Palace of Justice
Louis XVI is in his grave, and Marie-Antoinette is on her way to trial. Paris is hungry, restless, and fearful in the autumn of 1793, and the guillotine’s blade is beginning to fall daily on the necks of enemies of the French Republic. Not even members of the republican government are safe from the threat of the Revolutionary Tribunal, where the only sentence for the guilty is death.
In this atmosphere of distrust and anxiety, police agent Aristide Ravel, while coming to terms with personal tragedy, must stop a ruthless killer who is terrorizing the city. Ravel soon learns, however, that hunting a murderer who strikes at random and leaves headless corpses on the streets, paralleling the ever more numerous victims of the guillotine, is a task that will lead him to dark, painful secrets and echoes from an even darker past.
(95,000 words; available as ebook and print)
Alleyn only gets better with each Ravel outing. She is not only conversant in French history but excels at character development. Her twisty plot reels out a single clue here and a hint there, leading the eager reader to an unexpected ending. Alleyn’s superb series will appeal to mystery readers who want brilliant characterization, an authentic historical setting, and a sense that they are walking the dark streets of Paris with Ravel during the Reign of Terror.” —Library Journal, starred review
Alleyn brilliantly captures the paranoid spirit of the times, and inserts enough twists to keep most readers guessing. This entry approaches the quality of the historical fiction of such authors as Steven Saylor and Laura Joh Rowland. —Publishers Weekly, starred review
A fiendishly clever and compelling mystery set in a grim, gripping vision of Paris where there is no justice, only shades of gray. —Kirkus Reviews
This fourth in the Ravel series brings a “you are there” experience to a blood-soaked era in history, once again making the point that personal ideology combined with power can produce tragic results. The revolutionary chaos of Paris seen from street level, where death lurks behind every edifice, is sure to strike a chord for readers who remember A Tale of Two Cities. —Booklist
This fourth in the Ravel series brings a “you are there” experience to a blood-soaked era in history, once again making the point that personal ideology combined with power can produce tragic results. The revolutionary chaos of Paris seen from street level, where death lurks behind every edifice, is sure to strike a chord for readers who remember A Tale of Two Cities. —Booklist
