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Summary
Summary
In the late 1600s, Louis XIV assigns Nicolas de la Reynie to bring order to the city of Paris after the brutal deaths of two magistrates. Reynie, pragmatic yet fearless, tackles the dirty and terrifying streets only to discover a tightly knit network of witches, poisoners and priests whose reach extends all the way to Versailles. As the chief investigates a growing number of deaths at court, he learns that no one is safe from their deadly love potions and "inheritance stews"--not even the Sun King himself.Based on court transcripts and Reynie's compulsive note-taking, Holly Tucker's riveting true crime narrative makes the characters breathe on the page as she follows the police chief into the dark labyrinths of crime-ridden Paris, the glorious halls of royal palaces, secret courtrooms and torture chambers in a tale of deception and murder that reads like fiction.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Tucker (Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Science Revolution) vividly brings to life a slice of Parisian history in this rigorously researched true-crime epic, set during the reign of Louis XIV. The book opens in 1665 with the murder of the city's criminal lieutenant, the public official with jurisdiction over most crimes committed in the city, who was stabbed to death by some inept burglars, followed by the poisoning of one of his colleagues, who resolved civil disputes, a year later. The embarrassment about these deaths led to the appointment of the first police chief of Paris, Nicolas de La Reynie, who began with reforms to literally clean up the filthy streets of the city and to deter nighttime crime with a massive campaign to install thousands of lanterns on most Paris streets. Eventually, he investigated the Affair of the Poisons, a series of crimes involving members of France's high nobility and reaching into the palace. The investigation led to the creation of a secret tribunal that imprisoned hundreds and executed more than 30 people. Although many documents were burned by the king himself after La Reynie's death, Tucker draws on other contemporary records to meticulously reconstruct this fascinating chapter in the annals of true crime. The result reads like a combination of the most compelling mystery fiction and Dumas's romances of twisted court intrigues. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
A university professor and expert on biomedical ethics, Tucker (Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution, 2011) has unearthed and brought to life a treasure trove of court documents and notes from Paris' first police chief, Nicolas de la Reynie, showing how poison was a longstanding weapon of choice to end political and sexual rivalries in the court of Louis XIV. Although Louis XIV himself fed the incriminating documents into a fire at Versailles immediately after the police chief's death, de la Reynie had made his own notes about The Affair of the Poisons, which Tucker combed through. This history partially focuses on how de la Reynie, who served as police chief from 1667 until his death in 1709, worked to rid Paris of its appalling filth and crime. It also provides stunning insights into the real filth of Louis XIV's reign, gilded, as in the Sun King's creation of Versailles, but rotten with duplicity and murder. Completely absorbing, especially because of the wealth of everyday life detail Tucker provides.--Fletcher, Connie Copyright 2017 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Historian Tucker (French & biomedical ethics & society, Vanderbilt Univ.; Blood Work) uses court records and diaries to reconstruct the Affair of the Poisons, a late 1600s rash of murders by poison with ties to witchcraft. Paris police chief Nicolas de la Reynie picks apart a thread of evidence exposed by torture and intrigue and uncovers a network of conspiracies that ultimately threatens even the life of King Louis XIV. Central to the story is Louis's string of mistresses, who navigate the complicated society of the royal court seeking to gain and retain influence as they rise and fall from favor with the king. Tucker adeptly juggles a wide-ranging cast of characters from Louis's mistresses to fortune-telling con artists to servants of the nobility, painting vivid scenes of interrogation chambers and back-alley plots. VERDICT Recommended for readers who enjoy their history mixed with scandal, blood, and deception. [See Prepub Alert, 9/26/16; "Editors' Picks," p. 28.]-Jason Puckett, Georgia State Univ. Lib, Atlanta © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Author's Note | p. xv |
| A Note on Currency | p. xvii |
| Burn Notice | p. xix |
| Part I "Day and Night They Kill Here" | |
| 1 Crime Capital of the World | p. 3 |
| 2 City of Light | p. 15 |
| 3 The Street at the End of the World | p. 26 |
| 4 To Market | p. 35 |
| Part II King of Hearts | |
| 5 Agitation without Disorder | p. 43 |
| 6 The Dew and the Torrent | p. 50 |
| 7 The Door Marked 1 | p. 55 |
| 8 "He Will ... Strangle Me" | p. 61 |
| Part III "She Will Turn Us All into Poisoners" | |
| 9 The Golden Viper | p. 69 |
| 10 "Madame Is Dying, Madame Is Dead!" | p. 73 |
| 11 Poison in the Pie | p. 77 |
| 12 An Alchemist's Last "Words | p. 80 |
| 13 The Faithful Servant | p. 84 |
| 14 "Brinvilliers Is in the Air" | p. 90 |
| Part IV "Cease Your Scandals" | |
| 15 House of Porcelain | p. 103 |
| 16 Offering | p. 111 |
| 17 "The Sneakiest and Meanest Woman in the World" | p. 114 |
| 18 "Burn after Reading" | p. 121 |
| 19 Dinner Guests | p. 126 |
| 20 The Question | p. 134 |
| 21 Monsters | p. 142 |
| Part V "She Gave Her Soul Gently to the Devil" | |
| 22 Quanto | p. 151 |
| 23 Search and Seizure | p. 158 |
| 24 A Noble Pair | p. 164 |
| 25 The Burning Chamber | p. 170 |
| 26 "Beginning to Talk" | p. 177 |
| 27 Fortune-Teller | p. 185 |
| 28 "From One Fire to Another" | p. 195 |
| Part VI Wicked Truths | |
| 29 The Poisoner's Daughter | p. 201 |
| 30 Sacrifices | p. 209 |
| 31 "A Strange Agitation" | p. 217 |
| 32 Lock and Key | p. 226 |
| Epilogue | p. 231 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 239 |
| Affair of the Poisons: A Chronology | p. 243 |
| Notes | p. 247 |
| Bibliography | p. 277 |
| Index | p. 297 |