On the night of November 23, 1407, Louis I, duke d’Orléans (1372-1407), younger brother of Charles VI (1368-1422), was violently murdered in Paris, France, by a group of masked assailants who escaped on horseback. Initially, investigators had little information but tasked a local detective named Guillaume de Tignonville (d. 1414) to find Louis’s killers. This book caught my attention due to my fondness for true crime material. The title alone gave me the idea that the material might be macabre, and to a certain extent it is. However, it is also a classic detective story with a plot twist that is shocking and unbelievable. Author Eric Jager takes us back to medieval France in 1407 to unravel a murder that sent chills down my spine.

Prior to reading the book, I was not aware of this historical event and had little knowledge of medieval France. As a result, the book felt like a new lesson in world history. I must warn readers that Louis’s murder is gruesome, and the description of the crime by the author is graphic. The crime is horrific, but what I also noticed was the descriptions of the living conditions for Parisians and the system of rule under Charles and Louis. Frankly, life in the medieval era was not for the faint of heart. Dysentery, pestilence, famine, and warfare routinely threatened people as they did their best to survive each day. After learning about daily life, the story changes when a mysterious man in a robe appears looking for a place to rent. After initial difficulty, he succeeds in renting space from a local family who could not have known that this act would set off a chain of events which lead to the duke’s assassination.

The back story to the duke’s reign is discussed, and it becomes apparent that Louis is anything but ordinary. Further, he has a few vices which earned him his fair share of enemies. And even for the medieval world, some of his actions were both appalling and egregious. The lead investigator de Tignonville finds himself facing a monumental task in finding the duke’s assassins. And here is where the art of solving crimes takes center stage. There are no modern-day forensic tools, this is a classic whodunit with the investigator using the established process of elimination and a laser focus to track down the murderers. But when his investigation takes him to a place he never expected, the story takes a sharp turn which guarantees the fallout will leave no one unscathed.

When the murderer was revealed in the book, I recoiled in shock. But as Jager explains the history between Louis and the person who plotted his death, the pieces of the puzzle fall into place. A deadly cat and mouse game had developed ensured that France would never forget its blood climax. Eventually, the public learns of the plotter’s identity, but what happens next is nothing short of surreal. In fact, it will make you question the concept of justice. Humiliation and absurdity become recurring themes, and even the famed detective is not immune. Complicating matters are personal issues among people in high positions of power, which are centered around fame, money, and infidelity. I guess in that sense, not much has changed today. Louis’s death left the nation in a vulnerable position and when England becomes aware of the turmoil in Paris, all bets are off, and the suspense heightens as conflict arrives at France’s doorstep. The descriptions of violent encounters and their aftermath are raw but also show the reality of those on the losing end of conquest during that time. Invasion was merciless and there was little pity for the losing side. But France did not take British encroachment lying down, and many Frenchmen would answer the call to serve at the Battle of Agincourt (October 25, 1415). Sadly, some people we learn about do not survive the conflict. But their determination to resist Brutal rule in service of France is noted.

Francophiles may possess in depth knowledge of this time in the country’s history. But for the rest of us learning for the first time, Jager’s book is a good place to begin. It is a well-researched and thorough account of a vicious crime that is straight out of a horror film. And that crime brought France to the brink of ruin. It is a case study of the dangers of greed and gratuitous violence. Paris is a different country today, but it too has its dark past which comes alive in the pages of this investigative report which will satisfy the curiosity of true crime lovers.

“Louis’s murder had plunged France into a bloody civil war, leading to a devastating English invasion under Henry V, followed by a brutal foreign occupation that began to lift only with Joan of Arc”.

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00CO7FI54
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Little, Brown and Company; Illustrated edition (February 25, 2014)