The Clock Struck Murder

February 5, 2024
Webb’s ingratiating second mystery featuring American expat Zoe Barlow (after Lost in Paris) once again puts its lead on a collision course with real-life historical figures. In 1924 Paris, Zoe is hard up for money, and still hoping Pinkerton operatives back in the States will locate her missing daughter. After her favorite porcelain clock breaks, her search for a replacement leads to a flea market in Montparnasse, where she buys a new clock from vendor Laurette Belcoeur, only to find, when she gets home, that it’s been wrapped in a painting by Marc Chagall. Baffled by the artwork’s shabby treatment and convinced that Laurette must not have known what it was, Zoe returns to Montparnasse to track down the vendor. After much poking around, she discovers Laurette bludgeoned to death in her storage shed, her corpse next to a stack of other Chagalls. With the police overcommitted to combating petty crime as Paris prepares to host the Olympics, Zoe sets out to solve Laurette’s murder herself, and in the process uncovers evidence of another killing. The plot’s similarity to the previous entry—in which missing Hemingway writings lead Zoe to investigate two murders—shows signs of rote formula, but Webb’s vivid evocation of 1920s Paris wins out in the end. Francophiles will have fun. Agent: Jill Marr, Sandra Dijkstra Literary.