The Black Tower

The Black Tower
by Louis Bayard
William Morrow, 2008. 352 pgs. Historical mystery.

During the French Revolution Louis-Charles, second born but only living son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, disappeared. Known as the “lost dauphin,” he is believed to have died in prison in 1795. From this historical event, Louis Bayard has written in "The Black Tower" a tale of suspense, murder, and intrigue in high places about the possible fate of the young prince. Historical figures fill these pages, most notably Eugène François Vidocq, a criminal turned police officer who became head of the Sûréte Nationale during the Napoleonic era and who, as the father of modern crime detection, was the inspiration for characters ranging from Poe’s C. Auguste Dupin to Hugo’s Jean Valjean. The story itself is narrated by a Doctor Hector Carpentier whose father attended the young prince when he was confined in the Temple (aka, the Black Tower) in an horrific situation, deprived of sunlight—of any light but the occasional candle--and surrounded by mold, piles of excrement, maggots, rats, and roaches. But did the dauphin somehow live? That is the burden of this deeply engaging tale as Dr. Carpentier is drawn almost instantly into his unexpected adventure when a man he has never met is murdered on the way to see him. Nonstop action follows, steeped in the rich detail of Restoration France. The larger-than-life Vidocq brings Dr. Carpentier along in more ways than one, as an aide in his investigations and by way of bringing him to his manhood, and to becoming his father’s son. And does the dauphin yet live? Read the book to find out—or not.

LW