Slaves of Paris

The Mystery of Champdoce is the brilliant conclusion to Gaboriau's cycle of mystery stories, the Slaves of Paris. Starting years before the events of Caught in the Net, this sequel recounts the history of the Duke de Champdoce, revealing what misfortunes laid the groundwork for Monsier Mascarin's plot against him, a plot that can be solved only by Gaboriau's great detective, Monsieur Lecoq. Mascarin has learned a secret of the Champdoce family, and he concocts a plan to exploit it for his own ends, making use of his new disciple, Paul Violaine, and coming head to head once again with young Andre. Monsieur Lecoq, a major influence on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, must untangle the threads of a conspiracy decades in the making in order to take down Mascarin and his henchmen. The nineteenth-century sensation novel meets classic crime fiction as the mastermind Mascarin goes to work on his victims in a tale of fraud, extortion, murder, madness, and love. For those looking for more mysteries from Émile Gaboriau, Caught in the Net and The Mystery of Orcival are available on audio from Blackstone Publishing and Skyboat Media.

"Can it be true," she continued, "that scoundrels exist in our country who are viler than the most cowardly murderers-men who trade in the shameful secrets that they have learned, and batten upon the money they earn by their odious trade? I heard of such creatures before, but declined to believe it; for I said to myself that such an idea only existed in the unhealthy imaginations of novel writers."-Émile Gaboriau Caught in the Net centers on two young, penniless men who become trapped in a net of corruption and deception. Andre, a painter, is in love with Sabine, but they must meet in secret for Sabine comes from a noble family and Andre must prove his worth in society before they are able to marry. Monsieur Mascarin, a master criminal who obscures his dealings behind the facade of an employment agency, is also concerned with the marital status of Sabine, and while he wants to prevent her impending engagement to the man picked by her parents, it is not Andre he desires her to marry. Meanwhile Paul, a composer, is destitute and on the brink of starvation when a neighbor suggests he pays a visit to M. Mascarin's employment agency. M. Mascarin lifts Paul out of his impoverished existence only to use him as a pawn in his own treacherous game.