by Francine Mathews, Reviewed by Cara Black

Imagine May 1940 in panicked Paris, the seven month “phony war”
about to end as the German army is finally about to march into the City of Light; think of the impeccable period details of Alan Furst's novels
set in WWII, mix in characters such as Coco Chanel, Irene Curie
(Marie’s daughter) and you begin to get some idea of the pleasures
awaiting you in Francine Mathews's new thriller, The Alibi Club.

The Alibi Club opens in a Norway airfield with Jacques Allier, a French
banker convoying a precious shipment to France, necessary to the
Armaments Ministry. Or at least trying to.

The action switches to Paris in the first few pages, where Sally King, a top American model who works for Coco Chanel, discovers her lawyer lover murdered; we meet an African-American singer, Memphis Jones,(based on Josephine Baker) a paramour of Spatz, the mysterious German diplomat; his cousin Nell, the British born Comtesse and Bordeaux vineyard owner and Irene Curie, daughter of the famous scientists, who holds a dangerous secret that could change history.


On the male side, there's Joe Hearst, a diplomat with brains and a
heart who works as special investigator for the American ambassador,
"Champagne Bill" Bullitt (a real figure). And my favorite character,
Jacques Allier, the banker who unwittingly holds the key to what the
invading Germans want.

Jacques is the French everyman, set up to take a fall yet still trying to do his job which so happens to be the key to components for the atomic bomb. Other important actual people like John Foster Dulles and his brother, Allen, are on hand, and much of the action centers on the Alibi Club, a small but very hot boite a nuit nightclub in Montmartre where Memphis  sings nightly and the other characters hatch plots and try to solve murders before the Nazis officially take over.

Hesitant, at first I thought Mathews had invaded Alan Furst
territory, the master of pre-war European intrigue but the Alibi Club
is a bouillabaisse of a different mix; a dense tale, numerous plotlines
and larger than life characters with sub-plots relying on skillful
split second timing.

A former CIA analyst, Matthews nails the period with such details as Sally’s gas mask doubling as a chic handbag in vogue during the  “phony war” before the German invasion. And with a myriad cast of characters, memorable secondary characters she writes with a convincing voice and authority.

Mathew’s says WW2 is a period she loves to inhabit in fiction and the passion shows. Villains exhibit a sympathetic side and the “good guys” like the Dulles brothers - one the future founder of the CIA - a vicious, conniving side.

German spies have more dimension than goose-stepping Nazis. And all is never as it seems. Former affairs get ignited and passion blinds and compromises even the most respectable. After all, this is France. Et voila, mix that with a dangerous leak in the French Armament ministry and toss in some scandal.


The Alibi Club evokes the desperate atmosphere of that time; a
disbelieving Europe with the memories of WW1- the war to end all wars-
still vivid and the fleeing French anxious to believe the front will
hold.

Secrets abound. Mathews paints poignant figures illustrating the
hopelessness and confusion of the French who wanted to believe the
Maginot line impregnable.

The spring color faded from street and sky by cocktail hour. In the lower reaches of Montmartre, at the base of the funicular, a discarded sheet of baker’s paper tossed fitfully on the wind, still laced with sticky white icing.

Tired, disheveled people- refugees, Spatz thought-had collapsed with their backs against the street lamps, their eyes string dully ahead of them.

Prepare to savor a smoky, dense and richly layered Bordeaux and stay up all night. I did. Highly recommended.

Cara Black is the creator of the Aimée Leduc investigation series.