Claude Izner – författare

'A book of great charm, full of delightful historical detail and deftly written' Frank Tallis, author of Vienna Blood

'A ride into the Belle Époque in a time machine' Boris Akunin, author of the Erast Fandorin Mysteries

1889. As crowds rush to climb the newly unveiled Eiffel Tower, a young governess is borne up to its highest platform in the mayhem. Suddenly a scream rings out and onlookers turn away from the balcony - to find her dead. In the days that follow death strikes again and again across the city, claiming more victims who visited the tower that day.

Victor Legris, bookshop owner and amateur sleuth, is determined to find the killer. The trail leads him from art dealers to slumlords, buzzing newspaper offices to literary salons and even his own bookshop. And the more Victor investigates, the more he risks everything he holds dear.

'Terrific atmosphere... Full of drama' Susan Hill

In the dead of night at the labyrinthine Père-Lachaise cemetery, a wealthy widow vanishes without a trace. Her terrified maid can only think of one person to turn to: Madame's former lover, and owner of Paris's Elzévir Bookshop, Victor Legris.

Then both maid and mistress are found dead, and Victor is thrust into a perilous story of stolen art, occult practices and fiendish disguises. As his team of booksellers risk their lives to solve the case, the conspiracy they uncover threatens to ensnare them all.

'A tantalizing murder puzzle' Kirkus Reviews

1891. At dawn on the Boulevard Montmartre, the body of a barefoot young woman wearing a lavish red dress is found brutally murdered. That same day, a single red shoe is delivered to the Elzévir Bookshop, owned by amateur sleuth Victor Legris.

Victor and his team of booksellers feel compelled to investigate. When they discover a corpse in a wine barrel, and then a dancer strangled in her apartment, a treacherous trail unfolds through the gleaming nightclubs, bustling cabaret bars and dark alleyways of Montmartre.

MURDER COMES TO BELLE ÉPOQUE PARIS

Spring, 1892. A series of anarchist bombings have struck terror across Paris. In the chaos, the city's beloved Elzévir bookshop suffers a break-in: but the thief runs away with only a worthless decorative goblet. Then, the aristocratic Englishwoman who entrusted it to the bookshop is murdered.

It seems this goblet has a secret worth killing for. As the body count rises, Victor Legris and the Elzévir booksellers track the murderer across a city wracked by political turmoil in a deadly race to uncover the truth.

'An especially crafty solution' Publishers Weekly

1893. A deadly fire engulfs a Parisian bookbindery. Then, a celebrated artist is stabbed to death in the street. As panic spreads the police struggle to keep pace with a killer growing ever bolder.

Soon amateur sleuth Victor Legris and his bookselling team are on the case. But the murderer seems to be taunting them, leaving cryptic notes at every crime scene and even placing a death notice in the newspaper. Who is this theatrical killer, and can Victor untangle the mystery before they strike again?

'Tense, dramatic, and clever' Kirkus Reviews

A young seamstress wearing a velvet mask is strangled in Paris's La Villette district, a black unicorn medallion left beside her body. Within days two wealthy, respected men are found brutally murdered.

Victor Legris cannot resist this tantalizing puzzle, and soon he is embroiled in the shady dealings of a fashionable dressmaking workshop and a clandestine society of the rich and powerful. But he risks exposing secrets buried for decades, ones many people are desperate to keep hidden...