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Daniel Jacquot #3
Jacquot and the Angel
In the Second World War, four Resistance fighters are executed by the Gestapo in France's Occupied Southern Zone. More than fifty years later a wealthy German family, resident in Provence, is brutally murdered. When a local gardener is arrested and charged, Daniel Jacquot of the Cavaillon Regional Crime Squad is convinced they have the wrong man. Four hundred miles away, in Alsace, Marie-Ange Buhl knows it for certain. Marie-Ange is a psychic and has 'helped' the police before. She comes to Provence and begins to investigate with Jacquot, and together they uncover a secret that goes back more than half a century, a story of love and betrayal, hatred and blackmail in which his own family had a tragic part to play.
544 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
38 people are currently reading
140 people want to read
About the author
Martin O'Brien
17 books41 followersAfter graduating from Hertford College, Oxford, Martin O’Brien was Travel Editor at British Vogue for a number of years, and as a travel and life-style correspondent he has contributed to a wide range of international publications. As well as writing the Daniel Jacquot detective series ("Rich, spicy, and served up with unmistakeable relish" - The Literary Review), he has also written straight-to-paperback thrillers under the names Louka Grigoriou and Jack Drummond ("Big, high-pitched disaster novels don't come much more thrilling than this" - The Daily Mirror). Martin's books have been translated into Russian, Turkish, French, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and Hebrew. He lives in the Cotswolds with his wife and two daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
March 1, 2019
I am enjoying these books. This one was good, even though I found the Marie-Ange character a little on the Mary Poppins side, I still enjoyed her role in the story. And what's not to love about a story that takes place in Provence!
August 14, 2007
JACQUOT AND THE ANGEL (Police Proc-France-Cont) – Ex
O’Brien, Martin – 2nd in series
Headline, 2005- UK Hardcover
Chief Inspector Daniel Jacquot has a multiple murder on his hands. The four, five if you count an unborn child, members of the German Martner family living in Provence have been killed. Jacquot is to be assisted by a member of Munich Criminal Investigations as memories of WWII are long in France. But clues lead to the family’s gardener, confessed to be the baby’s father. Although the gardener is arrested, Jacquot doesn’t believe he is guilty. Neither does an attractive young woman who has come to take care of Martner’s valuable orchids and floral shop. More than a florist, Marie-Ange is a psychic who knows the gardener is innocent.
*** I loved this book. It is wonderfully written with interesting characters so well described they all become critical to the story. O’Brien takes several story threads and masterfully weaves them together with elements of pathos into a tapestry of clues, intrigue and the impact of the past on the present. His descriptions of Jacquot’s French country town made me want to pack my bag but are also a reminder that small towns around the world are virtually the same. O’Brien does a wonderful job connecting the present to the past. He has a masterfully subtle touch, particularly with the inclusion of the psychic. I anxiously await Jacquot’s next case.
O’Brien, Martin – 2nd in series
Headline, 2005- UK Hardcover
Chief Inspector Daniel Jacquot has a multiple murder on his hands. The four, five if you count an unborn child, members of the German Martner family living in Provence have been killed. Jacquot is to be assisted by a member of Munich Criminal Investigations as memories of WWII are long in France. But clues lead to the family’s gardener, confessed to be the baby’s father. Although the gardener is arrested, Jacquot doesn’t believe he is guilty. Neither does an attractive young woman who has come to take care of Martner’s valuable orchids and floral shop. More than a florist, Marie-Ange is a psychic who knows the gardener is innocent.
*** I loved this book. It is wonderfully written with interesting characters so well described they all become critical to the story. O’Brien takes several story threads and masterfully weaves them together with elements of pathos into a tapestry of clues, intrigue and the impact of the past on the present. His descriptions of Jacquot’s French country town made me want to pack my bag but are also a reminder that small towns around the world are virtually the same. O’Brien does a wonderful job connecting the present to the past. He has a masterfully subtle touch, particularly with the inclusion of the psychic. I anxiously await Jacquot’s next case.
August 25, 2016
The author captures village life beautifully in this fourth Jacquot book. He has also succeeded in staying clear of formula writing that seems to be popular for most police/detective series. Each of the four books I have read have been unique and surprisingly so - a genuine delight to the reader who wants to read more of a featured character. I am afraid to describe the plot and spoil the reading for others, so I will just say this ties back to World War II and conflicts between the Germans and French resistance. There are some brilliantly portrayed characters in this book as well as much to learn about orchids.
February 23, 2018
"Jacquot and the Angel" is his 2nd outing French inspector Daniel Jacquot. I have not read the first book, but found this one very entertaining.
May 22, 2018
The whole family of Dr. Martner a retired German dentist and an orchid connoisseur brutally killed in their own house. Daniel Jaquot, while investigating the case had the feeling that they caught the wrong guy. He needs to find out who is the killer before the gardener who they caught initially goes to trial and charged for the crime he doesn’t commit. It began during a war between France and Germany that took place in 1944. Albert, Comte de Vausigne's son was in a French defense loved by Helene and Sandrine. Helene married to Gilles de Vausigne the stepson who became frustrated as Albert was in love with Sandrine. Helene leaked the French plan to German to destroy Sandrine and the resistance group but lost Albert. Sandrine has escaped and lived. Dr. Martner who knew about it and blackmailed her then lives off the money paid to him that explained his doubtful financial status for his hothouse full of exotic orchids and expensive trips for the speciments. Another murder case happened and it too leads to de Vausigne. It is up to Daniel Jaquot and Marie Ange Buhl, a psychic to help him and to gather the evidence and caught the bad guy.
December 20, 2018
From reading the blurb I was unsure if I would enjoy this, the psychic edge to it a bit off putting (and in my opinion nonsense) but after reading it what a superb read.
A murder with roots in the Second World War 50 years earlier. A superb narrative and enjoyable cast of characters. These are becoming some of my favourite books of the year. Even the psychic edge to it was well done and I learned a nice bit about orchids, what beautiful plants.
Towards the end I had partially guessed the end but not fully.
Very enjoyable and I look forward to reading the next instalment.
A murder with roots in the Second World War 50 years earlier. A superb narrative and enjoyable cast of characters. These are becoming some of my favourite books of the year. Even the psychic edge to it was well done and I learned a nice bit about orchids, what beautiful plants.
Towards the end I had partially guessed the end but not fully.
Very enjoyable and I look forward to reading the next instalment.
May 17, 2020
Tohle je velmi dobrá detektivka a pokud si chcete odpočinout od severských, nechte se zlákat tímto šarmantním detektivem. Moc mne mrzí, že jich nebylo do češtiny přeloženo víc, protože autor má dar vykreslit atmosféru malých francouzských městeček, s napětím sledujete postupné rozkrývání motivů činu a ještě přitom dobře povečeříte přáteli
November 29, 2020
This is the first of Martin O'Brien's books I have read, and I enjoyed it. It features a French policeman, Daniel Jacquot, who is based in the Provence region, and his investigation of the murder of a prominant family. The plot is exciting and makes you want to keep reading, and I will be looking out for other books in the series.
August 8, 2024
Scintillating crime thriller from Martin O’Brien in “Jacquot and the Angel”
More at
https://medium.com/@vram45/jacquot-an...
More at
https://medium.com/@vram45/jacquot-an...
November 4, 2014
It's a multilayered story that spans half a century. It starts when a retired German dentist, his wife, their daughter and granddaughter are gunned down in their home in the Provencal countryside.
The family was reclusive, did not interact with people enough to inspire that kind of cold blooded slaughter, or so it seemed. Because they are German nationals, a German officer is sent in to assist Jacquot and his team in the investigation. The obvious suspect is the young son of the local florists, who worked in the victims' garden and was in love with the granddaughter. He is arrested, but Jacquot is not satisfied that they have the right person. There are anomalies - the dentist is a well known collector and hybridizer of orchids, with an expensive conservatory, frequent collecting trips to exotic countries, and no income to support these expenses.
He also spent the last days of WWII in the French village - as a dentist to the Nazi army. There was a Resistance group in the village that was betrayed and all but two of the group were captured and shot by the Nazis. Could there be any connection? Many of the villagers remember the incident and are still bitter.
There is another link between the War and the present. Sandrine Edde, the aunt of Jacquot's lover Claudine dies, and is discovered to be a hero of the Resistance and of the very incident that so devastated the village. The flashbacks and the details of her funeral make a rich addition to the story.
Then there is a warehouse fire - two bodies found, the local Comte and his mistress who was his wife's business partner in the warehouse business. Again, what are the connections, if any?
In the midst of all this, a young woman, Marie-Ange comes to the village to take care of the florist business during the son's trial and tend to the orchid conservatory until the heirs dispose of the stock. She has extrasensory abilities and is sure that the arrested young man is innocent. She uses her spare time to try to confirm what she has intuited, and to encourage Jacquot to keep looking at the crimes.
It's an intricate story, but O'Brien keeps all of the threads together and draws them to a very satisfactory conclusion. The connections between past and present are strong but not labored.
As with all of the books in the series, the descriptive writing is stellar. And all of the characters really shine, particularly Marie-Ange, but even the lesser ones like the occasionally helpful but frequently annoying journalist Benedict. And the amour between Jacquot and Claudine is progressing nicely - it's a treat to see a police detective who is positively uxorious without being sappy.
The family was reclusive, did not interact with people enough to inspire that kind of cold blooded slaughter, or so it seemed. Because they are German nationals, a German officer is sent in to assist Jacquot and his team in the investigation. The obvious suspect is the young son of the local florists, who worked in the victims' garden and was in love with the granddaughter. He is arrested, but Jacquot is not satisfied that they have the right person. There are anomalies - the dentist is a well known collector and hybridizer of orchids, with an expensive conservatory, frequent collecting trips to exotic countries, and no income to support these expenses.
He also spent the last days of WWII in the French village - as a dentist to the Nazi army. There was a Resistance group in the village that was betrayed and all but two of the group were captured and shot by the Nazis. Could there be any connection? Many of the villagers remember the incident and are still bitter.
There is another link between the War and the present. Sandrine Edde, the aunt of Jacquot's lover Claudine dies, and is discovered to be a hero of the Resistance and of the very incident that so devastated the village. The flashbacks and the details of her funeral make a rich addition to the story.
Then there is a warehouse fire - two bodies found, the local Comte and his mistress who was his wife's business partner in the warehouse business. Again, what are the connections, if any?
In the midst of all this, a young woman, Marie-Ange comes to the village to take care of the florist business during the son's trial and tend to the orchid conservatory until the heirs dispose of the stock. She has extrasensory abilities and is sure that the arrested young man is innocent. She uses her spare time to try to confirm what she has intuited, and to encourage Jacquot to keep looking at the crimes.
It's an intricate story, but O'Brien keeps all of the threads together and draws them to a very satisfactory conclusion. The connections between past and present are strong but not labored.
As with all of the books in the series, the descriptive writing is stellar. And all of the characters really shine, particularly Marie-Ange, but even the lesser ones like the occasionally helpful but frequently annoying journalist Benedict. And the amour between Jacquot and Claudine is progressing nicely - it's a treat to see a police detective who is positively uxorious without being sappy.
January 31, 2009
ok, so.. Quaint french location called Provence:
Germany family gets murdered - enter our hero inspector Daniel Jacquot
after a couple of pages, they arrest the gardener of the German family for the murder on account of his having been in love with their daughter. Frenchie cops think she rejected him and he got pissed
In a village far far away (or not so far away) another girl Marie-Ange (who is the "Angel" in Jacquot and the Angel) with special powers sees garden boy in the newspapers and the voices in her head tell her they have the wrong guy. So she beings snail mailing inspector Daniel that they have the wrong guy.
Cut to a couple of months later and ESP girl decides she needs to take a closer look at the case and so arrives at Provence
After having charmed everyone with her angelic qualities, she begins a bit o sleuthiness. Meanwhile, our inspector extraordinaire also realises they may have the wrong guy and beings some looking into by himself.
I need to read something when i'm eating, and this book was there in my time of need. Its quite an okay read. I don't know what else to say about it.
Germany family gets murdered - enter our hero inspector Daniel Jacquot
after a couple of pages, they arrest the gardener of the German family for the murder on account of his having been in love with their daughter. Frenchie cops think she rejected him and he got pissed
In a village far far away (or not so far away) another girl Marie-Ange (who is the "Angel" in Jacquot and the Angel) with special powers sees garden boy in the newspapers and the voices in her head tell her they have the wrong guy. So she beings snail mailing inspector Daniel that they have the wrong guy.
Cut to a couple of months later and ESP girl decides she needs to take a closer look at the case and so arrives at Provence
After having charmed everyone with her angelic qualities, she begins a bit o sleuthiness. Meanwhile, our inspector extraordinaire also realises they may have the wrong guy and beings some looking into by himself.
I need to read something when i'm eating, and this book was there in my time of need. Its quite an okay read. I don't know what else to say about it.
August 18, 2011
Several generations of a German family that have been quietly living in Provence are gunned down in their home. They have been very secretive and unfriendly so the investigation into their death proceeds slowly. Chief Inspector Daniel Jacquot is asked to work along side a German comrade to untangle the mystery of these deaths. Before long a somewhat slow gardener is charged with the crime but there are clues that indicate hidden depths to this situation as well as threads that go back to the past when the olds in the village were young.
November 4, 2011
First Jacquot book that I've read and did enjoy it. Primarily a police procedural, set in 1990s France, starting with the deaths of 3 generations of Germans, the eldest generation having been involved in the Occupation of France during WW2. Investigations are made interesting by the arrival of the attracive Marie-Ange who has her own way of investigating things. Then more deaths occur and it's up to Jacquot to sort out the links and ensure that the wrong man doesnt get jailed for the crimes
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October 31, 2012Enjoyed this thoroughly - the slight weakness in plot (a conclusion which could have been better handled) was made up for by the characterisation throughout. O'Brien really captures the essence of the Provence area he writes about, both in the scenery he describes and in the people who populate his books. I especially loved the central female character and hope she gets to make another appearance in the next one...
April 3, 2015
I preferred this book to the previous 'Waterman' one. This is a police procedural set in France and the odd characters and sense of place are well done. The main detective is a former rugby player who is decent enough and follows through to find a killer.
December 22, 2013
Wanted to give four star, but the first half of the story is vague and lot of french words. If you get the patience and flip the pages until the character Marie enters, then you won't put the book down
February 1, 2011
it's a amazing book.Though a little boring in the begining it gains momentum with the entry of Marie-Ange.
May 12, 2011
So not my type.
July 3, 2012
it was confusing first few pages and it just take you in, but as the story progresses it reveals itself into a really good thriller.
July 20, 2013
The first half, I had to hold on to novel...trying to keep on the momentum. As the characters get introduced and the plot thickens, the later half the novel held me ! Good one !
August 5, 2013
fabulous read
August 10, 2013
Best in the series so far.
November 17, 2013
Good crime read - intriguing light read, very evocative of Provence & interesting maquis info
June 13, 2015
An above-average whodunit, with the protagonist being an aging hippie policeman.
November 11, 2015
Really good detective story... I liked the french backdrop of the book very much...
The air of intrigue and mystery surrounding Marie's character makes the book even more interesting...
The air of intrigue and mystery surrounding Marie's character makes the book even more interesting...
April 29, 2014
Really enjoy his books - he spends a lot of time describing the characters and their surroundings
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews