Overview

In the late 1600s, Louis XIV assigns Nicolas de la Reynie to bring order to Paris after the brutal deaths of two magistrates. Reynie, pragmatic and fearless, discovers a network of witches, poisoners, and priests whose reach extends all the way to the king's court at Versailles. Based on court transcripts and Reynie's compulsive note-taking, Holly Tucker's engrossing true-crime narrative makes the characters breathe on the page as she follows the police chief into the dark labyrinths of crime-ridden Paris, the halls of royal palaces, secret courtrooms, and torture chambers.

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9780393355437

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Reviews

Concise, clear and thorough, it [City of Light, City of Poison] is a highly readable and even gripping account... -- Historical Novel Society The best books of this type - of which City of Light, City of Poison is undoubtedly one - combine the narrative energy of crime fiction with the faintly prurient nature of true crime and the academic persistence of the specialist historian. -- Times Higher Education It [City of Light, City of Poison is excellent material for a romp... it is never less than gripping and enjoyable, animated by Tucker's eye for detail and the gruesomeness of events. -- The Sunday Telegraph Tucker is an assiduous researcher and a serious historian, but she also uses her imagination in the style of a novelist...[she] provides a splendidly detailed and at times disgusting picture of the criminal underworld of Paris, and of Madame Voisin and her collaborators. -- Literary Review

Tucker is an assiduous researcher and a serious historian, but she also uses her imagination in the style of a novelist...[she] provides a splendidly detailed and at times disgusting picture of the criminal underworld of Paris, and of Madame Voisin and her collaborators. -- Literary Review It [City of Light, City of Poison is excellent material for a romp... it is never less than gripping and enjoyable, animated by Tucker's eye for detail and the gruesomeness of events. -- The Sunday Telegraph The best books of this type - of which City of Light, City of Poison is undoubtedly one - combine the narrative energy of crime fiction with the faintly prurient nature of true crime and the academic persistence of the specialist historian. -- Times Higher Education Concise, clear and thorough, it [City of Light, City of Poison] is a highly readable and even gripping account... -- Historical Novel Society

City of Light, City of Poison . . . is part true crime, part history, and all scandal. -- Library Journal (Editors' Pick) Tucker . . . vividly brings to life a slice of Parisian history in [a] rigorously researched true-crime epic . . . [that] reads like a combination of the most compelling mystery fiction and Dumas's romances of twisted court intrigues. -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) City of Light, City of Poison is 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 Holly Tucker tells [this] story . . . with great gusto and with an amazing array of facts. City of Light, City of Poison conjures up 17th century Paris and makes it seem close to the present day. -- Jonah Raskin - New York Journal of Books An intriguing amalgam of historical evocation and crime narrative. . . . Tucker tells the story as if it were a classic whodunit, bringing alive an extremely complicated and baffling series of events. -- Thad Cahart - Newsday The book reads like Law and Order: 17th Century Parisian Poisoners Unit. -- Kelly Faircloth - Jezebel 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 A stylish study of crimes committed by the high and mighty during the 72-year reign of the Sun King. . . . Tucker writes with gusto . . . [and] finds high drama. -- Marilyn Stasio - New York Times Book Review

Concise, clear and thorough, it [City of Light, City of Poison] is a highly readable and even gripping account... -- Historical Novel Society The best books of this type - of which City of Light, City of Poison is undoubtedly one - combine the narrative energy of crime fiction with the faintly prurient nature of true crime and the academic persistence of the specialist historian. -- Times Higher Education It [City of Light, City of Poison is excellent material for a romp... it is never less than gripping and enjoyable, animated by Tucker's eye for detail and the gruesomeness of events. -- The Sunday Telegraph Tucker is an assiduous researcher and a serious historian, but she also uses her imagination in the style of a novelist...[she] provides a splendidly detailed and at times disgusting picture of the criminal underworld of Paris, and of Madame Voisin and he -- Literary Review

Author Information

Holly Tucker is the author of City of Light, City of Poison and Blood Work, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Times Literary Supplement Book of the Year, and is a professor of French at Vanderbilt University. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and Aix-en-Provence, France.

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