The First Detective: The Life and Revolutionary Times of Vidocq: Criminal, Spy, and Private Eye

by James Morton

He was the Inspector Morse, the Sherlock Holmes, the James Bond of his day. A notorious criminal in his youth, he became a police officer and employed a gang of ex-convicts as his detectives. He developed innovative criminal indexing techniques and experimented with fingerprinting, until his cavalier attitude towards the thin blue line forced him out of the police. So he began the world’s very first private detective agency. The cases he solved were high profile, and gradually he grew in notoriety. However, his reputation didn’t prevent him from becoming a spy and moving secretly across the dangerous borders of Europe. The First Detective is a gloriously enjoyable historical romp through the eighteenth century in the company of the man whose influence on law enforcement still holds to this day.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, True Crime, France, Crime, Mystery

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 30, 2005

Reviews

[Jessi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well. This book took me nearly seven months to read. I heard about it on the "Classic Mysteries" podcast and the guy described Vidocq as the prototype for Sherlock Holmes as well as characters from Poe and Dumas. If I hadn't lent the book to my father and then taken two months to get it back, and then not picked it up for another two months, I probably would have read the first fifty pages and called it good.
Vidocq is an interesting character who goes from criminal, to policeman, to the man who opened what could be called the first private detective agency. Of course, most of this information comes from autobiographies and his memories, but his more public works (as head of the Surete) are part of public record.
James Morton is an okay writer but someone did not do a good job of editing this book. I found several grammar and spelling errors (there are one or two in every book, but this was excessive) and the story jumped around so much that I could barely follow what was going on. We not only jumped around Vidocq's timeline, but around with other characters as well. Yes, other authors do this, but not quite this much and with much better aplomb. I found myself skimming the last hundred pages just to get it done.

[Paul Agapow · Rating 4 out of 5]

A entertaining slice of history. The construction of the book is awkward in some ways (a slight assumption you already know who Vidocq is, a fascination with minor details like exact dates and amounts, the occasional unintelligible sentence due to multiple qualifiers: e.g. "It is not impossible to deny that this did not happen ...") but the story of Vidocq is largely an excuse for the author to tell scores of colorful stories and details, some of which are admittedly only tenuously linked to the eponymous detective. But they are interesting stories, and it's obvious a formidable amount of research has gone into the book.

[L Greyfort · Rating 1 out of 5]

Um, no.....No, no.....no.....NO.

This is NOT the first Sherlock Holmes detective. This is the first slimy-guy-you-hire-to-take-pictures-of-your-cheating-husband detective.

Therefore, pretty boring and monotonous.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting tale of Eugene-Francois Vidoq, the petty thief who became head of the Paris police in the early 19th century. It is almost too complete and I got bogged down at times trying to keep the various criminals straight before they became police informers or lost their heads. The literary connections are quite interesting. Later in his life he became friends with Balzac, de Maupassant, and Victor Hugo and some of his cases and anecdotes were worked into several of their novels and short stories.

[Claire]

Wonderful. Intelligent, witty and very entertaining, this is the kind of historical writing that really brings the people, places and events of the past alive. Morton writes with great zest about the life of Vidocq, a man who crossed the boundaries between criminal and law enforcement officer with consumate ease, managing to make this egotistical and priapic character seem almost likeable and noting his subject's faults and foibles with a wry amusement. This is a beautifully written, beautifully researched and erudite piece of writing which is a great pleasure to read.

[Alex Sarll]

A classic poacher turned gamekeeper (indeed, those are the titles of the book's two sections), Eugène-François Vidocq inspired two characters in Les Miserables, which would probably impress me more if I'd ever seen Les Mis, but is already pretty cool, as well as Arsene Lupin and Poe's Dupin. He starts off as a classic example of a right little bastard; the first four chapters are entitled Vidocq Against His Parents; Vidocq Against His Wife in Particular; Vidocq Against Women in General; and Vidocq Against the Gypsies. Having already been an inveterate criminal in his teens, he nonetheless blames bad company once he finally comes to adult trial, and proceeds to escape from prison more times than the average Batman villain, generally employing either ruses you can't believe would ever have worked, or else implements he's literally pulled out of his arse. Each time he then gets banged up again for equally stupid reasons, things like joining a travelling show and then insisting on getting the lead roles, meaning not only is he incredibly visible but also his rivals have every incentive to shop him. Although I think for sheer ridiculousness, my favourite may be the time he gets a job assisting a Punch and Judy man. Which could have been viably stealthy, except that he then gets a show-stopping beating after missing a cue while making out with the professor's wife. Having ultimately exhausted even his own considerable resources as a crook, he then turned informer and ultimately, as per the title, became a pioneering law-enforcer, albeit one whose methods and associations were controversial then and since. Granted, much of this is taken from Vidocq's own memoirs, a book so unreliable that he even denounced the first volume himself – but you can tell that Morton is both surprised and delighted how much of it has subsequently turned out to be supported either directly, or by comparably ludicrous incidents in the lives of contemporaries (many of whom get footnotes because they're not strictly relevant but Morton quite understandably can't bear to leave them out). The self-indulgent, raised-eyebrow erudition on display, not to mention Morton's tendency to talk about Vidocq's "inability to keep his breeches buttoned", give the impression of a book from far more than a decade ago; Morton loves a yarn, but in the manner of an old-fashioned academic, rather than the chaser after sales forever desperately flagging modern relevance. Although I did feel the retro vibe maybe went a little far when the vicomtesse de Nays-Candau was described as "one of the most high-spirited if not reckless fillies of her time". And in general, the writing gives the impression of something dictated (the author is a lawyer) and then insufficiently read back; too many sentences need a second read to clarify in a way which felt to me like they'd have worked fine with the extra guide of spoken delivery. Still, for the most part Morton vividly conveys his fascination with the old rogue, who may have been playing both sides of the law, and definitely had a bloody high opinion of himself but who, as first head of the Surete, was undoubtedly a lot better at keeping a lid on crime in Paris than either his peers overseas, such as there were, or his successors.

As well as Vidocq himself, we get a potted history of France's febrile politics over the course of his long life, in some of whose later movements he played his part. The abiding impression, though, is of the way that the masses baying for each fresh change of regime are so often betrayed - there's a particularly grim section on how little the Revolution changed when it came to the outrages women faced, except that now "her chances of being abducted by a Duke would have been considerably diminished and the range of promotion open to her greatly narrowed". Equally, in the section on Vidocq's legacy, there's a passage on the disgrace of London's first undercover policeman which provides a remarkably close mirror to the stories recently brought to light regarding his contemporary descendants. It is not calculated to encourage a belief in progress.

Still, these moments of unhappy familiarity don't outweigh the derring-do, audacious disguises and general front of the protagonist, or the colourful details of his times, whether that be smuggling with the aid of a Newfoundland, or feared crime gang the Chauffeurs (yes, inevitably I pictured them in the uniforms). There's even a thank you to a more recent master of disguise and entrapment, Jeremy Beadle.

[Pat MacEwen · Rating 4 out of 5]

There have been other books written about Vidocq and his tumultuous life, but this is by far the most complete and well-researched of the lot. It's also the most readable, and the most useful because the author takes a careful look at the evidence for and against various claims made by Vidocq himself, his enemies, his admirers, and all sorts of journalists, ranging from outright plagiarists and penny dreadful authors to respected reporters. Yes, he did found the plainclothes division of the French Surete, using his own wide acquaintance with the criminal world, including many men and women who became his agents and informants. Yes, he did found the world's first detective agency. And yes, he had a tremendous influence on the development of Scotland Yard and American agencies. He was also something of a Casanova, as witnessed by the fact that he wrote no less than twelve wills in his old age, each favoring the latest girlfriend to land in his life and superceding the last one! What really astonished me was how many times this man escaped from jails, prisons, coffles, and even the galleys. This is how he became Jean Valjeans in Les Miserables, written by his friend Victor Hugo, and Magwitch in Dickens' Great Expectations, and hw was featured in Balzac's work as well. Who could pass up a real life character like that?

[David Montgomery · Rating 3 out of 5]

An adequate summary of the life of this larger-than-life criminal-turned-detective, who had a profound impact on both policing and culture. Morton focuses on telling salacious stories from Vidocq's life, rather than analyzing him (a little of that comes in a brief final chapter). This is padded out a little bit by stories of contemporaries with tangential connections to Morton's subject (though these digressions are often somewhat interesting in their own right). The author deserves credit for sorting through the tangle of myths and stories about Vidocq, some of them propagated by the man himself and others by his enemies, but it could have done better to put Vidocq in context rather than merely telling (admittedly fascinating) stories. Despite these caveats, it still serves as a good introduction to the man.

[Karmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was an intriguing tale of a man who began as a soldier, proceeded to get with all sorts of criminals, rise to head the Surete and live to 80+ running a detective (inquiry) agency. All against the background of the Revolution, Napoleon and so much more.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story of the life of the notorious criminal, spy and policeman. Filled with anecdotal episodes that point to larger stories, these are quite entertaining and well told. One of the most interesting parts involves the inspiration Vidocq provided to some famous characters in fiction.

[Chris Miller · Rating 1 out of 5]

My hundred page minimum was sorely tested. Meh!

[James S. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great topic, but the writing is virtually unreadable: frenetic, chaotic, and scatterbrained, jumping from unexplained topic to unexplained topic with abandon. Couldn't get very far.

[Georgette · Rating 2 out of 5]

Been reading this on and off for almost a year. An entertaining concept but there is no Sherlock Holmesian connection here. The writing is awkward. Not an easy read.

[Madi Lore · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's important that you've already read a book about Vidocq in order to understand THIS book about Vidocq lol!

[Dexter · Rating 3 out of 5]

FINALLY finished this book. I have literally been reading this for over a month. For me, that is a LONG time.

Vidocq is certainly an interesting man (which is why I read a book about him), and James Morton does cover all the details. However, he kind of gives too much backstory about every other person ever to encounter Vidocq. You have to be extremely in the know about French history to follow all of the backstories and histories and rumors and drama that goes on throughout Vidocq's long life. Not only was I not super interested in half of those people, I also just couldn't keep track of them and would rather have found out more about VIDOCQ. I feel like I just got a long summary of all the stuff that happened in France during Vidocq's lifetime, with snippets of what he was up to here and there.

Still a Vidocq fan, but not a super fan of this book. It's probably better suited to indepth French scholars.

[Xarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Vidocq's history and his rise was quite interesting; however, I found the writing style not very approachable. Morton added too much information that seemed to detract from the story.

[Stan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note: The version of the dust jacket of my copy is the same as the original 2004 Ebury Press edition, but it has this ISBN13.

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did not like it ... the storyline was awful and it never catch me to enjoy it... didnt finish it...

[Christopher Fuchs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating nonfiction that is like a blend of "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "Sherlock Holmes".