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Really the Blues
Eddie Piron thinks that performing in jazz clubs in Nazi-occupied Paris is bad enough, but when the drummer in his band is found face down in the Seine and the police start asking questions, he realizes that his trouble is just beginning.
Paris, 1941. American jazz musician Eddie Piron has lived in the City of Light since before the war began. But Paris under occupation is not what it once was, and things are looking a lot darker for a man like Eddie. The great jazz artists of the day, like Django Reinhardt, are lying low or being swept away under the racial policies of the Nazis. But the SS has a paradoxical taste for the "Negermusik," and their favorite gathering place is La Caverne Negre, where Eddie leads the band.
One night the drummer for "Eddie et Ses Anges" disappears. When his body is found in the Seine the next day, Eddie becomes entangled in the murder investigation. He soon himself in the clutches of a mercenary intelligence broker who discovers why Eddie Piron is really in Paris - and what he's really hiding.
Paris, 1941. American jazz musician Eddie Piron has lived in the City of Light since before the war began. But Paris under occupation is not what it once was, and things are looking a lot darker for a man like Eddie. The great jazz artists of the day, like Django Reinhardt, are lying low or being swept away under the racial policies of the Nazis. But the SS has a paradoxical taste for the "Negermusik," and their favorite gathering place is La Caverne Negre, where Eddie leads the band.
One night the drummer for "Eddie et Ses Anges" disappears. When his body is found in the Seine the next day, Eddie becomes entangled in the murder investigation. He soon himself in the clutches of a mercenary intelligence broker who discovers why Eddie Piron is really in Paris - and what he's really hiding.
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First published August 8, 2014
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About the author
Joseph Koenig
12 books10 followersJoseph Koenig is an author of hard-boiled fiction. A former crime reporter, he won critical acclaim and an Edgar nomination for his first novel, Floater (1986), a grimly violent story of con men, cops, and killers in the Florida Everglades. His next two novels were Little Odessa (1988), a darkly comic tale of life in New York’s Ukrainian underworld, and Smugglers Notch (1989), a story of brutal murder in snowbound Vermont. Koenig’s fourth novel, the groundbreaking Brides of Blood (1993), won strong reviews for its elegant treatment of police procedure in Islamic Iran.
For nearly two decades after Brides of Blood, Koenig did not publish. But in 2012 the pulp-style publishing house Hard Case Crime released his newest novel, False Negative, a rollicking mystery about a journalist who, like Koenig once did, writes for true-crime magazines.
For nearly two decades after Brides of Blood, Koenig did not publish. But in 2012 the pulp-style publishing house Hard Case Crime released his newest novel, False Negative, a rollicking mystery about a journalist who, like Koenig once did, writes for true-crime magazines.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 15, 2016
Started off strong with a cool atmosphere, but then it fell apart and became a real slog with ultimately uninteresting characters.
October 11, 2014
Paris, 1941. The United States is not at war, which means ex-pat jazz musician Eddie Piron can live somewhat comfortably under Nazi occupation. His band Eddie et Ses Anges is a big hit at La Caverne Negre, where the SS’s paradoxical love of “negermusik” outweighs the racial policies they’ve sworn to uphold. But all is not well within the band. Danish drummer Borge Janssen may not be the best, but any jazz musician is valuable in a town where such skills are in short supply. When Janssen abruptly decides to quit, he and Eddie get into a scuffle, with a punch compromising Eddie’s lip and preventing him from playing the trumpet for a while.
The next day, Janssen’s broken body is pulled out of the Seine; investigators reel Eddie in, where he learns that Janssen’s live-in girlfriend, Anne Cartier, stuck her head in an oven and caused their apartment to blow up. And from there, Eddie’s comfortable life is upended. First comes mercenary intelligence broker Thad Simone and his girlfriend Mavis, hoping to sell the secrets of occupied Paris to the US government—blackmailing Eddie in the process, once Thad finds out the complex circumstances that caused Eddie to leave the States. Then there’s the two Nazi investigators, Maj. Weiler and Col. Maier, hoping to root out Janssen’s co-conspirators before they bring revolutionary thoughts to the minds of the “docile” French. It’s the reappearance of Anne Cartier that clinches it: Eddie is in the midst of something bigger than himself, desperately trying to keep his own secrets hidden while he’s dragged into the conspiracies of others.
The atmosphere in Really The Blues is a lush portrait of Paris in 1941, a world colored gray from cigarette smoke, Nazi feldgrau, and French defeat. As something of a World War buff I was pleased to see the fine attention to detail, which I think helped build the novel’s rich atmosphere and gave it a ring of authenticity. The characters are well-defined and the dialogue can crackle, yet it feels cut from the past and not constructed in the modern-day. The cover and design—especially that art deco title font—add to the atmosphere. And there's numerous references to the hits and performers of the jazz era.
The other strong element is race and race relations; it’s something of a minor spoiler (though the book reveals it very early on), but one of the big secrets Eddie grapples with is that of his race. He’s light-skinned enough to pass as a Caucasian, but his Louisiana Creole heritage and dark-skinned mother label him as a Negro back in the US. Having fled to Europe to start a new life, Eddie sees it crumble thanks to Thad Simone’s interference and the Nazi’s oppressive racial policies. And while the novel doesn’t directly state it, it’s fascinating to see the parallels between the American treatment of race with that of the Nazis—an uncomfortable contrast, given the point in history. The irony is that Eddie fled the racial intolerance of the Deep South only to find himself hiding out in the open, under the eyes of watchful Germans hunting other Caucasians—communists, Jews, gypsies, and other “undesirables.”
Though the mystery plot is pretty good and the characters are nuanced and well-realized, the strengths of Really The Blues—the rich, moody atmosphere and thoughtful look at race in the 1940s—take it into another class of novels. The plot is subtle but crackles with energy, as the walls begin to close in on Eddie Piron, trapped between his past, the Nazis, death and lies, with no easy exit—so, he makes his own way out at the novel’s thrilling climax. Eddie is a complex character, the perfect protagonist to lead us down the dark alleys of a shattered city. If you don’t mind the subtleties and complexities, the often bleak outcomes in this world of gray, I’d recommend you follow Eddie down that road.
(Full review found here.)
Thanks to Iris Blasi at Pegasus Crime for a review copy of this book.
The next day, Janssen’s broken body is pulled out of the Seine; investigators reel Eddie in, where he learns that Janssen’s live-in girlfriend, Anne Cartier, stuck her head in an oven and caused their apartment to blow up. And from there, Eddie’s comfortable life is upended. First comes mercenary intelligence broker Thad Simone and his girlfriend Mavis, hoping to sell the secrets of occupied Paris to the US government—blackmailing Eddie in the process, once Thad finds out the complex circumstances that caused Eddie to leave the States. Then there’s the two Nazi investigators, Maj. Weiler and Col. Maier, hoping to root out Janssen’s co-conspirators before they bring revolutionary thoughts to the minds of the “docile” French. It’s the reappearance of Anne Cartier that clinches it: Eddie is in the midst of something bigger than himself, desperately trying to keep his own secrets hidden while he’s dragged into the conspiracies of others.
The atmosphere in Really The Blues is a lush portrait of Paris in 1941, a world colored gray from cigarette smoke, Nazi feldgrau, and French defeat. As something of a World War buff I was pleased to see the fine attention to detail, which I think helped build the novel’s rich atmosphere and gave it a ring of authenticity. The characters are well-defined and the dialogue can crackle, yet it feels cut from the past and not constructed in the modern-day. The cover and design—especially that art deco title font—add to the atmosphere. And there's numerous references to the hits and performers of the jazz era.
The other strong element is race and race relations; it’s something of a minor spoiler (though the book reveals it very early on), but one of the big secrets Eddie grapples with is that of his race. He’s light-skinned enough to pass as a Caucasian, but his Louisiana Creole heritage and dark-skinned mother label him as a Negro back in the US. Having fled to Europe to start a new life, Eddie sees it crumble thanks to Thad Simone’s interference and the Nazi’s oppressive racial policies. And while the novel doesn’t directly state it, it’s fascinating to see the parallels between the American treatment of race with that of the Nazis—an uncomfortable contrast, given the point in history. The irony is that Eddie fled the racial intolerance of the Deep South only to find himself hiding out in the open, under the eyes of watchful Germans hunting other Caucasians—communists, Jews, gypsies, and other “undesirables.”
Though the mystery plot is pretty good and the characters are nuanced and well-realized, the strengths of Really The Blues—the rich, moody atmosphere and thoughtful look at race in the 1940s—take it into another class of novels. The plot is subtle but crackles with energy, as the walls begin to close in on Eddie Piron, trapped between his past, the Nazis, death and lies, with no easy exit—so, he makes his own way out at the novel’s thrilling climax. Eddie is a complex character, the perfect protagonist to lead us down the dark alleys of a shattered city. If you don’t mind the subtleties and complexities, the often bleak outcomes in this world of gray, I’d recommend you follow Eddie down that road.
(Full review found here.)
Thanks to Iris Blasi at Pegasus Crime for a review copy of this book.
June 17, 2014
Details, crisp and crackling dialogue, and vibrant characters bring occupied Paris and her citizens to life. The story flies along at a breathless pace as tension mounts, builds, and never lets up. An instant classic noir. Highly recommended.
September 24, 2024
Grim atmosphere featuring a curious collection of last chancers & down and outers trying to make a biscuit while keeping their heads down in Nazi-occupied France.
All is certainly not as it appears.
All is certainly not as it appears.
July 4, 2019
Paris 1941. Even the hated Nazi occupiers like "negermusik," "decadent" music such as American jazz. Atmosperic
September 15, 2015
I liked the setting and thought many of the characters were well developed. Although I do think Major Weiler and Colonel Heinz Maier are by far the best things about the book. When either of these are around, the story improves. Unpleasant scenes like the one in Chapter 14, when Maier questions the prisoner Professor Smits, highlight Joseph Koenig's talents as a writer. As for the main character, Eddie Piron, Maier's focus on tracking him down has the effect of making Piron seem even more interesting than he might otherwise be. Nevertheless, this is another good book from Koenig.
August 31, 2016
A Mystery in Paris in 1941--jazz musicians from the US and chief among them is band leader and great trumpet player Eddie Piron, who left Louisiana partly because of the "one-drop" of black blood discriminatory laws. In Paris since before the war, all was well until the Nazis occupied and went after so many people, and now it is a sewer of cruelty and fear. Eddie and Ses Anges suffer, everyone suffers. Django is mentioned more than once. A hard-to-read piece of history but a superb story. Read it and weep.
September 15, 2014
Well-realized setting of occupied France before America's entry into the war, and good characters although the plot could have been a little stronger. The unusal inclusion of American treatment of race contrasted with the Nazis made it an interesting and different read.
September 3, 2014
Meh. Jazz trumpeter in WWII Paris.
December 24, 2014
Started out interesting...good atmosphere of Nazi-occupied Paris...but ultimately disappointing. Plot points get lost or shuffled; Protagonist (jazz trumpet player Eddie) is just too innocent.
January 9, 2015
Interesting idea, awful execution. Garbled and unreadable.
November 6, 2015
Ok fiction Paris during WWII. A jazz musician fools the nazis
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews