Swiss Vendetta by Tracee de Hahn

Swiss Vendetta
by Tracee de Hahn

Published: 2017
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, WWII, Switzerland
Paperback: 368
Rating: 4
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Agnes Luthi Mysterie series
Swiss Vendetta
A Well-Timed Murder

First sentence(s):
"I thought you'd left."

In Tracee de Hahn's magnetic debut, Swiss police detective Agnes Luthi finds herself trapped in a chateau during the blizzard of the century when she's called out on her first homicide.

Detective Agnes Luthi, a Swiss-American police officer in Lausanne, Switzerland, has just switched over to the Violent Crimes unit from Financial Crimes in an effort to shed all reminders of her old life after her husband's death. Now, on the eve of the worst blizzard Lausanne has seen in centuries, Agnes has been called out on her very first homicide case. On the lawn of the grand Chateau Vallotton, along the edge of Lake Geneva, a young woman has been found stabbed to death. The woman worked for an art auction house in London, and had been taking inventory at the Chateau Vallotton, which is dripping in priceless works of art and historical treasures.

Agnes finds it difficult to draw answers out of anyone—the tight-lipped Swiss family living in the chateau, the servants who have been loyal to the family for generations, the aging WWII survivor who lives in the neighboring chateau, even the American history student studying at the Vallotton castle's library. As the storm rages on, roads become impassible, the power goes out around Lake Geneva, and Agnes finds herself trapped in the candlelit halls of the chateau with all the players of the mystery, out of her depth in her first murder case and still struggling to stay afloat after the death of her husband.

My two-bits:
Lots of suspects that kept me wondering and wandering until the end.

Loved roaming the chateau grounds for this mystery and discovering the secret areas.

~*~
* part of Books, Inc. Foreign Intrigue Book Club (here)

An Improbable Pairing by Gary Dickson

An Improbable Pairing
by Gary Dickson

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Published: January 2019
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press
Genre: Historical, Romance, Travel, France, Switzerland
Paperback: 240
Rating: 3

First sentence(s):
How different Scott's life would have been had he been attracted to the young girl, the one more his age, who was standing at the railing of the ship, rather than her companion, the beautiful woman wearing a soft gray suite, her hair blond and straight, a cashmere scarf of a crystalline blue that matched her aquamarine eyes draped casually across her shoulders.

It began as a simple flirtation ...

In September of 1963, Scott Stoddard, an American graduate student, is traveling to Switzerland, when he meets the Countess de Rovere, a French divorcee; he is smitten, and she is intrigued. What begins as a little coquetry soon becomes a serious love affair, much to the consternation of the Countess’s ex-husband and mother, not to mention the Countess’s friends of European high society. A meeting of equals poses problems enough, but what about one between two people who seem to have so many differences? And when a man of traditional attitudes couples with an independent and self-confident woman, something’s got to give. It won’t be the countess. As their liaison transcends an affair that cannot be dismissed, they all agree that something must be done.

An Improbable Pairing is a historical romance that chronicles the enduring themes of a young man’s coming of age and the rebellious love of the mismatched. This pas de deux, set in the golden years of 1960s Paris, Geneva, Gstaad, and Cannes, provides an insider’s peek into the worlds of haute couture, three-star gourmet restaurants, and lavish hotel suites—the domains of rank and privilege. But society’s privileged resist when an interloper threatens to upset their cozy structure.

My two-bits:

This love affair with royalty was interesting to follow as it is portrayed from a young man's point of view.

The tediousness of social obligations and responsibilities makes this romance rocky which made the reading frustrating at times.

I liked the scenes of hobnobbing at the Cannes film festival as that is a place I want to visit in the near future.

Got me thinking of the reality of fairytale royalty romances.

~*~
* review copy courtesy of author