The above 1898 illustration of the police dealing with a suicide on a bridge in the Parc des Buttes-Chaumont is very close to what might have been art created for American author Gary Inbinder’s The Hanged Man, a mystery taking place in fin de siècle Paris.
Poor Inspector Achille Lefebvre. He’s so much looking forward to spending a delightful holiday with his beautiful wife Adele at a seaside resort when he is called to a bridge in one of Paris’ public parks where a man is hanging dead at the end of a rope.
Fans of the author's first novel in his Inspector Lefebvre series, The Devil in Montmartre, are in for a special treat: Achille once again must employ new technologies such as fingerprinting, photography and encryption to crack the case but the story behind this death on a park bridge quickly expands and thus The Hanged Man makes a shift from urban crime fiction to international thriller.
First to last page, we are in Paris following Achille and other colorful characters in the unfolding drama as they make their way through the twisting streets of Montmartre to the Portre de Clignancourt, from the studio of artist Toulouse-Lautrec to a famous Parisian cabaret. Since I wholeheartedly agree with Stephen King that book reviewers usually give far too much away when reviewing mysteries, I'll avoid plot and shift to highlighting a batch of key players and elements a reader will encounter in this compelling tale:
Inspector Achille Lefebvre, One - By reputation, the greatest detective in all of Paris, a man known not only for his integrity and maintaining the highest professional standards but also for his gentlemanly demeanor, keen intellect, creative imagination and interest in literature and the arts. One a personal note, I especially enjoyed Achille's reflections sprinkled throughout the novel on Guy de Maupassant, Victor Hugo, Auguste Renoir and other writers and artists.
Inspector Achille Lefebvre, Two - The good inspector is a dedicated family man and family plays its part throughout. First and foremost there's his wife Adele. While standing in the nave of the Sainte-Chapelle, Achille reflects on the words from Genesis: "Let there be light." And we read: "Even if God existed, Achille could not touch Him, but he could embrace his wife's warm flesh, feel the softness of her lips against his mouth. He could see their combined images in their children. Her loving light, something radiant yet tangibly human, could guide him through this investigation with its twists and turns like a dark Montmartre back alley." Achille and Adele and their two small children live with Madame Berthier, his mother-in-law, in her high class Paris apartment. On coming home late one evening, Achille muses: "At least the dragon's in her lair." Ah, the dynamics of home life.
Lev Dmitryevich Kadyshev – The man found hanging dead. Originally from Russia where he studied medicine, a note is pinned to the breast of his jacket written in modern Russian, a verse taken from the Bible: “And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.” Such mystery surrounding this gentleman with brown beard, about age forty-five.
Mme Nazimova – Elderly Russian owner of a bookshop specializing in rare books who, when asked by Achille, decodes that note written in Cyrillic characters pinned to the dead man’s chest. Turns out, her late husband met Kadyshev at university in St. Petersburg when they studied medicine together. Mme Nazimova and her husband remained in contact with Kadyshev when they immigrated to Paris but Mne claims she has not seen or heard from him in over a year, ever since the death of her husband. Achille must ask: How much is Mne Nazimova telling the truth and what, if anything, is she concealing. With each subsequent meeting at the bookshop, the inspector’s answers to these questions require serious adjustment.
Suspects: Two men loom as possibilities in having a hand in the murder. A burly Russian with political ties by the name of Boguslavsky and a cat burglar with the skill of an acrobatic clown. With each additional clue, the excitement builds - and Achille knows time is of the essence since any delays will in all probability cost the lives of many innocent men and women. Rumors are flying all across the city. Even Madame Berthier tells Achille she heard a theory put forth by Mmn Gros, a woman in the know: "Berlin's behind it. The hanged man was a double agent and the Germans found him out." The inspector recognizes this just might be true since the case now touches on at least four countries: France, Russia, Germany and Britain.
The Okhrana - Russian secret police created following the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881. For more than thirty years, this secret police force has been monitoring and on occasions clamping down on groups perceived as a threat to the autocratic power of the Russian Empire. Mme Nazimova, Boguslavsky - how deep is the connection between the hanged man and the Okhrana? Yet another set of mysteries Achille must unravel.
The Zone - This complex case has Achille pay a visit to the chiffoniers, that is, the Paris rag pickers and beggars, and meet with Le Boudin, king of the chiffoniers. Le Boudin tells Achille he knows two men best for the job at hand. Also his daughter Dalphine, a daughter who just so happens to be one of the hot Paris dancers and has an emotionally charged past relationship with our inspector.
Inspector Rousseau - Not only must Achille deal with his own Chief and Assistant but also his former partner, Rousseau, an officer now heading up the Political Division, the very man who botched his end of the investigation during the previous case where they worked together. So the question remains: Did Rousseau mangle their detective work through sheer negligence or was there a deeper, shadier reason behind his action? One thing is for sure, as he investigates all the angles on his current case, Achille must watch his every step.
The City of Paris - So many tantalizing, striking scenes within the City of Light. "Around ten o'clock on a mild summer evening, the benches and tables outside the Lapin Agile were running over with chattering customers. The cramped barroom was packed to the walls with men and women discussing art, literature, politics, the happenings of the day and plans for the evening and early morning, raising a din within a yellowish haze of tobacco smoke and sputtering lamplight." I encourage you to pick up a copy of The Hanged Man and join the adventure.
Novelist and essayist Gary Inbinder currently resides in Southern California
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