If you're new to the series, don't start with this one. You might not read any of Cleverly's other Sandilands novels. Look for one of the books set in India (e.g. The Last Kashmiri Rose) or Tug of War (set in the French countryside). Skip The Bee's Kiss (which also rates only 3 stars). The Indian novels are strengthened by their exotic locales, and Tug of War, while not in an exotic setting, is a richly-textured and satisfying tale, carefully crafted and driven by characters rather than action.
Folly du Jour, set in Paris, tries to rely on fast pace and violence. The author attempts to glamorize things with Lindbergh's arrival in Paris and with Josephine Baker--but these are not successful. There's a sense of confusion, a patching in of elements from previous novels. The Paris underworld, the Apaches, play a major part. It's not quite as corpse-strewn as Hammett's Red Harvest, but it comes close. So what you get seems minimally different from a thousand other pulp-fictionish crime novels, which is sad, since Cleverly has proven herself capable of much better work.
Contrast this with Tug of War, which had one long-dead corpse. There was no action, no violence--which seemed a bit odd, but only at first. That novel was carefully written, and had a beautiful quiet strength. It didn't need shootings, killings, and car chases to achieve its power. The India novels have more action and violence, but it never gets out of hand, and if you pruned out the action and violent episodes, the stories would still have been powerful. Unfortunately, The Bee's Kiss wandered away from these strengths, and Folly du Jour has gotten even further away. So try instead Tug of War or The Last Kashmiri Rose.
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