasy alliance between the Gestapo and the SS, the Resistance and its search for collaborators, the Parisians forced to work and live in a city they love and no longer own.
I thought the book should have been called "Mirage," but given all the twists and false leads perhaps "Mayhem" is appropriate.
The first in the St-Cyr and Kohler series, Mayhem, is promising. Pairing a member of the Surete and a Munich-detective-turned-Gestapo in Occupied Paris provides an interesting look at history, murder, and an unlikely and sometimes surprisingly humorous friendship.
It took me awhile to sort things out - the competition and uneasy alliance between the Gestapo and the SS, the Resistance and its search for collaborators, the Parisians forced to work and live in a city they love and no longer own.
I thought the book should have been called "Mirage," but given all the twists and false leads perhaps "Mayhem" is appropriate.
May 15, 2018
The writing took a bit to get used to. Run on sentences and sentences that seemed to jump around in subject matter made it difficult to always tell what was being conveyed. Either the writing improved or I got acclimated to it. But there were also jumps in logic. There seemed to be no reason why the detectives jumped to a couple of assumptions, one that proved to be correct, and one not. Also, all the levels of the Gestapo and the French police were not easy to follow. If you just go with it and figure getting on the wrong side of any of them could have really bad consequences the story makes sense without really following the specifics. The portrayal of life in occupied France was the novel's strength.
December 11, 2023
I enjoy the way this series captures the wartime period under Nazi domination. I’m reading them through for the second time.
There’s lots of ‘real history’ wrapped up in these police procedurals. Janes has done a wonderful job researching the background for his stories.
It is helpful to read the series in order because references are made to plots in earlier novels
There’s lots of ‘real history’ wrapped up in these police procedurals. Janes has done a wonderful job researching the background for his stories.
It is helpful to read the series in order because references are made to plots in earlier novels
February 7, 2022
Set during the WWII, in France, the unlikely detective pair of a German and a French policeman, makes for an amusing team. The fine line between collaboration and resistance is explored through the investigation of a couple of murders, and the involvement of a French aristocrat and the German high command.
June 12, 2013
This book left me confused too often and I didn't like the characters whom I found to be more pathetic than sympathetic. Didn't finish the book, a rarity for me especially when reading a mystery. But I really didn't care who did it.
February 17, 2016
Started it on the subway. Good premise: set during WWII-occupied Paris with a French Surete policeman and a German gestapo cop working together. But it just didn't grab me. Life is too short. Up next, a history of desk accessories. That suits my mood.
March 4, 2010
First of the St-Cyr/Kohler Occupied France mysteries.
May 20, 2013
An entertaining read with interesting characters. I'd read another.
December 28, 2013
WWII mystery. French detective and German detective try to work together. Interesting, a little hard to follow. I should try another of the series.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews