The Murdered House: A Mystery [Hardcover]

Pierre Magnan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 10, 2009

From one of Frances’s leading crime writers, whose The Messengers of Death was named by Publishers Weekly as one of their 10 Best Mysteries of 2008, comes this exceptional classic mystery.

At the turn of the century in Upper Provence, a family is violently massacred. The sole survivor of the tragedy is a three-week-old baby. Twenty years later, the orphaned survivor returns home to avenge his family’s killers. Then unexpected secrets set in motion a dreadful unveiling of the past...

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This disappointing mystery from French author Magnan (The Messengers of Death) opens in 1896 Provence with the slaughter of Séraphin Monge's family at their house, La Burlière, when he was three weeks old. After WWI, the orphan, ex-soldier and road worker returns home to uncover the reasons behind the murders and avenge them. The confession of a dying prior centers Séraphin's suspicions on three villagers; a secret cache of gold coins and the deaths of two of the suspects raise more questions than they answer. A lack of actual detection, an inconsistent period tone, a too-scrupulous translation, the use of inadvisable footnotes and abrupt shifts in tense and points of view slow and ultimately sink the narrative, which closes with an unconvincing ending. First published in 1984, this book won France's Best Novel of the Year Award. (Nov.)
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About the Author

PIERRE MAGNAN is an award-winning French crime writer who publishes his novels to rave international reviews. The Murdered House is his third mystery to be published by Minotaur Books in the U.S.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (November 10, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312367201
• ISBN-13: 978-0312367206
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,650,682 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The angry, vengeful youth at the novel's center will speak to readers regardless of their native language, December 28, 2009

By 

Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Murdered House: A Mystery (Hardcover)

One of the most exciting trends in mystery fiction over the past several years has been the availability for American readers of mysteries originally published in other languages. Traditionally, literature in translation has been a hard sell for the American reading public. However, with bestselling mystery series from international authors, mystery lovers in the United States are bucking that trend.

Some of the most widely-read international mystery novelists are those from Scandinavian countries; now, with the publication of Pierre Magnan's THE MURDERED HOUSE, aficionados are bound to discover that the French also possess their own talent for suspense. Magnan's novel was originally published in France in 1984 (when it won Best Novel of the Year), but its rich plot and evocative setting make it just as chilling today.

The novel begins in 1896, in the Alps of Upper Provence. A somewhat tense family scene opens the book, in the last minutes before all the members of a young family are murdered in their home, La Burlière. The only surviving family member is the three-week-old baby, Séraphin Monge, whose own father (or is he?) has his doubts about his wife's fidelity and the child's paternity even in the moments before his own violent death.

Twenty-three years later, Séraphin returns home to Provence. He was raised an orphan, with no real understanding of the tragedy with which his life began. His mind has been more concerned with recent horrors, namely those in the bloody trenches of World War I. But when he hears the story of his family's gruesome death and sees the stains and scars that still mar the family home, he becomes obsessed with two things: destroying the scene of the crime and tracking down those responsible. When the prime targets themselves turn up dead before Séraphin can do the job himself, the mystery grows increasingly complicated.

THE MURDERED HOUSE is notable not only for introducing American readers to a newly translated voice in suspense fiction (this is Magnan's third novel to be published in the U.S. in the past two years) but also for its unusually rich, atmospheric setting. As readers may guess from the title, the house in which the Monge family's murders occurred becomes as much a character as Séraphin himself: "Life was ebbing away from the building with every stone that hit the ground and every piece of lime that quietly disintegrated. Its lamentation could be heard in the voice of the tall holly-oaks moaning in the wind. The whispering ruins invited him to consider their dismal example, the fragments to which they had been reduced."

Patricia Clancy's translation from the French may strike some readers as overly faithful to the original; others may appreciate the somewhat foreign-sounding phrasing and, particularly, the inclusion of original Provence dialect and definitions thereof in footnotes. But the suspenseful, foreboding setting and the angry, vengeful youth at the novel's center will speak to readers regardless of their native language.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Who killed Marie?, August 18, 2010

By 

Joe - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Murdered House: A Mystery (Hardcover)

OK. I sludged thru this. Finally got to the 60 year later epilogue. Who is this guy talking to Marie? Why does he kill her?

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars dark and mesmerizing, February 1, 2010

By 

R. Grenier (St. Louis, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Murdered House: A Mystery (Hardcover)

This book was difficult to get into, but the longer I read it, the more absorbed I became. I think it would make an interesting movie or play. The plot twists and turns in all directions. The play and movie "Sleuth" comes to mind. I really enjoyed this book and considered buying it but I'm not sure I would read it again.