#Paris In July Gaboriau

• Author: Émile Gaboriau (1832-1873)
• Genre:  Crime fiction (pg 612)
• Trivia: French writer, novelist, journalist,
• …pioneer of detective fiction
• Title:  Dossier 113
• Published:  1867
• #ParisInJuly

• On the surface, the crime seems simple.
• A bank’s secure safe is robbed.
• One of the two men who holds the key must be guilty.
• One key-holder is the bank’s owner who lives above the bank.
• The other is the bank’s trusted manager
• …a man like a son to the owner.
• What if neither is guilty?
• How did this safe, with every security measure known
• and employed at the time, get robbed?
• Leave it to Monsieur Lecoq of the Surete, a policeman of many disguises.
• Book in 5 words:
• Truth – deceit – betrayal – lies – murder.

Last thoughts:

• Strong point: What a convoluted plot!!
• I wanted to read something I could sink my teeth into
• …well I got it!
• Strong point: M. Lecoq seems to be 2 steps ahead of everyone!
• The book is filled with all the delights of detective CF:
• Letters:
• Plot turns on the bundle of letters.
• They are passed from character to character.
• The reader feels tension about the letters
• …concealment, interception, destruction or revelation ?

• Eavesdropping behind curtains
• Spying through keyholes
• Secretly removing bullets from a gun
• Carriage (fiacre) trick (…very clever!)

• Disguise!
• M. Lecoq is a master in disguise.
• This reader had to really concentrate
• Another name, description …”Is this Lecoq or not?”
• The sleuth even managed to disguise himself
• …while he was already in another costume.
• When I think of M. Lecoq the best description
• …he is a series of Russian babushka dolls!
• The reader is always waiting to see when the
• outer layer will disappear!

• It is a pity the name Émile Gaboriau has been
• rather forgotten in the list of great detectives.
• He was a source of inspiration for Conan Doyle.
• I find his novels are anchored in reality
• his investigations are skillfully crafted and
• …in the end Gaboriau ties up all the loose ends!
• The book also paints a naturalist
• …painting of the ‘belle epoque’ in Paris!
• Don’t hesitate to try one of Gaboriau’s books
• I read in in French and it took me 10 days.
• The language was easy to read but I read word for word
• …not wanting to miss a clue!
• Book is available in English on Amazon.