Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d'Art

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Harper Collins, Apr 3, 2012 - Fiction - 432 pages

“Christopher Moore is a very sick man, in the very best sense of that word.” —Carl Hiassen

A magnificent “Comedy d’Art” from the author of Lamb, Fool, and Bite Me, Moore’s Sacré Bleu is part mystery, part history (sort of), part love story, and wholly hilarious as it follows a young baker-painter as he joins the dapper  Henri Toulouse-Lautrec on a quest to unravel the mystery behind the supposed “suicide” of Vincent van Gogh.

It is the color of the Virgin Mary's cloak, a dazzling pigment desired by artists, an exquisite hue infused with danger, adventure, and perhaps even the supernatural. It is . . .

Sacré Bleu

In July 1890, Vincent van Gogh went into a cornfield and shot himself. Or did he? Why would an artist at the height of his creative powers attempt to take his own life . . . and then walk a mile to a doctor's house for help? Who was the crooked little "color man" Vincent had claimed was stalking him across France? And why had the painter recently become deathly afraid of a certain shade of blue?

These are just a few of the questions confronting Vincent's friends—baker-turned-painter Lucien Lessard and bon vivant Henri Toulouse-Lautrec—who vow to discover the truth about van Gogh's untimely death. Their quest will lead them on a surreal odyssey and brothel-crawl deep into the art world of late nineteenth-century Paris.

Oh là là, quelle surprise, and zut alors! A delectable confection of intrigue, passion, and art history—with cancan girls, baguettes, and fine French cognac thrown in for good measure—Sacré Bleu is another masterpiece of wit and wonder from the one, the only, Christopher Moore.

 

Contents

Title Page
The Women They Come and
The Wrestling Dogs of Montmartre Paris
Pentimento
Gentlemen with Paint Under Their Nails
Portrait of a Rat Catcher
The Blue Nude
Aphrodite Waving Like a Lunatic
Camera Obscura
Le Professeur Deux
The Woman in The Storeroom
We Are Painters and Therefore Somewhat Useless
The Little Gentleman
In The Latin Quarter
Trains in Time
The Dark Carp of Giverny

Nocturne In Black and Gold
Rescue
Breakfast at The Black
Copyright

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About the author (2012)

Christopher Moore is the author of seventeen previous novels, including Shakespeare for Squirrels, Noir, Secondhand Souls, Sacré Bleu, Fool, and Lamb. He lives in San Francisco, California.