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Title details for Death in the City of Light by David King - Available

Death in the City of Light

The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris

by David King
Paul Michael
Audiobook
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The gripping, true story of a brutal serial killer who unleashed his own reign of terror in Nazi-Occupied Paris.
As decapitated heads and dismembered body parts surfaced in the Seine, Commissaire Georges-Victor Massu, head of the Brigade Criminelle, was tasked with tracking down the elusive murderer in a twilight world of Gestapo, gangsters, resistance fighters, pimps, prostitutes, spies, and other shadowy figures of the Parisian underworld. But while trying to solve the many mysteries of the case, Massu would unravel a plot of unspeakable deviousness.
 
The main suspect, Dr. Marcel Petiot, was a handsome, charming physician with remarkable charisma. He was the “People’s Doctor,” known for his many acts of kindness and generosity, not least in providing free medical care for the poor. Petiot, however, would soon be charged with twenty-seven murders, though authorities suspected the total was considerably higher, perhaps even as many as 150.
Petiot's trial quickly became a circus. Attempting to try all twenty-seven cases at once, the prosecution stumbled in its marathon cross-examinations, and Petiot, enjoying the spotlight, responded with astonishing ease. Soon, despite a team of prosecuting attorneys, dozens of witnesses, and over one ton of evidence, Petiot’s brilliance and wit threatened to win the day.
Drawing extensively on many new sources, including the massive, classified French police file on Dr. Petiot, Death in the City of Light is a brilliant evocation of Nazi-Occupied Paris and a harrowing exploration of murder, betrayal, and evil of staggering proportions.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    September 20, 2011

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780307967213
      • File size: 398707 KB
      • Duration: 13:50:38

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      As if there wasn't enough death on the battlefields of WWII, here is a book that uses new research to tell the true account of a serial killer who terrorized Paris during the Nazi occupation. It combines the best elements of both historical and crime writing, using snappy language to tell a riveting story. Narrator Paul Michael makes it sound like a fictional murder mystery, using his deep, expressive voice to capture the case's twists and turns as it moves around the French capital. Michael is equally adept at reading narrative and dialogue, and even provides a terrific French accent to give authentic voices to the characters. There are some gory descriptions, but Michael doesn't dwell on them or let them undermine the author's larger points. R.I.G. (c) AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from August 1, 2011
      In 1944, when Parisian police entered a mansion littered with dismembered, rotting bodies, they thought of the Gestapo, but it turned out to be a purely French affair. Historian King (Vienna 1914) has mined the resulting global media circus (not only in France; Time magazine covered it) and extensive official records to tell a gripping story. The villain was a textbook psychopath, Dr. Marcel Petiot: a charming but heartless liar. Despite spending 20 years in and out of police courts, he won elections to local offices in the provinces only to be dismissed for petty crimes. Moving to Paris, he sold narcotics to addicts under the guise of treatment. During the German occupation, he offered to smuggle people out of France, murdering them when they arrived for the journey carrying their valuables. He went to the guillotine proclaiming himself (despite overwhelming evidence) a resistance hero, who killed only Nazis and collaborators. This fascinating, often painful account combines a police procedural with a vivid historical portrait of culture and law enforcement in Nazi-occupied France. Illus.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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