A Grand Exposition by Kim Idynne


A Grand Exposition
Title : A Grand Exposition
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : -
Format Type : Kindle Edition
Number of Pages : -
Publication : Published April 17, 2020

Paris, 1889. On the brink of economic recession and another civil war, France has managed to create stability by hosting the Exposition a showcase of industrialized countries and their colonial possessions. After a successful opening, Paris begins to thrive—but the newfound prosperity is threatened by the arrival of an English woman with a mysterious illness. When the woman vanishes without a trace from her hotel room, and the hotel’s manager and doctor deny her very existence, her daughter enlists the help of a London reporter. As they scour the city for traces of the missing woman, they find a key witness in Katharine Eliot. They seek her help, unaware that Katharine is already taking pains to protect herself and her family from a murderous elitist, and that she has close ties to the people involved in the woman's disappearance. As the city goes to extremes to prevent a mass exodus of the fair, Katharine must decide whether to risk everything to achieve justice for a stranger—and how far she will go to stop a killer.

A Grand Exposition Reviews

  • Happy Booker

    A grand exposition is a historical mystery set at the 1889 World’s Fair. It begins with Elizabeth, who has recently lost her husband and son. She moves to Delhi with her daughter, Charlotte, and is told to stay away from the Indian neighborhoods. Things take a turn when Elizabeth falls ill, and Charlotte returns to the hotel only to notice that everything is changed. Her mother is gone, the room looks different, and no one believes anything she says.


    The only person who is willing to help her is a London Daily Telegraph reporter, Albert Dawes. The two characters mesh very well as the adventure carries forward in a world and era where she finds unfamiliar.
    The story then takes another plot introducing a character named Katherine, who has spent years dealing with her father’s death. He was murdered by someone who was never convicted. The author then places all the characters in one place and intertwines the two storylines creating a fabulous ending.

    The tale is written well and makes you interested and intrigued, wanting to know what will happen. It had a nice flow to it. The author manages to make the reader bond with its characters, and due to the nature of the information being in the 1800s, I found it very appealing to read.
    I recommend this book to anyone interested in historical reading fiction.

  • Felicity Terry

    Inspired by a small article in a volume of the Readers Digest which described the disappearance of an English woman during the 1889 Exposition Universelle, Kim Idynne's story began as an exploration as to how such a disappearance could have been staged and, more importantly, just what impulses could have driven someone to such a crime in the first place.

    My goodness! Beginning March 1889, chapters that alternate between events that see the reader in both New York and Delhi and twists and turns aplenty, A Grand Exposition certainly maintains suspense. The slight downside to this for me being that the story didn't flow quite as well as it might have otherwise done.

    I always think the writing of characters must be difficult; the art of painting a picture of them, of having them appear authentic to the time and place in which the novel is set, of laying down the foundations as to the their personality whilst at the same time allowing the reader to build up a picture in their own mind cannot be the easiest of tasks. That the author managed this so well is to her credit.

    Just one of many well thought out characters in the novel, in particular I adored Diana who every night took precautions to ensure the safety of herself and her family, not least of which was the placing of beds (resting in bowls of shallow water to drown any ants) in the middle of the room in order that no animals could hide behind them.

    SUMMED UP IN A SENTENCE ... A psychological thriller in the tradition of Hitchcock, exotic locations, a feisty heroine and dastardly villains combined to make this an enjoyable read.

    Copyright ... Felicity Grace Terry @
    Disclaimer ... My thanks to the author, Kim Idynne, for providing me with a copy of her novel. No financial compensation was asked for nor received in my reviewing of A Grand Exposition.