It's the eve of the French Revolution. Fiscal crisis and social tensions brew. Anne Cartier, a headstrong young vaudeville actress at Sadler's Wells company in London hears terrible news. Her stepfather, the actor Antoine Dubois has mysteriously died in Paris. The official verdict: he killed his mistress, then himself. Anne enlists the aid of Colonel Paul de Saint-Martin and his adjutant Georges Charpentier of the royal highway patrol. But, in her search for truth, Anne befriends a deaf, illiterate seamstress with a talent for puppetry who gives Anne an entre into the Palais Royale. Her quest further confronts her with an amateur theatrical society of dissolute young noblemen; a tormented female botanist; a sadistic aesthete; a rich, well-connected financier; a professional assassin.
Unravelling the mystery tests Anne's nerve as well as her remarkable acrobatic skills. At a critical juncture in the investigation, she acts the part of an exotic queen in Indian costume at a reception. Priceless Indian jewelry disappears. Its owner, an aged count is murdered. And a venal police inspector threatens to derail Anne's project.
The story rises to a violent climax in a vast limestone caveoutside Paris where the city has begun to bury its dead. Historian O'Brien's debut novel is elegantly written as befits the times and explores borders between countries and between layers of society. Few have chosen to place a crime novel here. O'Brien makes us wonder why.
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Book Description
Picture the Scarlet Pimpernell as a woman--dealing with murder before the Terror made heads roll...
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
The bar for historical mysteries has just been raised, thanks to this masterly debut novel. Set in late 18th-century London and France, this is the story of a young woman's search for the truth in a society where appearance is all. Sadler's Wells actress Anne Cartier is anxious to leave London, where a rejected suitor threatens her bodily harm. She moves to Paris to continue her second career working with the deaf, and to investigate the reported murder/suicide of her much-loved actor stepfather, Antoine Dubois. The affair of the queen's necklace has distracted the Paris police from fully investigating the deaths of Antoine and his actress friend, but Anne finds evidence of the victims' having been involved in something much larger than a lovers' squabble. She seeks the aid and protection of Colonel Paul de Saint-Martin of the royal highway patrol, who's looking into a series of thefts from the chateaux surrounding Paris. Their attempts to find answers are hampered by not only the criminals but also a system corrupted by venality and the right of noble privilege. At the same time, their own tenuous relationship is threatened by the stratified society of patronage and privilege in which they live. This is a truly wonderful first novel elegantly written, complex in both its characters and its plotting, and wearing the author's scholarship and erudition lightly. O'Brien, a retired history professor, deserves a strong following both among mystery readers and readers of novels in the tradition of Charles Palliser. This is great stuff; please, may we have more?
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.From Booklist
What begins as a deceptively simple mystery--Who killed Anne Cartier's actor stepfather?--becomes an increasingly complex story enriched by its setting, Paris in 1786. Anne, also a performer, is brought to Paris from London by the handsome Colonel Saint-Martin at the behest of a patron of Anne's family. Determined to learn the circumstances surrounding Antoine's death, Anne becomes enmeshed in the Paris theatrical scene and the dark shadows that surround it. While some authors would be content with one backdrop, O'Brien expertly weaves in another. Anne has parlayed her skills as an actress into a second profession: she is also a teacher of the deaf, employing methods she has learned in England and perfects in France. Her two skills dovetail neatly as she strives to solve not one but several murders and reveal the identity of a jewel thief as well. The plot is as circuitous as the streets of Paris, with something interesting lurking around every corner. The bold actress/teacher makes an intriguing heroine, and the pre-revolution period proves particularly hospitable as the backdrop for a mystery series. An auspicious debut. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting history, coincidence solves the mystery,
By
This review is from: Mute Witness (Hardcover)
When she learns of her stepfather's death, Anne Cartier joins handsome Colonel Paul De Saint-Martin in a trip to Paris. She is certain that he could not be guilty of the murder and suicide that the French officials have accused him of. Once in Paris, however, Anne learns that her stepfather's death is part of a larger scheme--a scheme involving some of the most important men in Ancien Regime France and huge thefts of precious jems and art works. Through a repeated series of lucky coincidences, Anne, a teacher of the deaf, discovers a secret witness to the murder her stepfather was accused of, narrowly averts being abducted into a sadists lair, and discovers the secrets of the jewel thefts that shock all of France. Despite a complete unwillingness to take any precautions, Anne somehow manages to survive, eventually uncovering the full magnitude of the plot. Author Charles O'Brien has set his historical mystery, MUTE WITNESS in the fascinating time immediately before the French Revolution. France continues to reel under the debt load it took on in its efforts to help America win its independence and is held hostage by bankers with ever-greater power. Thomas Jefferson walks the streets of Paris and Voltaire, Rousseau, and the other intellectual giants of the enlightenment are remembered firsthand. Underdeveloped characters and a string of lucky coincidences marr a novel that shows real promise.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very well written,
This review is from: Mute Witness (Hardcover)
In 1785, France is predominantly a two-class society with the frivolous aristocracy running roughshod over the common folk and the small bourgeoisie. Nowhere is that more indicative than the so-called justice system where very little evidence is needed to throw a peasant in jail. The privileged hide behind their wealth and position to stop any charges being brought against them.The alleged murder-suicide case of Antoine Dubois and Lelia La Plante is based on skimpy circumstantial evidence to draw such a conclusion. Antoine's stepdaughter Anne rejects the official position. At the invitation of Countess Maria she comes to France accompanied by her nephew Colonel Paul de Saint Martin of the Royal Highway Patrol. Marie confides in Anne that there is more to Antoine's death than a simple suicide. Working together with Maria and Paul, Anne goes undercover where she begins to find proof that a double murder occurred. As she steps closer to the truth, several influential people want her to end her investigation or they will dispatch her just as they did her stepfather. Charles O'Brien uses the fictional narrative to show why the wide gap in class structure led to the revolution. The historical background allows the clever story line to easily flow over it. The heroine refuses to back down from her quest to obtain the truth. Before they realize it, readers are flowing along with the absorbing plot that makes MUTE WITNESS a riveting historical mystery. Harriet Klausner
4.0 out of 5 stars
18th Century France,
By Lyn Reese (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Mute Witness (Paperback)
Here the reader is transported back to England and France, principally Paris and its environs, on the eve of the French Revolution. Anne Cartier, an English music hall entertainer who has become a teacher to the deaf in Paris, begins the dangerous task of tracking down the mysterious death of her beloved stepfather, Antoine. The aristocratic Colonel Paul de Saint-Martin, whose family she knew as a child, aids her in this effort as she enters the decadent world of the French aristocracy and ambitious merchants who callously treat the classes below them with contempt. Throughout there are brief indications of the looming storms of revolution, most vividly expressed by Saint-Martin who questions the concept of "noble privilege."
O'Brien gives us glimpses of Parisian theater life, helping to explain Anne's unconventional spirit and acrobatic feats as she more than once puts herself in danger while trying to uncover the true culprits. Her actions seem a bit unreal for the time, and more could have been made of the lives of ordinary Parisians. But there are many bits of interesting historical accurate information here. Among them is Anne's association with France's deaf institute. Also note the Royal Highway Patrol, references to various luminaries such as Thomas Jefferson, Marie Antoinette, and Voltaire, and the influence of enlightenment beliefs and the Masonic Lodge. Laudably, the low status of actresses in Anne's time is indicated. But given this, the indications of a potential marriage between Anne and the Colonel seem improbable. A love affair yes, a marriage most likely no. The book includes a map of 1786 Paris and an author's afternote. This is the first of three books featuring Anne Cartier.
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