City of Light

City of Mystery #2

by Kim Wright

Set amid the glamour of Paris on the brink of La Belle Époque, City of Light is a tale of murder, mystery, and masks where no one is quite what they seem…City of Light, the second book in the City of Mystery series, opens in 1889 Paris on the eve of the Exposition Universelle, the ultimate World’s Fair which debuted Edison’s phonograph, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, and the Eiffel Tower. Detective Rayley Abrams has traveled from Scotland Yard to France to study the new science of forensics with the Parisian police. Lonely and awkward, Rayley easily falls under the spell of a beautiful British expatriate named Isabel Blout, a woman with a murky past and suspicious social connections. Paris may be abuzz with excitement, but there are also rumors that the Exposition is running out of money and that Eiffel may not finish his celebrated tower in time for the opening day celebrations. The French police are so eager to present a perfect image to the eyes of the world that when a most unusual victim washes up on the banks of the Seine, they literally keep the murder under wraps. Back in London, Queen Victoria has rewarded Rayley’s friend and rival, Trevor Welles, for his work on the Jack the Ripper case by naming him head of Scotland Yard’s first forensics unit. Trevor scrambles to assemble his team: Tom Bainbridge, an aristocratic young medical student, Emma Kelly, sister of the Ripper’s last victim, and Davy Mabrey, a bobby with profound common sense and a knack for earning the trust of witnesses. The unit is investigating a raid on a male brothel when an alarming telegram draws them to Paris and into the drama and intrigue surrounding the Exposition. But will Trevor and his team be able to unravel the web of deception in time to save Rayley?

Genres: Mystery, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Historical, Thriller, France, Ebooks

414 pages, Paperback

First published July 28, 2012

About the author

When I was a kid I was so obsessed with books I used to check out four at a time from the library - that was the limit in the small NC town where I was raised - then walk down the street, sit under a tree, and read them as fast a I could so I could go back to get four more.

Now I am the author of Love in Mid Air, The Unexpected Waltz, The Canterbury Sisters, and the most recent, Last Ride to Graceland, all published by Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster.

I also write the City of Mystery series which includes City of Darkness, City of Light, City of Silence, City of Bells, City of Stone, and the Christmas-themed novella, The Angel of Hever Castle. This series is set in the Victorian era and deals with another of my obsessions, the founding of the first forensics unit in Scotland Yard. My chief detective, Trevor Welles, struggles to be a modern man in an antiquated system.

I am the mother of two grown children and recently became a grandmother for the first time. (I highly recommend it!) My hobbies include ballroom dance, travel, and dogs.

Reviews

[Kaitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finish time: 11 nights. Not as good as the first book in this series. This book started off really slow. I had a hard time getting into the book and keeping track of characters. Rayley Abrams is not a typical main character, but he was carried over from the previous book, and it brought the story from London to Paris. A few of the other characters came as well including Geraldine Bainbridge, a quirkly older socialite from London who always proves to be good company!

What started off as two separate investigations, came together as Detective Welles and Detective Abrams corresponded between London and Paris. I enjoy a good crime show (Law & Order or CSI), so it was actually pretty interesting to see the advent of forensics (think CSI minus all technology) through early fingerprint analysis and blood testing (albeit on animals which I am NOT a fan of – but luckily we were spared details). I also enjoyed the historical side of the book – the building of Eiffel’s Tower in preparation for the Paris Exposition Universelle of 1889. Reminded me a bit of Devil in the White City in pointing out what celebrities, inventions, etc were debuted at this event. As pointed out in the notes at the end, the event was real as well as the “crime” being investigated. All the characters were fictionalized. Very typical historical fiction! It did leave me wondering if there is really a secret room on top of the Eiffel tower? According to Wikipedia - apparently there is (in case you were curious too!)

The investigation/crime was a bit of a disturbing one (think Law & Order SVU worthy). Luckily gory details were spared, and as I got further into the book, it did get much better as you take the journey with the detectives, and the motley crew they have put together, to investigate and eventually solve this crime. Takes a bit of an unexpected turn with an unlikely final hero(ine), but ends very well.

The author does another great job at setting the scene and characters so you can really feel like you are a part of the journey. So if you can hang on through the first 20% or so (I have no idea how many pages are in books anymore!), the ending is worth it and it was an enjoyable read.

Now – whether to continue with this author’s 3rd book – City of Silence (City of Mystery Book III) or pick up something a little lighter, as we leave on vacation in just 4 days!? Stay tuned and find out!

[Dixie Goode · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this book and then realized that is was a book 2, so I bought the first book and read it in the middle of this before coming back and finishing it. The characters are fun, the research is detailed, and the story-line keeps moving along. Some things are predictable and there are mistakes that an editor would have caught but the story is a good, enjoyable read in spite of the issues. Not a 5 star book, but good enough that I will be getting the next one too. I really felt that the characters were believable people that I could care about and the historical setting was intriguing enough to make me want to dig deeper into my own research and as I did, I found that Kim Wright had captured the sense of the era very well.

If you enjoy the feeling of suspense and the puzzle of a good mystery, while at the same time getting to immerse yourself in Paris at the time of the building of the tower, I think you will enjoy this novel.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having read City of Darkness, I was looking forward to this second book in the series, and I was not disappointed. I really enjoyed this book. It was a good mystery story with a bit of history thrown in. I wanted to give 4 stars, but there were too many errors due to lack of proofreading which I found distracting.

[Amy Mable · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful book. The complicated characters and plot line were irresistible, and I loved everything I learned about Paris at this particular story's historical position. Just loved the book.

[Sally Stackhouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second book in the series but it wasn’t a problem haven’t read the first in the series and it didn’t detract from my enjoyment of this book.

There are some typos in the book but otherwise it is an enjoyable read.

The story is set in Paris and London in 1889 at the beginning of the science of forensics. The Eiffel Tower is nearing completion ready for the Exposition Universelle, World’s Fair. Two crimes take place one in London and one in Paris. Detectives and a group of civilians working with them, an unlikely grouping that works well, enhance each other’s skills. A rather surprising element to the story.

This was a good read which I thoroughly enjoyed.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

1889 Paris - How is the building of the Eiffel Tower being financed. Who is Hammond and Armand Delacroix and his wife Isobel. But soon bodies are discovered in the Seine. Detective Rayley Abrams has been in Paris for a time, but soon his team’s investigation in London lead them to Paris.
An entertaining and well-written historical mystery with its cast of varied and likeable characters

[Amber Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mystery

There were enough errors to recognize them. This is a jam packed book. There was a little to much going on for me to keep track of it all and it gave me a bit of a headache. Towards the end when everything was getting connected it became a great mystery.

[Judy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Well written mystery with an exciting plot and interesting characters

[Cresta McGowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kim Wright has thrilled me again. City of Light is a fantastic murder/mystery novel. I love Wright's characters and the relationships they have with one another.

The title City of Light is a reference to Paris, France, which is the primary setting for the novel. Paris has a magical quality, but also a mysterious quality. Of course, I've never been but this is the rumor confirmed by the many novels I've read set in ol' Parie...

Once again we are plunged into the lives of criminal experts Trevor Welles and Rayley Abrams. With the Jack the Ripper all sewn up case (do you see what I did there? :-), or gone cold for the cynics, Rayley has been invited to Paris to learn more about the art of forensics. Staying behind awaiting good word is Trevor Welles - the head of the first Forensic Division of Scotland Yard appointed by Queen Victoria herself, Tom Bainbridge - a medical student, Davy Mabrey - a "bobby" with a keen eye and good sense, and off the record, Emma Kelly, the sister of the last victim of the Ripper. Their team is set to work on a case involving an underage male brothel. But, it seems brothels for the English and business deals for the Parisians are better acquainted than one might assume. Centered around the reveal of one of the Seven Wonder of the World, the Eiffel Tower, Welles and his team discover themselves in the the thick of cross-ocean crimes with one of their own fighting for life. Will the team connect all the clues in time?

Wright has a wonderful dynamic between her characters. I love that Emma Kelly is often one of the most intriguing and ingenious members of the team, even if she's not allowed to be on the official payroll. Wright makes a statement by having Emma be such an integral part of the criminal investigations. As one would assume, women could not be a part of such an organization during this time period.

And Emma Kelly is not the only daring female in the tale. I think Wright makes a solid point about being a woman when she writes, "Beautiful and smart. A woman should be one or the other, not both, or she is in an impossible situation - attractive enough to draw men, be shrewd enough to see through them."

Keeping with wonderful British charm, "And here's another one for you to stir into your tea..." and true to the personas created in book one, City of Darkness, City of Light continues to embed the reader in the lives of each personality. From beginning to end one roots for Trevor and his team to flesh out the bad guy and always, always get their man.

The novel is complete at 526 pages, but I assure you, you'll fly through them in no time flat. Aside from a few typos here and there (minor really), the book is astutely written and well laid out. The description is just enough to conjure the images necessary to understand the book, but not overwhelming at any time.

I recommend the novel for a fantastic suspense read.

I, myself, am already half-way through book three, City of Silence, and I anticipate yet another daring adventure with characters I've grown to love.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Kim Wright's first book in the City series, City of Darkness. It centered around the Jack the Ripper killings and a small London team in the early stages of developing forensics/criminal profiling. Knowing that it's about Jack the Ripper, you expected that obviously some of the content would deal with prostitution. This book, although still well-written, kinda of jumps out at you with some disturbing themes. The mystery primarily centers around the city of Paris on the eve of the completion of the Eiffel tower, but what you don't get from the book blurb is that this is primarily about a homosexual child prostitution racket. There aren't really any graphic details, but the subject matter is delved into deeply enough that I might not have read this book if I'd known that from the outset. It was fairly disturbing to me. There's a lot of speculating in the book about the motivation for this kind of behavior and why someone would not only choose to be homosexual, but why they would choose children…

I like the London forensics team and enjoyed getting to know more of the characters from the first book. All of these characters were in the last book, but it seems like maybe each book focuses more on a different member of the team. But, although it is well plotted, there are definitely some cons. The thematic material was a little intense at times (for me). Although this is a historical fiction book, Victorian Era kind of thing, the thematic material really made it more like a modern CSI show would be - some heavy material and disturbing topics. There are also quite a few typos throughout, but they get more significant from about 70% of the way through the book to about 90% - and they are things like a character's last name suddenly being "Newgate" instead of "Newlove", and things like "…it would have to we weighted…" a lot of misspelled or missing articles, and occasionally just a word missing from a sentence altogether.

[Lynda Kelly · Rating 2 out of 5]

As with this author's first book she's written a GREAT story but it's spoilt completely by sloppy proof-reading/editing, only this time I'd got so worn out halfway in that I packed it up.
I'm so disappointed it.....I'd hoped she'd have sharpened her act up by the second one. I had the third in the series downloaded as well and I'll be deleting that. I just can't labour my way through them the state they're in.
Once again there are loads of places where words have been dropped out of sentences like it/to/a.
Then this time the author went with American spellings out of the blue the whole way through-recognizes/belaboring/center. Aggravating in a story set over here.
This sentence is wrong on so many levels-"Or that anyone is can be rational"....apostrophes were misused especially repetitively in Pauper's Garden. Exhibitor was mispelled as exhibiter. MOST annoyingly vial was replaced by file then spelt properly on an ensuing page so the author did know how to spell it properly which is just sloppy, then midwifes used where it should be midwives and clas instead of class. Speechmarks were dropped for a bit of variation. Fiancee was spelt wrongly as fiance....counsel as council....I was in despair with it.
Then a character called Ian Newlove was introduced which totally baffles me as we were told of a Henry Newlove. It may be it's 2 separate people but going on the rest of the mistakes I'd say it is just a further one and I was fed up to death by then at 47% in.
There were some funny parts in it and I love the characters in the stories and the stories themselves but I just won't read anymore by her till they're re-proofed.

[Michelle B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had doubts that I would enjoy this as much as the first of the series. Crime thrillers are not one of my usual genres, but Jack the Ripper is such a well known mysterious figure that I was willing to step outside my literary comfort zone. I ended up liking it so much, I decided to give this second book a try, despite it not having the same type of infamous subject to recommend it. And I am so glad I did! The cases were truly intriguing and I was quite happy to revisit the characters who carried over from the first book. Book 3 is most definitely on my list!

[⚜️XAR the Bookwyrm · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, but it wound up falling flat for me in so many places that I am contemplating deleting the entire series from my Kindle Library. The mystery itself wasn't that involved, and I wound up figuring things out well before I was halfway through the book. The book also dragged things out to the point where I wanted to mark the book Did Not Finish and move on, which was actually worse than the first book. The subject matter that the mystery was based on in this book was uninteresting and frankly, mildly offensive to me, furthering my inclination to abandon and delete the series. All in all, it was two days of wasted time in my opinion, and I'll be reconsidering my stance on the other books.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
This is my kind of book.
I enjoy fiction where there a nice combination of the historical context woven in with a good murder mystery. This story provided an interesting blend of both. I particularly enjoyed the background information on the early history of forensics.
I thought the characters were well developed. They seemed real and likable.
The plot itself was well written with its intertwining of two seemingly unrelated investigations but it did drag at times. I think the pacing might be reflective of the era of the story; however, I would have preferred it to move along a bit faster.
All-in-all, a good read that I would recommend.

[Randee Baty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the mystery and the characters in this book very much. I also enjoyed the historical information about the Eiffel Tower and the Paris Exposition. Even though I have been to the Eiffel Tower, I learned things about it in this book that I didn't know before. I did, however, find the topic of the mystery to be disturbing and not something I needed quite so much information on. I also agree with other reviewers that the editing needs to be better. I do enjoy this series and will keep reading them but they aren't as cozy as I usually prefer.

[Islefaye · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good story, like the way all the main characters dealt with the issues and treated people. So, that said if you have any homophobic issues you probably won't enjoy this book. Also the book is full of typo's, wrong tenses, missing words, and typo's that present as words, just not always the correct word. So much so that I got irritated and didn't 'report content error' on a whole lot of them, as it was interfering with reading the damn book...

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the story of Rayley Abrams and Trevor Welled two Scotland Yard detectives who believe they are following two separate cases, one in England and one in France at the height of the Eiffel Tower exposition. The story is really a case of what defines identity - what the world sees or perhaps does what the world see sharp who your identity becomes? Interesting story and I will be reading the other books in the series.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Tuesday Night Murder Club-- a Scotland Yard detective, a young cop, a medical student, and a maid gather at the home of a wealthy London woman to try to solve murders using the new forensic sciences.
It's not CSI and finger printing is very new in 1889. Victoria is queen and the World Fair is getting ready to open in Paris when a London-based newsman and a Scotland Yard detective studying forensics are kidnapped in Paris.

No sex
Several non graphic murders.

[Heidi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed City of Light, it's a well-written, well-paced unraveling of a mystery. I particularly enjoy Wright's mixture of fact and fiction. This is the second of Kim Wright's books that I've read, and I'll almost certainly read her others. There are some typographical errors in the e-book I have, but not so many that it became distracting. Wright's books are a good pick for anyone who is a fan of historical fiction.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

2nd book of a murder mystery series. Thus one takes place mostly in Paris, partially in London, in the late 1800's. Good characters. From the reviews, each succeeding book in the series seems to get better. I think it's because the characters are getting more developed and they're interesting characters. I'm looking forward to reading the 3rd book.

[Tomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway. I thoroughly enjoyed it! Well-written with characters I liked and a crazy twist toward the end. The story is set in London and Paris in 1889, with the opening of the Eiffel Tower as the backdrop. There were lots of historical characters and situations in the book. I will definitely be looking for more by Kim Wright.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! Wonderful 2nd novel in the series. Now waiting for City of Silence.

Yes, there were typos and some incorrect tenses in the novel, but that didn't take away from my enjoyment of the novel.

[Cathy Benavides · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this series a bit out of Oder- I read the 3rd one first, than the first one, then this one. This book was excellent! I love the main characters and the back drop of the new Eiffel Tower. It is an excellent and slightly scandalous mystery!!

[Dianne]

I quit reading it. Just lost interest. Other reviewers really liked it, but it was not interesting or entertaining to me. I had thought that since I've traveled to those places I may find it of interest, but that wasn't enough.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun mystery that takes place in Paris as construction of the Eiffel Tower is being completed.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am really enjoying this series. This one was set in Paris as the city prepares for the opening of the World Expo and the completion of the Eiffel Tower.

[Dale Bruner]

very interesting/ donvoluted plot

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent! great character development & the story was well thought out. definitely want to read more from this author

[Alexina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this new book; though the first one was better. The ending in this got...weird.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book 2 in the series. I enjoyed the story; not an edge-of-the-seat cliffhanger but it held my interest in spite of the annoying editorial mishaps.