The Crypt Thief

A Hugo Marston Novel, Book 2

By: Mark Pryor

Narrated by: Todd McLaren

It's summer in Paris, and two tourists have been murdered in Père Lachaise cemetery in front of Jim Morrison's grave. The cemetery is locked down and put under surveillance, but the killer returns, flitting in and out like a ghost, and breaks into the crypt of a long-dead Moulin Rouge dancer. In a bizarre twist, he disappears under the cover of night with part of her skeleton.

One of the dead tourists is an American and the other is a woman linked to a suspected terrorist; so the US ambassador sends his best man and the embassy's head of security - Hugo Marston - to help the French police with their investigation.

When the thief breaks into another crypt at a different cemetery, stealing bones from a second famed dancer, Hugo is stumped. How does this killer operate unseen? And why is he stealing the bones of once-famous can-can girls?

Hugo cracks the secrets of the graveyards but soon realizes that old bones aren't all this killer wants...

©2013 Mark Pryor (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"The clever antagonist leads [Marston] on a merry chase that will keep the reader entertained throughout." (RT Book Reviews)

Loved it!

I’m now trying to read all the books in his series. Very entertaining, great narration.

Great chases!

murder, law-enforcement, paris, madness, serial-killer, audiobook

Hugo Marston is an exceptional investigator with a complicated past, as is his old friend Tom, and then there are Capitale Raul Garcia and reporter Claudia. They work kind of together to solve some really difficult but overlapping cases, including Tom's worsening alcoholism. The main thing is identifying and stopping a madman with a horrible agenda. Very well done!
Todd McLaren is the excellent narrator for this series.

Suspense all the way

I loved the way I was kept in suspense all the way through.
I've listened for a 2nd time.

Tedious but still entertaining

The storyline seemed to stretch out and was contrived at points. The Marston and Greene characters are enjoyable nonetheless. And overall even though not the best crime novel it was worth the time, I will probably wait before diving into any more of this series.

An ugly and brutal story

made it about halfway through before quitting.. A particularly brutal and ugly story with few redeeming characteristics.

Even Worse Than The Previous Book

After listening to the first book in the series, I was hoping for some improvement in this second book. Unfortunately, I could not get passed chapter 9. The book starts off with gruesome murders that one might expect from a crime novel, not a mystery. There are unrealistic, cliche, boring and outdated conversations between the ex FBI agent, main character, Hugo and his alcoholic friend/assistant,Tom, who is also ex FBI and currently associated with the CIA. I would equate it to the 1950's black & white crime tv series, Dragnet, with heinous crimes thrown in for added shock value. What's more, when listening to the dialogue between Hugo and Tom, I actually envisioned the characters from the 1987 comic remake film of Dragnet that starred Dan Akroyd and Tom Hanks, but sadly I didn't find this book remotely funny. If you enjoy old crime novels in addition to grisly murders, then this might be the book for you.

Not believable

As the saying goes in reality, things just don't work this way... Just about every police detail is wrong, from tactics to weapons to basic knowledge, it's off.