Thoughts on : City of Light, City of Poison by Holly Tucker
City of Light, City of Poison: Murder, Magic, and the First Police Chief of Paris by Holly Tucker
Audio narration : Kate Reading
Genre : Non fiction, History
About the Book :
Appointed to conquer the “crime capital of the world,” the first police chief of Paris faces an epidemic of murder in the late 1600s. Assigned by Louis XIV, Nicolas de La Reynie begins by clearing the streets of filth and installing lanterns throughout Paris, turning it into the City of Light.
The fearless La Reynie unearths a tightly knit cabal of poisoners, witches, and renegade priests. As he exposes their unholy work, he soon learns that no one is safe from black magic—not even the Sun King. In a world where a royal glance can turn success into disgrace, nobles settle scores by employing witches to craft poisons and by hiring priests to perform dark rituals in Paris’s most illustrious churches and cathedrals.
As La Reynie continues his investigations, he is haunted by a single question: Could Louis’s mistresses be involved in such nefarious plots?
From secret courtrooms to torture chambers, City of Light, City of Poison is a gripping true-crime tale of deception and murder. Based on thousands of pages of court transcripts and La Reynie’s compulsive note-taking, as well as on letters and diaries, Tucker’s riveting narrative makes the fascinating, real-life characters breathe on the page.
My Thoughts :
City of Light, City of Poison has something for almost everyone : it’s a history book that oftentimes read as a novel, that teaches you about France’s past while retracing a fascinating murder investigation that involves poison, witches and, most delicious of all, royal gossip.
I don’t read a lot of non-fiction, but true crime is a category I can hardly resist. Especially when it takes place in one of my favorite cities in the world, and words like murder and magic are used in its title!
Sometimes history books can feel dry and boring, and some books & authors certainly are (often, purposefully, necessarily so); Holly Tucker’s book isn’t like that. It’s surprising and entertaining, and often reads like a gossip column, but without sensationalism. The author is careful in balancing the fun facts with the important details, keeping you interested while carefully portraying the situation.
I actually listened to City of Light, City of Poison, and the author’s passion really shined through the narration. On top of that, I need to give Kate Reading HUGE props for her work as a narrator. Being a native French speaker, I was expecting French words and names to be butchered, but she did an excellent job. I was seriously impressed, it was obvious she took great care of learning how to pronounce all these names, carefully enunciating each of them so that English listeners would have an easy time understanding, too. Let’s be honest, I probably wouldn’t do as good with English nobility’s names!
Overall, I really enjoyed my time as an observer in 17th century France. City of Light, City of Poison is a book I would probably like to revisit at some point on paper, as it would make it easier to link everything together in my head. But if you’re looking for a history book that’s not too dry or a true crime book that’s not too depressing, I can only recommend this one!
I’ve been in a non-fiction kind of mood lately and this sounds like the kind of non-fiction I love.