Two Murders in Paris

by Frank B. Farrell

In spring 1935 a young refugee from Berlin who is part of the surrealist movement is found strangled in a cheap hotel. Thérèse is asked to assist her close friend Jules, a detective with the Paris Prefecture, as she often does when his cases involve the arts and avant-garde community, for she was part of that community during the 1920s. In 1935 Paris is brimming not only with its own intellectuals, who have their peculiar artistic and political controversies, but also with many intellectuals fleeing Hitler’s growing power. The following year these are joined by representatives of several different factions in the Spanish Civil War who are trying to gain French support. In this political context of fall 1936 a representative of a radical Spanish workers’ group is also found dead in his hotel, perhaps a murder, perhaps a drug overdose. There are similarities suggesting that the two deaths may be related. It turns out as well that several important intellectuals have had recent contacts with one or the other of the two victims. These include Jean Cocteau, Klaus Mann, Joseph Roth, and Walter Benjamin. They must be interviewed as well as government officials, Catholic conservatives such as members of the Camelots du roi, advocates of Spanish Civil War factions, and a Renault factory manager. Thérèse alternates between investigating the 1936 murder and recalling her efforts along with Jules to solve the 1935 one. While uncovering clues regarding the two deaths, they come to appreciate the disputes both within the surrealist community and between the surrealists and Stalin-leaning socialist realists as well as the underlying political and ideological conflicts in France and Spain.

213 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 11, 2024