The Châtelet Apprentice: Nicolas Le Floch Investigation #1. Jean-Francois Parot

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      Praise for The Châtelet Apprentice

      ‘Reading this book is akin to time travel: it is an exhilarating portrait of the hubbub and sexual licence of Paris during an eighteenth-century carnival … The period detail is marvellously evocative, Le Floch is brave and engaging, and even though the story takes place almost 250 years ago, it is curiously reassuring that in many ways, Paris, and human nature, have not changed at all.’ Economist

      ‘Parot succeeds brilliantly in his reconstruction of pre-revolutionary Paris, in splendid period detail’ Times

      ‘A solid and detailed evocation of pre-revolutionary France – the poverty and squalor, side by side with the wealth and splendour, are brought lovingly to life. And the plot has all the twists, turns and surprises the genre demands.’ Independent on Sunday

      ‘A terrific debut. … Working without modern investigative techniques in a police force reliant on torture, Le Floch confronts the ethical dilemmas of the period in a novel that brilliantly evokes the casual brutality of life in eighteenth-century France.’ Sunday Times

THE

       CHÂTELET APPRENTICE

      JEAN-FRANÇOIS PAROT

      Translated from the French by Michael Glencross

      For Madeleine and Edouard

      This work is published with support from the French Ministry of Culture/Centre national du Livre

      CONTENTS

       Title Page

      Dedication

      Plan of Nicolas Le Floch’s Paris

      Dramatis Personae

      The Châtelet Apprentice

      PROLOGUE

      I THE TWO JOURNEYS

      II GUÉRANDE

      III DISAPPEARANCES

      IV DISCOVERIES

      V THANATOS

      VI EROS

      VII SOUND AND FURY

      VIII BETWEEN SCYLLA AND CHARYBDIS

      IX WOMEN

      X TWISTS AND TURNS

      XI FAR NIENTE

      XII THE OLD SOLDIER

      XIII IN AT THE KILL

      XIV DARKNESS

      XV HUNTER AND QUARRY

      EPILOGUE

      Notes

      Acknowledgements

      About the Author

      Copyright

       NICOLAS LE FLOCH’S PARIS

       DRAMATIS PERSONAE

      NICOLAS LE FLOCH : an investigator appointed by the Lieutenant General of Police in Paris

      CANON FRANÇOIS LE FLOCH : Nicolas Le Floch’s guardian

      JOSÉPHINE PELVEN (known as FINE) : Canon Le Floch’s housekeeper

      MARQUIS LOUIS DE RANREUIL : Nicolas Le Floch’s godfather

      ISABELLE DE RANREUIL : the marquis’s daughter

      MONSIEUR DE SARTINE : Lieutenant General of Police in Paris

      MONSIEUR DE LA BORDE : First Groom of the King’s Bedchamber

      GUILLAUME LARDIN : a police commissioner

      PIERRE BOURDEAU : a police inspector

      LOUISE LARDIN : Commissioner Lardin’s second wife

      MARIE LARDIN : Commissioner Lardin’s daughter by his first marriage

      CATHERINE GAUSS : a former canteen-keeper, the Lardins’ cook

      HENRI DESCART : a doctor of medicine

      GUILLAUME SEMACGUS : a navy surgeon

      SAINT-LOUIS : a former black slave, Semacgus’s servant

      AWA : Saint-Louis’s companion and Semacgus’s cook

      PIERRE PIGNEAU : a seminarist

      AIMÉ DE NOBLECOURT : a former procurator

      PÈRE GRÉGOIRE : the apothecary of the monastery of the Discalced Carmelites

      LA PAULET : a brothel-keeper

      LA SATIN : a prostitute

      BRICART : a former soldier

      RAPACE : a former butcher

      OLD ÉMILIE : a former prostitute, a soup seller

      MASTER VACHON : a tailor

      COMMISSIONER CAMUSOT : the head of the Gaming Division

      MAUVAL : Commissioner Camusot’s henchman

      OLD MARIE : an usher at the Châtelet

      TIREPOT : a police informer

      CHARLES HENRI SANSON : the hangman

      RABOUINE : a police spy

       PROLOGUE

       Prudens futuri temporis exitum

       Caliginosa nocte premit Deus…

      ‘Knowing the future,

      God conceals the outcome in darkest night …’

      HORACE

      On the night of Friday 2 February 1761, a horse-drawn vehicle was laboriously making its way along the highway that leads from La Courtille to La Villette. The day had been gloomy, and at nightfall, sullen skies had unleashed a fierce storm. If anyone had been keeping a watch on this road they would have noticed the cart pulled by a scrawny horse. On the seat, two men stared into the darkness, the black flaps of their capes partly visible in the gleam of a shabby lantern. The horse kept slipping on the wet ground and stopping every twenty or so yards. Two barrels thudded against each other, jolted about by the ruts in the road.

      The last houses in the faubourgs disappeared, and with them the few remaining lights. The rain ceased and the moon could be glimpsed between two clouds, casting a bluish light over a countryside enveloped in a shapeless, drifting mist. Hillsides covered with brambles now rose up on either side of the track. For some time the horse had been tossing its head and tugging nervously at the reins. A persistent smell hung in the cold night air, its lingering sweetness soon giving way to an appalling stench. The two shadowy figures had pulled their cloaks down over their faces. The horse stopped, let out a strangled whinnying and flared its nostrils, seeking to identify the foul smell. Even when lashed with a whip, it refused