MadrigalIn Nazi-occupied France, a French-German detective team must solve a murder in Avignon’s Papal Palace—“Plenty of atmosphere and a great setting” (The Globe and Mail). Six hundred years before the Germans conquered Paris, the pope came to Avignon to rule the Roman Church from afar. In January 1943, Jean-Louis St-Cyr and Hermann Kohler visit the former Papal Palace—not as tourists, but as detectives. Where once the pope spoke to God, a woman has had her throat cut. Her corpse seems to have appeared from out of the past. Despite the strictures of wartime rationing, she died in finery, costumed in the ermine and silk of a Renaissance courtier. She appears to have been killed with a scythe, pulled across her neck in one swift stroke, like a shepherd slaughtering a sheep. Wartime Avignon is a small city, steeped in the jealousy that occupation encourages. As St-Cyr and Kohler dig into the city’s past, they find motives for murder that predate the Nazis by centuries. |
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absinthe Adrienne de Langlade asked Kohler audition Avignon Babylonian Captivity Basso Continuo beekeeper bees Biron Bishop Rivaille Bonnevies breath Brother Matthieu cabochons Cagoule centimetres César Charonne Christiane Bissert cigarette damn dark door everything eyes Father Michel Forgive France Frau von Mahler Führer Genèvieve Gestapo girl Grand Tinel grey hair hand happened hell Hermann Herr Kohler Inspector Ispettore Josiane killed knew Kommandant Kripo La Cagoule look Louis Madame Simondi Mademoiselle madrigal Maître maquis Marie-Madeleine matter Merde Mireille de Sinéty Monsieur murder never night Nino Obergruppenführer Palais Paris partner Passe Peretti perhaps Pont Saint-Bénézet Préfet Renaud ROBERT JANES Schaumburg Schlacht sighed silently singers sister softly Spaggiari Sûreté tell things thought Kohler thought St-Cyr told took Tower Verdammt voice waited Walther P38 wanted watched Wehrmacht wife wondered Kohler Xavier