The Châtelet Apprentice (A Nicolas Le Floch Investigation)

By Jean-François Parot

Book Overview

Adapted for television in France, the first of the Nicolas Le Floch mysteries tells the story of murder against the backdrop of the glittering court of Louis XV.'Has all the twists, turns and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1906040060
• ISBN13: 9781906040062
• Release Date: September 2013
• Publisher: Gallic Books
• Length: 403 Pages
• Weight: 0.96 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 1.3" x 5.0"

Customer Reviews

Fascinating!

I didn't know what to expect when I bought this book. It had been reviewed in the magazine the Economist so I figured it couldn't be all that bad. It turned out to be even more enjoyable then I had imagined. The story takes place in 18th century France. The main character is an engaging young Breton, Nicholas le Floch, who shortly after entering the police force in Paris is called upon solving a puzzling crime. The plot is well thought out. What makes the novel truly riveting however is the multitude of details about life in France two and a half centuries ago. The author, a diplomat and a historian, has a knack for weaving fascinating information into the story. His style is sophisticated and cultured. He describes with equal ease the gruesome (such as the way a net was tied from one side of the river Seine to the other to catch corpses that might have been thrown in there) and the delectable (he gives several mouth watering recipes that call for unusual ingredients). One word of caution: The vocabulary used in this book is not for beginners! Although French is my first language, I found myself looking up words in the dictionary more than once. It was a pleasure for me to come across such a rich writing style but it may be frustrating to those readers who expected everyday parlance. Note: the second book in the series, "L'homme au ventre de plomb" is in my opinion even better than the first.