Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Mar 2017
336 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Information
The fascinating story of Nicolas de La Reynie, the first Police Chief of Paris.
Appointed to conquer the "crime capital of the world," the first police chief of Paris faces an epidemic of murder in the late 1600s. Assigned by Louis XIV, Nicolas de La Reynie begins by clearing the streets of filth and installing lanterns throughout Paris, turning it into the City of Light.
The fearless La Reynie pursues criminals through the labyrinthine neighborhoods of the city. He unearths a tightly knit cabal of poisoners, witches, and renegade priests. As he exposes their unholy work, he soon learns that no one is safe from black magic?not even the Sun King. In a world where a royal glance can turn success into disgrace, the distance between the quietly back-stabbing world of the king's court and the criminal underground proves disturbingly short. Nobles settle scores by employing witches to craft poisons and by hiring priests to perform dark rituals in Paris's most illustrious churches and cathedrals.
As La Reynie continues his investigations, he is haunted by a single question: Could Louis's mistresses could be involved in such nefarious plots? The pragmatic and principled La Reynie must decide just how far he will go to protect his king.
From secret courtrooms to torture chambers, City of Light, City of Poison is a gripping true-crime tale of deception and murder. Based on thousands of pages of court transcripts and La Reynie's compulsive note-taking, as well as on letters and diaries, Tucker's riveting narrative makes the fascinating, real-life characters breathe on the page.
"Starred Review. Tucker draws on other contemporary records to meticulously reconstruct this fascinating chapter in the annals of true crime. The result reads like a combination of the most compelling mystery fiction and Dumas's romances of twisted court intrigues." - Publishers Weekly
"Recommended for readers who enjoy their history mixed with scandal, blood, and deception." - Library Journal
"A fierce tale of conspiracy and retribution… Thanks to Tucker's sympathetic necromancy and her luscious resurrection of everyday detail, even in gilded palaces the human psyche seems familiarly deceitful and self-justifying." - Michael Sims, author of The Story of Charlotte's Web and Arthur and Sherlock
"City of Light, City of Poisonis not only a serious, meticulously researched work of nonfiction, it is an irresistible story. Full of danger, mystery, and excitement, it will keep you up well into the night, marveling at this forgotten world of dark intrigue." - Candice Millard, author of Hero of the Empire
"In her fascinating book, Holly Tucker fuses history and mystery to create the dramatic effect of a novel while remaining true to the real-life plots and poisons of France's seventeenth century… A genuinely illuminating study of a remarkably amoral moment in human history." - Deborah Blum, author of The Poisoner's Handbook
"At once bewitching and chilling, the dark story of toxic intrigue, murder, and mayhem in the Sun King's France reads like the most gripping thriller, thanks to Holly Tucker's storytelling flair and relentless research." - Adrienne Mayor, author of The Poison King
"Imagine a novel full of sex and betrayal, conspiracy and politics, murder and magic, detective work and justice. Holly Tucker has written one - except this isn't fiction: it just reads like it." - Malcolm Gaskill, author of Witchfinders
"Tucker's narrative is rich in document and detail, while never losing sight of these historical events as a compelling police procedural, unfolding at a moment when the process of modern police investigation was just being invented." - Elizabeth C. Goldsmith, author of The Kings' Mistresses
This information about City of Light, City of Poison was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Holly Tucker is a professor in the Department of French and Italian as well is in the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt University. She is the author of Blood Work: A Tale of Medicine and Murder in the Scientific Revolution, which was a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist and a Best Book of the Times Literary Supplement and Seattle Times. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and Aix-en-Provence, France.
The Flower Sisters
by Michelle Collins Anderson
From the new Fannie Flagg of the Ozarks, a richly-woven story of family, forgiveness, and reinvention.
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
