Richard

The story was somewhat engaging and I enjoyed most of the characters. However, as usual, I picked the likely candidate for the mystery very early. Unusually (for me anyway), each step merely reinforced my guess. If you find Agatha Christy too predictable, you won't like this at all.

The narration was good.

This book captured life in Paris as viewed by the many Americans who went there to learn. I frequently found myself searching the web for images and works of many of these people. I certainly will appreciate the artwork of many of the American artists more, having read about their lives and their art.

An excellent portrait of what was going on behind the scenes. The writing and narration is engaging and detailed. This gives a much broader picture than the movie.

Another reviewer related this to the Count of Monte Cristo. There are some similarities in the basic premise of the two stories. However, I personally found that the characters in Monte Cristo and the story itself were far more interesting than those in My Mutual Friend. There are many readings of the Count of Monte Cristo. The one I listened to was the three-part unabridged version from Blackstone Audiobooks (2001) and read by Fred Williams.