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Anne Marie Laveaud Mystery #2
The Honest Folk of Guadeloupe
April 1990: French-Algerian judge Anne Marie Laveaud has been living and working in the French Caribbean département of Guadeloupe for more than a decade, but her days are still full of surprises. She is only just starting to investigate the suspicious suicide of a high-profile environmental activist and media personality when she is pulled off the case. Is it because she was getting too close to the truth?
But the new case she's been assigned takes precedent. The body of a white female tourist has been discovered on a nudist beach, where it seems the young woman was raped and murdered. The victim's remains offer no clues about her final hours—she was found without any of her belongings, and it seems she was dead at least three days before anyone spotted her corpse. What turned this woman's vacation in paradise into a final nightmare?
As always, the story of a murdered white woman has attracted the attention of international media. Furthermore, the economy of Guadeloupe, so dependent on the tourist industry, could suffer a terrible hit if this case isn't brought under control with some quick, impressive police work.
From the Hardcover edition.
But the new case she's been assigned takes precedent. The body of a white female tourist has been discovered on a nudist beach, where it seems the young woman was raped and murdered. The victim's remains offer no clues about her final hours—she was found without any of her belongings, and it seems she was dead at least three days before anyone spotted her corpse. What turned this woman's vacation in paradise into a final nightmare?
As always, the story of a murdered white woman has attracted the attention of international media. Furthermore, the economy of Guadeloupe, so dependent on the tourist industry, could suffer a terrible hit if this case isn't brought under control with some quick, impressive police work.
From the Hardcover edition.
336 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 13, 2015
12 people are currently reading
362 people want to read
About the author
Timothy Williams
13 books15 followersTimothy Williams was born in Walthamstow, England in 1946. He went to Chigwell School, Essex and the Universities of St. Andrews and Manchester. He has taught at various schools and the universities of Poitiers, Bari and Pavia. He now lives and teaches in Guadeloupe.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 2, 2014
I received this book free from the publisher through the Goodreads First Reads Giveaway program. I gave this book 3.5 stars rounded up to 4, for believable characters, good dialogue and a well constructed plot. I could not figure out what happened until near the end.
This book takes place on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, now a French departement, but formerly a French colony. The central character is Anne Marie Laveaud, a juge d'instruction(examining magistrate), a position in the French legal system, denoting a person in charge of a criminal investigation. She is a single mother of 2 children, juggling her job with demands of motherhood. She is already investigating 1 death when she is called to the scene of a second suspicious death, a young female tourist, found dead on a beach.
There are some interesting insights into leftover traces of French colonialist racism and tension between Anne Marie Laveaud and her boss, anxious to solve a murder that could cause a loss of tourist money.
There are 2 mistakes in this "Advance uncopyedited edition"(prominent label on the front of the book).
P70 "For some reason(he) took offense."
p.99 a conversation between Madame Vaton and Monsieur Trousseauis repeated almost verbatim, lines 6-17. It looks like a bad cut and paste mistake.
This book takes place on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, now a French departement, but formerly a French colony. The central character is Anne Marie Laveaud, a juge d'instruction(examining magistrate), a position in the French legal system, denoting a person in charge of a criminal investigation. She is a single mother of 2 children, juggling her job with demands of motherhood. She is already investigating 1 death when she is called to the scene of a second suspicious death, a young female tourist, found dead on a beach.
There are some interesting insights into leftover traces of French colonialist racism and tension between Anne Marie Laveaud and her boss, anxious to solve a murder that could cause a loss of tourist money.
There are 2 mistakes in this "Advance uncopyedited edition"(prominent label on the front of the book).
P70 "For some reason(he) took offense."
p.99 a conversation between Madame Vaton and Monsieur Trousseauis repeated almost verbatim, lines 6-17. It looks like a bad cut and paste mistake.
December 30, 2015
i thought it had potential but it was very meandering, and it seemed like the main crime was secondary to other going-ons
April 7, 2015
This mystery novel, more accurately perhaps a police procedural novel with a strong sense of setting is filled with fascinating parts, but unfortunately the sum of these together doesn’t add up to much, none of them are explored to their potential.
Set in the former colony, and now département of France, Guadeloupe, this is the second book featuring character Anne Marie Laveaud, an investigating juge of French-Algerian descent. I haven’t read the first book featuring Laveaud, which I am sure covers some of the family and professional details that form a part of this book. That previous book seems unnecessary for following the plot here, or appreciating Laveaud. However reading that prior book may make some of the side plots in The Honest Folk of Guadeloupe a little more complete.
In this novel, Laveaud is investigating a pair of deaths in 1990. One is a supposed suicide of a prominent businessman, a case with apparent political ties that leads Laveaud’s superiors to try and push her away from looking into it. Instead they want her to look into the other death, the murder of a young woman, a presumed white tourist, due to its potential ramifications on the tourist industry of the small islands of Guadeloupe.
The title of the novel comes from a common local saying regarding the relationship between Guadeloupe and Martinique, Guadeloupe being more rustic and ‘working class’ in a way (honest folk), compared to the fancier, more well-to-do ‘gentlemen’ of Martinique. Class differences come into play with each of the deaths that Laveaud investigates. And with the second, the murder of the young woman, issues of race and colonialism also rear their heads. As a woman born with connections to the French colony of Algeria, Laveaud is familiar with these issues, but doesn’t allow them to interfere with her simple, constant search for the truth.
Williams writing here is question-laden, as so much of the story is related, and moves forward through the simple barrage of queries to potential witnesses and sources by Laveaud. For fans of procedural detail over action or keen danger this could be welcome, but for readers who go for other types of mystery genre tales, they may find the conversation and subtleties to be dull. Most of the novel passes from conversation to conversation with brief moments of descriptive passages either highlighting local flavors of the islands, or biographical details on Laveaud.
For me the largest difficulty lies in the fact that none of the elements at play here felt fully explored, or properly linked together. I was attracted to this largely due to my interest in things French, and of French colonialism (and just generally enjoying mysteries). But the racial and colonial issues at heart here are background decor, there is not much serious reflection or exploration of the issues. When one brief incident involving a standoff and attack by a dangerous man is used to provide tension and further sociopolitical relevance, it ends up being an aside, not linked integrally with the plot.
Another element present in The Honest Folk of Guadeloupe is the family life of Laveaud, who is dealing with separation from her husband and caring for the children as a single parent, when one of them is becoming increasingly rebellious. This personal part of the plot (as well as interesting personality conflicts/rapports with colleagues) never reach any sort of conclusion, and I can only guess that they form a continuous background plot that would develop throughout multiple books of the series. Within the confines of this novel though they are unresolved and seem completely irrelevant, again an issue running parallel to the story, but not a key part of it.
Fans of police procedurals in general and those with an interest in this particular setting would find the most interest in this novel, and even then I’d only recommend delving in if open to following the entire series.
Disclaimer: I received a free advanced reading copy of this from Soho Press via the Goodreads’ First-Reads Giveaway Program in exchange for an honest review that originally appeared at Reading1000Lives.com
Set in the former colony, and now département of France, Guadeloupe, this is the second book featuring character Anne Marie Laveaud, an investigating juge of French-Algerian descent. I haven’t read the first book featuring Laveaud, which I am sure covers some of the family and professional details that form a part of this book. That previous book seems unnecessary for following the plot here, or appreciating Laveaud. However reading that prior book may make some of the side plots in The Honest Folk of Guadeloupe a little more complete.
In this novel, Laveaud is investigating a pair of deaths in 1990. One is a supposed suicide of a prominent businessman, a case with apparent political ties that leads Laveaud’s superiors to try and push her away from looking into it. Instead they want her to look into the other death, the murder of a young woman, a presumed white tourist, due to its potential ramifications on the tourist industry of the small islands of Guadeloupe.
The title of the novel comes from a common local saying regarding the relationship between Guadeloupe and Martinique, Guadeloupe being more rustic and ‘working class’ in a way (honest folk), compared to the fancier, more well-to-do ‘gentlemen’ of Martinique. Class differences come into play with each of the deaths that Laveaud investigates. And with the second, the murder of the young woman, issues of race and colonialism also rear their heads. As a woman born with connections to the French colony of Algeria, Laveaud is familiar with these issues, but doesn’t allow them to interfere with her simple, constant search for the truth.
Williams writing here is question-laden, as so much of the story is related, and moves forward through the simple barrage of queries to potential witnesses and sources by Laveaud. For fans of procedural detail over action or keen danger this could be welcome, but for readers who go for other types of mystery genre tales, they may find the conversation and subtleties to be dull. Most of the novel passes from conversation to conversation with brief moments of descriptive passages either highlighting local flavors of the islands, or biographical details on Laveaud.
For me the largest difficulty lies in the fact that none of the elements at play here felt fully explored, or properly linked together. I was attracted to this largely due to my interest in things French, and of French colonialism (and just generally enjoying mysteries). But the racial and colonial issues at heart here are background decor, there is not much serious reflection or exploration of the issues. When one brief incident involving a standoff and attack by a dangerous man is used to provide tension and further sociopolitical relevance, it ends up being an aside, not linked integrally with the plot.
Another element present in The Honest Folk of Guadeloupe is the family life of Laveaud, who is dealing with separation from her husband and caring for the children as a single parent, when one of them is becoming increasingly rebellious. This personal part of the plot (as well as interesting personality conflicts/rapports with colleagues) never reach any sort of conclusion, and I can only guess that they form a continuous background plot that would develop throughout multiple books of the series. Within the confines of this novel though they are unresolved and seem completely irrelevant, again an issue running parallel to the story, but not a key part of it.
Fans of police procedurals in general and those with an interest in this particular setting would find the most interest in this novel, and even then I’d only recommend delving in if open to following the entire series.
Disclaimer: I received a free advanced reading copy of this from Soho Press via the Goodreads’ First-Reads Giveaway Program in exchange for an honest review that originally appeared at Reading1000Lives.com
March 16, 2017
Perhaps because I did not read the first book of the series, I found this book to be unnecessarily complex which took away from, rather than contributing to my enjoyment of it. Even at the end of the book I had no feeling for or understanding of the characters and their motivations and therefor I can not recommend this book.
did-not-finish
September 8, 2015I tried to like this book but it was just too "blah". So I took it back to the library unfinished.
January 26, 2025
I stopped reading this book at the 60% mark. The breaking point for me was this line:
*"If they didn't enjoy sex, Marie Pierre, they wouldn't put up with the pain of childbirth."*
This was said by Anne Marie, the main character, to another woman. Frankly, no woman would say this—or even think it. This line made it glaringly obvious that the male author did not consult or consider a woman's perspective when attempting to portray one. Enjoying sex has absolutely nothing to do with enduring the pain of childbirth, and this kind of inaccurate depiction of the female psyche completely shattered any credibility the character or narrative had for me.
Beyond this, I found Anne Marie and the rest of the characters utterly unlikeable. They were annoying, incapable of holding proper conversations, constantly going off-topic, avoiding questions, or outright insulting each other. It was exhausting to read and made it impossible to connect with or care about them.
Ultimately, between the unrelatable characters and the problematic writing, I had no reason to continue reading.
*"If they didn't enjoy sex, Marie Pierre, they wouldn't put up with the pain of childbirth."*
This was said by Anne Marie, the main character, to another woman. Frankly, no woman would say this—or even think it. This line made it glaringly obvious that the male author did not consult or consider a woman's perspective when attempting to portray one. Enjoying sex has absolutely nothing to do with enduring the pain of childbirth, and this kind of inaccurate depiction of the female psyche completely shattered any credibility the character or narrative had for me.
Beyond this, I found Anne Marie and the rest of the characters utterly unlikeable. They were annoying, incapable of holding proper conversations, constantly going off-topic, avoiding questions, or outright insulting each other. It was exhausting to read and made it impossible to connect with or care about them.
Ultimately, between the unrelatable characters and the problematic writing, I had no reason to continue reading.
November 25, 2020
Left me a little disappointed, overly long. It was difficult to get into, I can't put my finger on it but this novel does not live up to the higher standard of previous ones.
December 30, 2014
Anne Marie was the juge d'instruction in Guadeloupe who was given a case to investigate that involved a university professor who was also a political activist. She was immediately pulled off the case to investigate a possible murder of a white tourist at Point des Chateau.
Her greffier, Trousseau, was her sidekick, but it appears that his main job was to drive her from place to place. He ususally got his two cents in and actually, in the end, helped in solving the cases.
Although Anne Marie, was pulled from the suicide case, she continued that investigation as well as the investigation of the white tourist found on the beach. The two cases seemed to parallel each other. Many of the same characters were involved somehow in both cases.
Timothy Williams did a good job of leading the reader to believe one thing and then suddenly you weren't sure what to believe. There were many different scenerios for each case.
In the end. Anne Marie did solve both cases, although it is unclear whether an arrest was actually made. I enjoyed the book and would recommend to anyone who enjoys mysteries.
It was also intriguing to read about the west indian culture that seems so different from ours in the US, yet very similar. Guadeloupe has all the same issues with political corruption, racism, poverty, and chemical abuse, which plays a big part in the investigations. The island is a departmente' of France, so there are many French words, but easy to figure out. Enjoy!
Her greffier, Trousseau, was her sidekick, but it appears that his main job was to drive her from place to place. He ususally got his two cents in and actually, in the end, helped in solving the cases.
Although Anne Marie, was pulled from the suicide case, she continued that investigation as well as the investigation of the white tourist found on the beach. The two cases seemed to parallel each other. Many of the same characters were involved somehow in both cases.
Timothy Williams did a good job of leading the reader to believe one thing and then suddenly you weren't sure what to believe. There were many different scenerios for each case.
In the end. Anne Marie did solve both cases, although it is unclear whether an arrest was actually made. I enjoyed the book and would recommend to anyone who enjoys mysteries.
It was also intriguing to read about the west indian culture that seems so different from ours in the US, yet very similar. Guadeloupe has all the same issues with political corruption, racism, poverty, and chemical abuse, which plays a big part in the investigations. The island is a departmente' of France, so there are many French words, but easy to figure out. Enjoy!
December 18, 2016
Set in the former French colony of Guadaloupe, this fascinating tale provides a strongly-flavored taste of life on the island, as lived by both the 'haves' and the 'have-nots.' A frantic, scattered sense of unrest pervades the island and is paralleled in the scattershot patterns of dialogue amongst the inhabitants: the protagonist ( magistrate trying to solve a murder deemed grossly inconvenient to the tourist industry), various politically-motivated folks, and the 'honest people of Guadaloup.' A colorful read.
May 12, 2015
The two primary storylines, the mysteries surrounding the murder of the young woman and the suicide of the businessman, are actually quite intriguing from a conceptual perspective, but they are wrapped in a really quite tedious investigation. The resolutions are interesting, but the path there takes far too much effort. Read our full review, here: http://www.mysteriousreviews.com/myst...
February 12, 2015
***Y A W N ***
April 8, 2017
The author who lives in the West Indies gives a very nice portrait of Guadeloupe and it's people. I enjoyed that aspect of the novel and looked up to see where Guadelupe is and read about the culture. The problem with the novel is that the mystery part of the novel is pedestrian and not interesting. That disappointed me a lot.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews