Customer Reviews

Monsieur Lecoq: The Widow LeRouge

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Emile Gaboriau published his first detective novel, The Widow Lerouge, in 1866. His detectives have amazing powers of observation and deductive reasoning - qualities that Arthur Conan Doyle would borrow to create Sherlock Holmes. Holmes would eventually usurp the popularity of Gaboriau's sleuths.

I mourn the near murder of this French author, because he's an absolute gem. The Widow Lerouge offers a multi-layered plot full of intrigue and suspense. The characters are fascinating. And Gaboriau's style is polished, witty and engaging in the best nineteenth-century manner.

Madame Lerouge occupies a fine home in a French village and dresses handsomely. When she's found stabbed to death on her hearth, the villagers declare they know nothing about her, after twelve years of being her neighbors.

The police chief assumes robbery is the motive, but his aid-de-camp Lecoq reads the crime scene quite differently. He suggests calling in Père Taboret, a rich old man who amuses himself solving mysteries. Two rival investigations ensue, as the pros and the amateur pursue their own theories.

The Widow Lerouge has a wealth of juicy themes: the arrogance of aristocrats, the complexities of inheritance, professional and romantic rivalries, unbridled greed, undying love and the astonishing spectacle of good people led astray by their very virtues.

Père Taboret is a delightful sleuth - logical, vain, impetuous and bizarre in appearance. His worst enemy is his own cleverness, his second worst enemy the judge he mistakenly influences in a wrong direction. Oddly, although Lecoq's name is in the title, he appears only briefly; he'll reappear in later books.

Thanks to Holmes, decent printings of Gaboriau's novels are hard to find! I picked carefully through Amazon's listings of crude digital reprints to find this quite readable edition. Having discovered Gaboriau, I intend to explore his work further. To my mind he's one of the greats.