Strangled in Paris

by Claude Izner, Jennifer Higgins (Translator)

Overview

Why would anyone strangle a humble seamstress with no known enemies? When newly-married bookseller Victor Legris is asked to solve the murder of Louise Fontaine in the abattoir district of La Villette, he is initially baffled by the case. But as the investigation progresses, Victor, along with his assistant and brother-in-law Joseph, discovers that in belle-epoque Paris young girls with no money or background are as ruthlessly preyed on as ever they were

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781906040376
Publisher:	Gallic Books Limited
Publication date:	08/15/2011
Series:	Victor Legris Mysteries Series , #6
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 7.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Claude Izner is the pen-name of two sisters, Liliane Korb and Laurence Lefevre. Both booksellers on the banks of the Seine, they are experts on nineteenth-century Paris.

Read an Excerpt

Martin Lorson was too terrified to utter a sound. He dared not move or even swallow, sure that the man must be watching him as a cat watches a sparrow, delighting in its fear. Would he jump out from one side, or from directly opposite him? Panic kept Martin Lorson curled up in a ball, shrinking against the railings. Was that creak the muffled sound of a knife being drawn? Was that shadow the fist of an assassin about to attack? Panting, he screwed his eyes shut and clenched his jaw. After what seemed like an hour but was only a few minutes, he managed to convince himself that there was nobody around. He tiptoed over to the woman, freezing at the slightest sound. He nudged her body with his foot. A corpse. As he greedily gulped down air, a medallion stuck between two paving stones caught his eye. Crouching down, he slipped it into his pocket, and noticed the remains of the cigarette that had fallen from the man’s mouth as he’d committed his crime. Lorson lit it and filled his lungs with smoke

Editorial Reviews

‘A charming journey through the life and intellectual times of an era’ Le Monde

‘Witty and creepy’ Independent on Sunday

‘Cracking’ The Guardian

‘Full of pungent period detail’ The Observer

From the Publisher

At the start of this brooding and atmospheric mystery set in belle epoque Paris, the sixth and best yet from Izner (the pseudonym of sisters Liliane Korb and Laurence Lefevre), lame recluse Corentin Jourdan rescues an attractive young woman, Sophie Clairsange, from a schooner wrecked during a powerful storm on the Normandy coast. After Sophie recovers from her ordeal, she heads to Paris, followed by Jourdan. About a month later in Paris, Martin Lorson, a professional stand-in for a variety of workers in need of a break, is serving one night as a watchman at the La Villette meat market, where, to his horror, he witnesses a man strangle a masked woman. The crime attracts the interest of bookseller and sleuth Legris, who’s tantalized by the one clue left behind by the killer: a medallion with an engraving of a unicorn. Tense, dramatic, and clever, this puzzle should deservedly broaden the series’ readership. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

2013-09-01
A sinister society provides a point of entry for sleuthing Parisian bookseller Victor Legris to solve a baffling series of murders. On the first Sunday in January 1894, as a violent storm wracks the Normandy coast, ship's captain Corentin Jourdan rescues a young woman from the icy water. After neighbors whisk her off to safety, Jourdan looks into her bag and is annoyed when he realizes that its contents compel him to travel to Paris. Once there, he awkwardly searches in the Tenderloin District for certain people whose names appear in a notebook from the girl's bag. Not far away, tippling vagrant Martin Lorson witnesses a murder: A man in a felt hat strangles a woman to death. Martin finds, near the body of the opulently dressed victim, an unusual black pendant that he pockets. Hoping to avoid claims of dereliction and also help his sad friend Martin if he can, watchman Alfred Gamache asks for help from Victor, who spends countless hours in his bookshop discussing local events with his assistant, Joseph, aka Jojo. Before Victor can gain any traction in the case of the murdered Louise Fontaine, Baron Edmond de La Gournay and famous couturier Richard Gaétan, both members of the unconventional Black Unicorn Society, are also found murdered under similar circumstances. Could they be connected to the dead Louise? Though Izner's sixth (In the Shadow of Paris, 2011, etc.) rambles quite a bit, the digressions provide a delightfully frothy wide-angle portrait of colorful belle-epoque characters and settings.

Kirkus Reviews