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Goat Song: Murder and Mayhem in Montmartre
“Pelletier is a wonderful storyteller. She is a master of funny, bittersweet dialogue. A classic roman noir hero, the world weary inspector, is completely reinvented.”— Le Monde The naked bodies of a male dancer and a young girl are found entwined backstage in the Moulin Rouge. A junkie is killed, his throat chewed open, the teeth marks human. Seemingly unconnected, these deaths form a sinister pattern involving crack dealers and shady property deals. Inspector Maurice Less is plagued by a female boss who bombards him with tales of her sexual exploits. Together they uncover a trail of fear and broken dreams that reaches from Corsica into the heart of Paris. Winner of the Grand Prix du Roman Noir de Cognac.
290 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 9, 2012
I have to say I'm surprised at this book's low rating, but oh well, à chacun son goût, as they say. Considering no one's written a review here, I'd be interested to know why the low ratings if anyone wants to share their thoughts.
here's my review:
The last time anyone saw Elsa Suppini alive she had just entered Montmartre's legendary landmark, The Moulin Rouge, where she wasted no time in grabbing a job as dresser to the two lead dancers after the current dresser announced that she was leaving. Not only is the job a step up for Elsa, who works in the sewing room, but she fantasizes about dressing and seducing Manfred Godalier, the lead male dancer. The next time someone sees her, she's definitely with Manfred, but in what could have a been a "still life" called "Storm of Blood in a Bijou Residence." At least, that's what Inspector Maurice Laice (known as Momo to his friends, and More-is-less to his boss) thinks, as he begins his investigation into their murders. It's a very bad day for Maurice -- he's just returned from his father's funeral, where his dad's passing has made him feel like his own death is just around the corner, that he "was now to be the head of the queue at the door separating him from the next world." But this was definitely not the case with young Elsa and Manfred -- someone had deliberately gone out of his or her way to savagely slaughter the two to the point that their bodies were "glued together with coagulated blood." But which of the two was the intended victim? Or were they both targets? This is just the first step in Maurice's arduous journey toward solving this horrific crime; the next begins with the death of a crack smoker in a building where the neighbors are used to hearing screams and watching people shoot up in the stairwell on a regular basis.
Maurice's melancholy certainly doesn't help him, and neither does his boss, Aline Lefevre, who seems to delight in tormenting him by constantly keeping him apprised of her sex life. He's also very depressed about being in his 40s with no wife or mistress, an "old goat whose violent stench no longer got the nannies going." He did have a fiancée once, who died in a freak accident when an old water heater malfunctioned and she was asphyxiated; he was in the shower with her at the time and still hasn't gotten over his survival. Then there's his home -- Montmartre, which is slowly but steadily being transformed into what Maurice sees as a shopping mall:
"Nowadays, the Butte Montmartre was being picked over by a load of culture vultures. Indian dance and modern plays sold better than pig's trotters or snouts in vinaigrette," ... Momo wondered how far the transformation of his neighborhood would go. If it got any more "in," it would implode. Everyone round there was now in the media, was an architect or hack, one of those fucking awful trades that feed off looks like others feed off steak and chips. The cheese shops, tripe shops and butchers were all closing down, to be replaced by ranks of rag shops and hair dressers."
As the investigation proceeds, Maurice moves from Montmartre to Corsica and even into the world of his boss's old obsessions. But when all is revealed, this veteran, well-seasoned cop will come to realize that there are some things for which he can never be prepared.
The centerpiece of this novel is tragedy itself -- in Greek, "trag-oedia," which also translates to "goat song." This theme carries throughout the novel in terms of the crimes, but also in other ways, including the new face of beautiful and historic Montmartre, those left behind in the wake of deaths, and in the lives of some of Pelletier's other characters as well. Even super-confident Aline, with her brash off-color jokes and her teasing of Maurice, has experienced tragedy in her life, providing powerful motivation behind her work as a cop.
The conclusion of this novel is simply haunting; getting there is sometimes a tough journey as you are constantly faced with the "tragicomedy of existence" that runs throughout the novel. It is not a novel for people whose thing is crime light, nor is it a book for readers who cringe at sex or sexual references. To her credit, Pelletier does not throw in random, meaningless or gratuitous sex -- what there is is totally appropriate in terms of the characters' lives. I'm not so bothered by sex in novels -- what I hate is when it's obviously there to titillate and conceal the lack of an author's narrative skills. That's not the case here. Goat Song is a very good read, a study of not only a city that's moving in a downward spiral but its reflection in the lives of the people who live there and love it. I liked it, but then again, I'm drawn toward edgy, dark and tragic, all of which totally fit as a description of this novel.
here's my review:
The last time anyone saw Elsa Suppini alive she had just entered Montmartre's legendary landmark, The Moulin Rouge, where she wasted no time in grabbing a job as dresser to the two lead dancers after the current dresser announced that she was leaving. Not only is the job a step up for Elsa, who works in the sewing room, but she fantasizes about dressing and seducing Manfred Godalier, the lead male dancer. The next time someone sees her, she's definitely with Manfred, but in what could have a been a "still life" called "Storm of Blood in a Bijou Residence." At least, that's what Inspector Maurice Laice (known as Momo to his friends, and More-is-less to his boss) thinks, as he begins his investigation into their murders. It's a very bad day for Maurice -- he's just returned from his father's funeral, where his dad's passing has made him feel like his own death is just around the corner, that he "was now to be the head of the queue at the door separating him from the next world." But this was definitely not the case with young Elsa and Manfred -- someone had deliberately gone out of his or her way to savagely slaughter the two to the point that their bodies were "glued together with coagulated blood." But which of the two was the intended victim? Or were they both targets? This is just the first step in Maurice's arduous journey toward solving this horrific crime; the next begins with the death of a crack smoker in a building where the neighbors are used to hearing screams and watching people shoot up in the stairwell on a regular basis.
Maurice's melancholy certainly doesn't help him, and neither does his boss, Aline Lefevre, who seems to delight in tormenting him by constantly keeping him apprised of her sex life. He's also very depressed about being in his 40s with no wife or mistress, an "old goat whose violent stench no longer got the nannies going." He did have a fiancée once, who died in a freak accident when an old water heater malfunctioned and she was asphyxiated; he was in the shower with her at the time and still hasn't gotten over his survival. Then there's his home -- Montmartre, which is slowly but steadily being transformed into what Maurice sees as a shopping mall:
"Nowadays, the Butte Montmartre was being picked over by a load of culture vultures. Indian dance and modern plays sold better than pig's trotters or snouts in vinaigrette," ... Momo wondered how far the transformation of his neighborhood would go. If it got any more "in," it would implode. Everyone round there was now in the media, was an architect or hack, one of those fucking awful trades that feed off looks like others feed off steak and chips. The cheese shops, tripe shops and butchers were all closing down, to be replaced by ranks of rag shops and hair dressers."
As the investigation proceeds, Maurice moves from Montmartre to Corsica and even into the world of his boss's old obsessions. But when all is revealed, this veteran, well-seasoned cop will come to realize that there are some things for which he can never be prepared.
The centerpiece of this novel is tragedy itself -- in Greek, "trag-oedia," which also translates to "goat song." This theme carries throughout the novel in terms of the crimes, but also in other ways, including the new face of beautiful and historic Montmartre, those left behind in the wake of deaths, and in the lives of some of Pelletier's other characters as well. Even super-confident Aline, with her brash off-color jokes and her teasing of Maurice, has experienced tragedy in her life, providing powerful motivation behind her work as a cop.
The conclusion of this novel is simply haunting; getting there is sometimes a tough journey as you are constantly faced with the "tragicomedy of existence" that runs throughout the novel. It is not a novel for people whose thing is crime light, nor is it a book for readers who cringe at sex or sexual references. To her credit, Pelletier does not throw in random, meaningless or gratuitous sex -- what there is is totally appropriate in terms of the characters' lives. I'm not so bothered by sex in novels -- what I hate is when it's obviously there to titillate and conceal the lack of an author's narrative skills. That's not the case here. Goat Song is a very good read, a study of not only a city that's moving in a downward spiral but its reflection in the lives of the people who live there and love it. I liked it, but then again, I'm drawn toward edgy, dark and tragic, all of which totally fit as a description of this novel.
August 22, 2020
This didn't live up to the previous high standards of crime novels from Bitter Lemon Press for me. It is dark and there are plenty of attempts at humour, which I think miss the mark, though they are never easy in translation.
The plot gets more obscure as the novel continues, but also less important. The strengths of the novel are in the setting of Montmartre and its motley cast of characters, led by Parisian detective Maurice Laice, known as 'More Is Less'. After the naked bodies of a male dancer and a beautiful young girl are found entwined in a dressing room at the Moulin Rouge, Laice is reluctantly forced into action.
It is an intense story, veering between levity and terror in alternate paragraphs, but in need of some trimming, and editing of clumsy sex scenes.
The plot gets more obscure as the novel continues, but also less important. The strengths of the novel are in the setting of Montmartre and its motley cast of characters, led by Parisian detective Maurice Laice, known as 'More Is Less'. After the naked bodies of a male dancer and a beautiful young girl are found entwined in a dressing room at the Moulin Rouge, Laice is reluctantly forced into action.
It is an intense story, veering between levity and terror in alternate paragraphs, but in need of some trimming, and editing of clumsy sex scenes.
April 26, 2025
This was my first novel by Chantal Pelletier and it will definitely be my last , it was a slog from start to finish and i can only compare it to the likes of Pascal Garnier or Frederic Dard . The comparison is only in the darkness of the writing , and thats where it ends .
November 25, 2017
Love and death intertwined, forever everywhere inescapable. Despair overwhelms
March 31, 2018
A pile of rubbish. Completely unlikely central character, overly busy plot-lines and jumbled themes.
September 22, 2024
I liked parts of it, but, although no prude, found the constant sex references most tiresome. I won't be rushing to read anything else by this author.
December 6, 2016
I'm reviewing this briefly only because I was about to re-read it and discovered it had bad reviews on Goodreads. This is one of my favorite European mysteries/thrillers. It does not read as if it's been translated (and I speak French) but feels vivid, exciting, and of the moment. I love her dark vision and I enjoy how, along with many other European crime writers, Pelletrier does not feel obliged to write books that are 400-500 pages long. Yes, I know there's a lot of Scandinavian noir currently in that range, but even Jo Nesbo can hit it out of the park with a "short" book like the brilliant Headhunters.
October 24, 2011
Un double meurtre au Moulin Rouge, des fondus de crack qui s'égorgent avec les dents, des gamines qui jouent les chiennes...
L'inspecteur Maurice Laice, sous les ordres d'une lesbienne férue d'orgasmes, est de retour à Montmartre mais ne se sent plus chez lui sur la butte. Le quartier branché des Abbesses frise l'électrocution, l'immobilier flambe et, partout, le terrible "chant du bouc" - "tragédie" en grec ancien - éclabousse de sang morts et vivants.
L'inspecteur Maurice Laice, sous les ordres d'une lesbienne férue d'orgasmes, est de retour à Montmartre mais ne se sent plus chez lui sur la butte. Le quartier branché des Abbesses frise l'électrocution, l'immobilier flambe et, partout, le terrible "chant du bouc" - "tragédie" en grec ancien - éclabousse de sang morts et vivants.
November 29, 2013
More an interesting read than a riveting one. The plot and social exploration are solid, the depiction of Paris is involving, but the playfulness and fluid rhythms of the French are mostly lost in the translation. Definitely worth reading, though.
February 7, 2015
Probably 2.5 stars really. Mostly this book made me wish I could read French, as I feel that the translation has robbed the narrative of a lot of its flow.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews