Book Review: Black Water Lilies by Michel Bussi
3 ⭐️’s from me
Goodreads Summary: “Giverny, France. During the day, the town is the home of the famous artist Claude Monet and the gardens where he painted his Water Lilies. But once the tourists have gone, there is a darker side to the peaceful French village.
This is the story of thirteen days that begin with one murder and end with another. Jérôme Morval, a man whose passion for art was matched only by his passion for women, has been found dead in the stream that runs through the gardens. In his pocket is a postcard of Monet’s Water Lilies with the words: Eleven years old. Happy Birthday.
Entangled in the mystery are three women: a young painting prodigy, the seductive village schoolteacher, and an old widow who watches over the village from a mill by the stream. All three of them share a secret. But what do they know about the discovery of Jérôme Morval’s corpse? And what is the connection to the mysterious, rumored painting of Black Water Lilies?”
My Review:
If you want a story that appeals to your artistic side and gets your creative juices flowing all while having a murder mystery to solve, this would appear to be a book for you. Seriously, who wouldn’t like a murder mystery set in Giverny with Monet’s water lilies for a backdrop from a known crime writer?
Although the novel only takes place over thirteen days, the three women will take you on a journey through time taunting you with the truth. The three women are captivating. The French setting and culture is vividly conjured into your mind. And, it’s true, the build-up in this novel is so purposefully twisty that I wasn’t able to put it down…But, perhaps I shouldn’t have started. Once the prolonged ending was finished I was more than annoyed. Given all the artistic elements and the twisty plot, I felt that there were so many different resolutions that would have propelled the ending to the next level. It just didn’t get there for me.
Beth's Book Blurbs 