Author: Ashley Gardner
Publisher: Jennifer Ashley
ISBN: 1941229646
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 151
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Book Description
This anthology brings together three short mysteries in the Captain Lacey series: The Necklace Affair (novella); and The Gentleman's Walking Stick and The Disappearance of Miss Sarah Oswald (short stories). In The Necklace Affair, Captain Lacey agrees to help a society matron discover what has become of her expensive diamond necklace and to clear her maid, who has been arrested for its theft. Lady Clifford declares that the rival for her husband's affections has stolen the necklace, but Lacey soon realizes that the problem is not so simple. He quickly becomes enmeshed in scandal and past secrets, and recruits Grenville and Lady Breckenridge to assist him. As he investigates, he finds himself competing with the underworld criminal, James Denis, for the necklace's retrieval. In The Gentleman's Walking Stick, Captain Lacey is asked to retrieve a walking stick, which embroils him in an affair of theft, deception, and betrayal. In The Disappearance of Miss Sarah Oswald, Lacey hunts for a missing young woman, learning more about a family's sordid secrets than he wanted to know. Events in these stories occur between the end of The Sudbury School Murders and the beginning of A Body in Berkeley Square.
Author: Guy de Maupassant
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141915293
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 436
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Book Description
Set in the Paris of society women, prostitutes and small-minded bourgeousie, and the isolated villages of rural Normandy that de Maupassant knew as a child, the thirty-three tales in this volume are among the most darkly humorous and brilliant short stories in nineteenth-century literature. They focus on the relationships between men and women, as in the poignant fantasy of 'A Parisian Affair', between brothers and sisters, and between masters and servants. Through these relationships, Maupassant explores the dualistic nature of the human character and his stories reveal both nobility, civility and generosity, and, in stories such as 'At Sea' and 'Boule de Suif', vanity, greed and hypocrisy. Maupassant's stories repeatedly lay humanity bare with deft wit and devastating honesty.
Author: Jonathan Beckman
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1848549997
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 426
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Book Description
'A hell of a tale and Jonathan Beckman gives it all the verve and swagger it deserves . . . I read it with fascination, delight and frequent snorts of incredulity' The Spectator On 5 September 1785, a trial began in Paris that would divide the country, captivate Europe and send the French monarchy tumbling down the slope towards the Revolution. Cardinal Louis de Rohan, scion of one of the most ancient and distinguished families in France, stood accused of forging Marie Antoinette's signature to fraudulently obtain the most expensive piece of jewellery in Europe - a 2,400-carat necklace worth 1.6 million francs. Where were the diamonds now? Was Rohan entirely innocent? Was, for that matter, the queen? What was the role of the charismatic magus, the comte de Cagliostro, who was rumoured to be two-thousand-years old and capable of transforming metal into gold? This is a tale of political machinations and extravagance on an enormous scale; of kidnappings, prison breaks and assassination attempts; of hapless French police disguised as colliers, reams of lesbian pornography and a duel fought with poisoned pigs. It is a detective story, a courtroom drama, a tragicomic farce, and a study of credulity and self-deception in the Age of Enlightenment.
Author: Countess De La Motte
Publisher: Legare Street Press
ISBN: 9781019591284
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
This gripping memoir tells the true story of a scandal that rocked the French court in the 18th century. It is a must-read for fans of historical true crime. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Author: Guy de Maupassant
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191606006
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 453
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Book Description
This selection of twenty-seven stories shows Maupassant at his comic, cruel, and brilliant best. In addition to the poignant title story, it includes one of the most famous tales ever written, The Necklace , and Le Horla, an account of a disintegrating personality that chillingly parallels the author's own decline into madness. All the stories demonstrate his genius for invention and his ability to write unblinkingly about the absurdity of the human condition, supporting Henry James' claim that in the annals of story-telling, Maupassant stands `like a lion in the path'. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
Author: Frances Mossiker
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN: 9781842126141
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 624
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Book Description
Four years before the French Revolution some priceless diamonds - they cost 1.8m francs, 'the price of a battleship' - were purchased in elaborate secrecy from the court jeweller of France, presumably for Marie Antoinette and at her own instructions. The necklace - not yet paid for - was delivered into the hands of Cardinal Prince de Rohan, first prelate of the Church of France. He in turn gave it to the Countess de La Motte-Valois, who claimed to be acting for the Queen. Although essentially an innocent bystander amidst this chicanery, Marie Antoinette became embroiled in a scandal which fatally weakened the monarchy.
Author: Alexandre Dumas
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : France
Languages : en
Pages : 460
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Book Description
Author: Honoré de Balzac
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 846
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Book Description
Author: Tori Telfer
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062956043
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 325
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Book Description
The true crime author of Lady Killers presents a roundup of history’s most notorious female con artists and their bold, outrageous scams. From Elizabeth Holmes and Anna Delvey to Frank Abagnale and Charles Ponzi, audacious scams and charismatic scammers continue to intrigue us. As Tori Telfer reveals in Confident Women, the art of the con has a long and venerable tradition, and its female practitioners are some of the best—or worst. In 18th century Paris, Jeanne de Saint-Rémy scammed the royal jewelers out of a priceless diamond necklace by pretending to be best friends with Queen Marie Antoinette. In 19th century Rochester, NY, Kate and Maggie Fox accidentally started a religious movement by pretending they could speak to spirits. In the 20th century, a woman named Margaret Lydia Burton embezzled money all over the country—and stole upwards of forty prized show dogs. A few decades later, a teenager named Roxie Ann Rice scammed the entire NFL. Confident Women investigates how these and other notorious women were able to so spectacularly dupe and swindle their victims . . .
Author: Antal Szerb
Publisher: Pushkin Press
ISBN: 1908968788
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 317
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Book Description
"A sparkling slice of eighteenth-century life" Paul Bailey, Independent In August 1785 Paris buzzed with scandal. It involved an eminent churchman, a notorious charlatan, a female fraudster, a part-time prostitute and the hated Queen herself. At its heart was the most expensive diamond necklace ever assembled—and the web of fraud, folly and self-delusion it had inspired. In Szerb's last major work, a witty and often surprising account of events, the story is used as a standpoint from which to survey the entire age. Written in war-torn Hungary in the early 1940s, it constitutes a remarkable gesture of defiance against the brutal world in which the writer lived and died.
