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Welcome to The Bastille Mysteries

The "Bastille Mysteries" is a series of crime & suspense novels set during the French Revolution.

 

The first is "The Eighth Prisoner" and takes place in 1789 as the Bastille falls. The second, "The Year of the Oath", is set in 1790 when all clergy are required to swear an Oath of allegiance to the State.  The third , set in 1791, is "Death a la Carte": the ruthless battle for control of Paris's  dining empire. The latest release, "Dead Radical", also set in 1791, centres on the desperate race to find and stop the ruthless "True Patriot" who is determined to derail the Revolution and all it stands for. 

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Each novel in the series stands alone & features 3 protagonists in particular: Rouget Maison of the Paris Police; Abbé Pierre Reynard & Christine Gilbert, his housekeeper's daughter.

 

Sometimes they work well together, and sometimes, as the Revolution gathers pace, they don't....

THE BOOKS

Paris. Early Summer, 1789. 
A desperate man stalks his faithless wife, but all he achieves is getting his own throat cut.


This is the first of a series of murders as Paris explodes into the French Revolution. 

The Eighth Prisoner is a Standalone Historical Crime Thriller that proves murder and murderers are not surplus to requirements, even in the Age of Terror. 

Side by side with events such as the Storming of the Bastille and the Women’s March on Versailles, a conspiracy weaves its way through French society at the highest and lowest levels. But who are the conspirators and what are their aims? 

Three very different people form an uneasy alliance.
A cynical, possibly corrupt but brilliant Inspector of Police.
A dedicated, but flawed Priest.
And a Young Woman, coming of age as the world around her changes forever.

Together they struggle against time and a ruthless hidden enemy, to solve an increasingly baffling series of murders. 

Someone is killing members of the clergy in increasingly bizarre ways. Rouget Maison and Inspector Drabert must find out who, in this gripping, fast-paced crime thriller set in the French Revolution.


It is 1790 and the French Revolution is moving fast. 
Catholic Church property has been nationalised and is being sold off to reduce the vast state debts. Monastic orders have largely been dissolved. King Louis XVl has been forced to accept the changes. Now, all clergy are being required to swear an Oath of Allegiance to the State.

Pierre Reynard, now promoted to Canon, struggles with his conscience over whether to take the Oath. Many of his colleagues have refused, and been expelled from France. Resistance is brutally crushed. 

Against this background, as though things were not bad enough, members of the clergy are being murdered, so fuelling the unrest. There are numerous suspects including a female assassin and a most unusual giant. 

It is Commissaire Rouget Maison’s task to stop the killings and arrest the murderers. In this, he is assisted by a new young, radical policeman, Inspector Jules Drabert, and obstructed by an old rival, Inspector Anton Fevrier, who hates everything the two of them stand for. 

Get your copy of this standalone novel that proves murder and murderers are not surplus to requirements even in the Age of Terror.

An ancient poison is resurrected as a ruthless struggle for control of the Capital’s dining empire begins. 


Inspector-General Rouget Maison, aided by his young protégé, Christine Gilbert, and Doctor Dernes, comes under intense political pressure to catch the killer.

 

Paris, Summer 1791. As the Revolution gathers speed, one business is booming: Restaurants. 
And where there’s money... there’s also murder.

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One restaurateur, Maurice Rives, is burying his father who has suddenly died, when he too becomes violently ill and collapses into the family grave screaming, “MURDERER!” But who among the onlookers is he pointing at?

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Further deaths rapidly follow, as the ranks of restaurateurs quickly diminish. Panic and anger grip Paris, and Maison must quickly uncover a complex web of conspiracy, revenge and betrayal. 

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As the body count mounts, no one is immune from the carnage - nor from suspicion.
 

Dead Radical, the fourth in the Bastille Mysteries series, starts in Paris in June 1791 as Louis 16th and Marie Antoinette return in disgrace after their abortive attempt to flee France.

 

Accomplished assassin,  has good reason to fear for her life. In addition to being hunted by the Paris police for a series of murders, she has also failed her employer, the “Mastermind” who heads an extensive, secret organisation dedicated to reversing everything the Revolution stands for. He styles himself and his goal is to re-establish a France that is truly Royal and Catholic.

 

He is prepared to give one, final chance: and provides her with a list of targets – mainly Radical politicians - who urgently need to be removed if this "appalling Revolution" is to be halted.

 

She takes full advantage of the massacre at the Champs de Mars demonstration to work her way swiftly through the list. The game quickly changes as Eloise is sent to London to dispatch two much bigger names. The action now rapidly alternates between Paris, London and Marseilles.

 

Inspector-General Rouget Maison is under intense pressure to halt the killings as the November election for the Mayor of Paris – his boss – is imminent. He assembles every available resource – even his rival, Inspector Fevrier, who despises all the Revolution represents – as well as his young protégé Christine Gilbert and the ancient Doctor Dernes. If he fails, Maison’s career looks finished. Even success may not be enough if the “wrong” candidate wins the election.

 

After many twists and turns in three different cities, an explosive climax is reached as the results of the election become known. At last he discovers the identity of the spider at the centre of the web he has been entangled with for so long. But not without a heavy cost to everyone involved.  

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Late summer 1792 and France is at war with Austria and its ally Prussia, whose forces are threatening to seize Paris and to slaughter all revolutionaries - and anyone else who gets in their way.

 

The situation reaches fever pitch as the thousand- year- old French monarchy is overthrown in a bloody insurrection and replaced by a republic. Opponents of the new regime are rounded up and sent to the Paris prisons where, at the start of September, over a thousand are massacred - including many priests who have refused to take the Oath of loyalty to the French nation.

 

Soon afterwards, a series of extraordinary thefts sees virtually all of the Crown jewels stolen from their barely-guarded location. Paris police chief, Inspector General Rouget Maison, is under immense pressure to solve these robberies and at the same time investigate a series of gruesome murders connected to a key government ministry.

 

Evidence mounts to show possible political motives behind both sets of crimes. Are they somehow linked? And do they reach to the very highest levels of revolutionary France, including Rouget's friend and political ally, Georges Danton? And can all of this be resolved before the Prussians storm the gates of Paris? 

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BOOK REVIEWS

AMAZON REVIEW

“The authors have a touch of Hugo and Emma Orczy about their writing."

"The combination of history and murder mystery is always compelling for me and this was a really good example of the genre. It was an absorbing read, and it's always a good sign when I can't be interrupted when I'm reading!"

ELIZABETH MARSHALL, AMAZON REVIEW

 

"I enjoyed too the historical context and insights into the turbulent times in France as well as the introduction of key figures of the time like Danton and Desmoulins. I look forward to reading the next novel in this Bastille series."

GILLIAN SMITH, AMAZON REVIEW

Ian Honeysett

 Ian is married to Jan with 3 children and lives in Godalming, Surrey. His other interests are painting and playing the ukulele.

Peter Stevens

Pete lives with his partner, Liz, in Walthamstow, London and enjoys cricket, theatre, badminton and chess. 

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