The Bitter Path of Death

Monsieur Pinaud #25

by Pierre Audemars

From Paris to the Touraine countryside, Monsieur Pinaud encounters a myriad of dangerous obstacles in his investigation of the murder of Parisian jeweler Edmond Laroche

Genres: Mystery

175 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1982

Reviews

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the 25th book in the Monsieur Pinaud mystery series, but it features an investigation from early in the Sûreté officer's career when, as he says, he "was young and ignorant." He was certainly a young, reckless driver (witness his excessive speed and three accidents--helped by someone sabotaging his cars, but still). But, although he claims he was young and ignorant, he had already gained a reputation for investigation and the ability to handle cases that seemed insoluble. Here his Chief asks him to investigate the stabbing death of a wealthy, celebrated jeweler named Laroche. He was found dead in his first floor office and had been stabbed in the back of the neck with a short thin knife. Nothing has been stolen and nothing in the office has been disturbed. The weapon is gone; there are no clues and no real motive to be found. It sounds like just the case for Pinaud.

He soon finds that a master watchmaker who often did work for Laroche did have an argument with him the night before the jeweler's death. It seems that Laroche had seduced his daughter and now there is a baby on the way. Monsieur Capet had demanded that Laroche do right by the girl, but Edmund Laroche had only laughed in his face. Capet had promised to return the next night, the night of the murder, to make sure that Laroche acknowledge his duty. Did he return, get turned down again, and then stab the man in anger? But would Laroche have turned his back on an angry father? What about the girl's brother? Had he gone instead of Capet and had he wielded the deadly knife? Or maybe there's more to Laroche's secretary than meets the eye? She had access to everything at the office. And then there's the odd fact that Laroche's own mother seems to think Laroche deserved what he got. Would his own mother have killed him? Pinaud discovers the answer, but still regards the case as one of his failures.

This is a decent mystery, but it feels rather unpolished--perhaps in an effort to give readers a feel of what Pinaud was like when he was "young and ignorant." But after twenty-four other books I expected it to be stronger. It also has an odd feel to it--if Audemars were French and this had been translated, then we could blame it on the translation. As it is, it appears that Audemars has gone out of his way to make it appear to be a translated work with certain infelicities. The plot was workmanlike and believable--but the culprit was certainly no surprise to me. More red herrings would have been welcome and perhaps a few more credible suspects would have helped as well. As an aside: I do have to say that if I were Pinaud's Chief, I would be very reluctant to trust the man with a second car...let alone a third one. Knowing that he loves to drive fast and seems to have a bottomless well to pour drink into...well that doesn't make for a great driver. I hesitate to give this the same amount of stars as the previous review (another mystery series set in France), because this one is superior. But I can't see giving The Bitter Path to Death any more than ★★★. [note to self--go back and adjust previous rating]

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.

[Nancy · Rating 1 out of 5]

this is a very strange book. I mean, I expect French books to be strange, but this is strange in an atypical way. It's a mystery whose hero, M. Pinaud of the Surete, never misses an opportunity for a good meal or a good, bad or indifferent bottle of wine. And the author never misses a chance to tell the reader all of his heroic qualities--sheesh!
However, I will try him again. He wrote more than 30 books, and this was one was the next to last, after he had been writing them for almost 40 years, so maybe he powers were weakening at this point. we'll see.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a case he considers one of his failures, M. Pinaud of the Surete investigates the murder of a Parisian jeweler.