THE PARIS ENIGMA - Softcover

Santis

3.32

1,399 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007269021 ISBN 13: 9780007269020

Publisher: Harper, 2009

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Review:

‘It had me purring with pleasure’ Daily Telegraph

‘An entertaining read, moving at a clip towards a pleasingly unpredictable conclusion... there are some fine ideas, a rich sense of unfolding history and some nicely judged moments of philosophical whimsy and dry wit... amusing’ Time Out

‘A smooth translation... exciting’ TLS

‘Discriminating general readers as well as whodunit fans will enjoying this outstanding puzzler... de Santis conjures up a veritable Justice league of master sleuths... intelligent and entertaining’ Publishers Weekly

‘A beguiling historical whodunit’ New York Times

‘Murder and mayhem... colourful characters and cases create a hazy atmosphere of intelligent escapism’ Washington Post

‘A complex whodunit that provokes thought as well as entertainment’ San Francisco Chronicle

From the Publisher:

How did you get into writing?

I became a father at a young age: in 1984 my eldest son, who at the time was a baby, pulled my only typewriter onto the floor. At that time, Fierro, the comic strip magazine, which had just been launched, organized a comic strip competition. As the first prize was a typewriter I sent in a script. My story won the prize and so I started writing scripts for Fierro, where comic strips were interspersed with articles about political literature, science fiction and genre films. During the 80s and at the start of the 90s I was very much linked with comic strips, as Editor in Chief of Fierro, and scriptwriter and editor for other magazines. I have to this day the Remington typewriter that I won in that first competition.

Where did the idea for a club of elite detectives come from?

The first thing I imagined was a red ink stamp which read The Twelve Detectives. From that point I carried on imagining: The Universal Exposition as setting, the Eiffel Tower as the ‘weapon’ of the crime, the progressive Paris facing up to esoteric Paris, and above all, the relationship between the detectives and their assistants. Everyone likes Sherlock Holmes – I was always interested in Watson. He isn’t the smartest, but he is a sensitive man and he is the one charged with recounting the story.

Is this the real Paris we see here?

I took advantage of a trip to Paris to see again the locations in the story. However, I never use reality as the starting point in order to invent, rather, once I have thought of the story, I try to ensure that it doesn’t clash with real setting and events. I think that what distinguishes a narrative world is personal conviction and the discovery of a centre, right insider the story, where the imagined and the lived can fuse.

A very different era of policing existed in 1889. Do you feel it is relevant to modern sensibilities?

In some way the clash that exists in the novel between positivism and esotericism can relate to our age. Faith in scientific advances has not completely diminished mystical thought, which grows in the very area where knowledge leaves a void. What is more, the battle between science and mysticism is not only a battle between knowledge and belief: it’s a war of metaphors, a war of symbols.

How do you feel about the modern crime genre?

The novel is an attempt to reclaim the poetical roots of the crime genre: flee the world of expert forensic science (which is everywhere on TV) to regain the spirit of the old-style detectives, who through avoidance of all romanticism and through solitude, ended up being romantic figures themselves. The love of reason is also a passion, and frequently one that is uncontrolled.

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