Community Library Notes: Good Reads
“Three Hours in Paris” by Cara Black is the story of Kate, a country girl, Gunther, a German detective, and an incredible assignment. In 1940 Kate stands at a window across from the SacreCoeur church on whose steps the Fuhrer is supposed to arrive. Instead, he bends down to comfort a crying child, and Kate misses her shot. Admiral Lindau bleeds instead of Hitler. Gunther, the detective, is in charge of finding the sniper. Hitler himself requested this.
Gunther’s uncle had raised him and trained him as a hunter with a sense of safety and purpose. Jager is his boss on this case and wants reports to him only. Eight months earlier Kate is praised for her excellent target shooting of the Enfield rifle at the munitions factory on the Orkney Islands. She’s offered a job but turns it down because of her infant Lisbeth who is ill and burning with fever. She and her husband rush Lisbeth to a doctor. The next thing she knows, Kate is in hospital. She learns that her husband and baby have been killed in an accident because of German planes bombs. She vows revenge and is driven to an isolated manor house, interrogated, and given a rifle. She’s trained, memorizes details and practices parachute jumps.
After Kate misses her shot at Hitler, she breaks down the rifle finds the bicycle waiting for her outside, and pedals off innocently. Gunther questions the concierge searches every room on the fourth floor and learns nothing. He hears about a British radioman who has parachuted onto a French field. He goes there with his driver Niels. The radio operator is dead because Roschmann has tortured him to death. Gunther is furious; he needs live witnesses. The radio log notes say ‘lipstick, Café Literaire two p.m. Sorbonne.’ Kate misses her contact as he is arrested by four soldiers. She finds a note left in his magazine about the rendezvous. Will he reveal the location under torture? Will she go there?
At the morgue, Gunther sees no messages are stashed in the Brit’s cavities and the doctor examines the half-digested food and finds a capsule. Gunther rounds up the other two parachutists and has them taken to Paris for questioning. He lets them stew in a holding cell then goes to see Kostoff who talks to Jager on the phone. Kate, at the meeting place, knows to always find an exit before a meeting. She scans the café and finds the w.c. She’s alert and, seeing no contact, leaves. A message from Martin to headquarters does not show the usual keypad touch; it’s not his usual finger pressure, the radio operator says. Stipney, in charge, will meet with the code experts. Kate must remember RADA and keeps moving as trained.
Does Gunther get home for his daughter’s birthday? Or does he catch Kate? Find out in this “cat and mouse” tense story on the new fiction shelf of your local library.
Gunther is at the café and questions a young girl in an army truck with a baby. He asks an artist to sketch her and the description of the scene she sees. At the Bon Marche department store, Gunther goes to the cloakroom behind the counter despite the manager’s objections. He finds a wicker basket and rifle parts wrapped in a scarf. He was so close and speeds to the ballistics lab where Volke analyzes the Enfield rifle. Kate has help from many French people: Phillipe, Gilberte, and Dedie the beer man. A stranded British airman who is wounded lies in the hayloft and Kate tries to stop the bleeding. Author Black creates real people from her characters.
Gunther searches Gilberte’s apartment where she rents to a Colonel by the hour. He finds a blue sweater in the trash and smells the pear soap he suspects belongs to the sniper. When Kate makes love with Philippe she knows she can trust him and listens as he tells her where to go for instructions. But Gunther is on her trail.
Gunther enters the map room and finds maps of the English coast on the table. He knows a camera has taken photos. Kate changes from a cleaning woman’s outfit with mop and bucket into a nurse with a cape and first aid kit with makeup and new clothes. Does Kate escape from Gunther and return to London with her film? Does her evidence change the invasion plans? Does Gunther get home for his daughter’s birthday? Or does he catch Kate? Find out in this “cat and mouse” tense story on the new fiction shelf of your local library.