The Sorbonne Affair: A Hugo Marston Novel

Once more, Mark Pryor transports us back to Paris in the seventh book in his highly successful Hugo Marsten series, The Sorbonne Affair. This time, the ex-FBI profiler and current head of security at the American Embassy in Paris is investigating the apparent stalking of American novelist Helen Hancock, who is in town to give a writing class to four promising young authors. At first, it just seems to be a case of paranoia on the part of Hancock, but soon cameras are discovered hidden in her room and the body of the hotel employee seemingly responsible turns up in a hotel stairwell. The rest of the novel continues to become more and more complicated until the Poirot-esque reveal at the end.

Once more, Pryor is aided by his best friend, Tom Green, his girlfriend, Claudia, and the transgendered French detective, Camille Lerens. The handling of Lerens’s character is well done and the rapport between Hugo and the detective is sympathetic. We are treated to more of Tom and Hugo’s backstory as well, which helps to flesh out the characters we have come to love even further.

Having read all of the prior novels in this series, I am happy to say that The Sorbonne Affair is just as engaging and intelligently written as all the rest. Now if he can just hurry up with number eight!