3.0 out of 5 stars -- Second in Paris Homicide series featuring Nico Sirsky, Chief of Police for the elite homicide crime unit.
An unusual clue -- a tiny note found in the filling of a tooth in a severed head at the university training lab reads, "I've been murdered." The victim is Bruno Guedj, a pharmacist who was thought to have committed suicide -- until the gunshot wound is more thoroughly examined at autopsy. Nico and his team begin an intense investigation into the pharmacist's life that leads to other clues and a climax when a secret basement laboratory is discovered.
I didn't like this book as much as the first one because I really didn't feel the intensity and never quite understood why the deaths were necessary to protect the secret. Interesting take on medical ethics, but what lengths do people go to in order to save someone they love?
Regardless, I did enjoy the details the author provides about the French police and legal system as well as the descriptions of the city at Christmas. I really have a personal bias against the romance that's included in this series, and I don't know why Caroline isn't at work all the time as any head of a medical department would be in real life -- she's always "there" having lunch or whatever with Nico at odd times. And her immediate acceptance by Dimitri -- well, I'm just not impressed with the story that involves Nico's personal life. I think I'd rather him just stay at work and read about that! The characters seem quite stereotypical and not very deep.
I've already started #3 in the series. Thank you to Edelweiss for an ARC of this book.
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