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King of Detectives #2
Chantecoq and the Mystery of the Blue Train
Murder! When the Count de Roscanvel's body is found on the railway tracks, shot through the heart then hit by the Blue Train from Paris to Marseille, police charge France's top young novelist with his killing, and the Count's beautiful wife is suspected of complicity.
Harrassed by the police and shunned by her family, there's only place Countess de Roscanvel can turn. A small house in Paris on Avenue de Verzy, home to...
Chantecoq. King of detectives, master of disguise.
With the help of his secretary Météor, daughter Colette, and star reporter son-in-law Jacques Bellegarde, Chantecoq finds himself caught up in a race against time to save an innocent man, and to restore the Countess's honour.
As an enigmatic former client returns to haunt France's greatest detective, and a masked man stalks the Countess de Roscanvel, can Chantecoq solve the Mystery of the Blue Train?
First published in France in 1929 (as "Le Mystère du Train Bleu""), and never before translated into English, this book is part of the "Further Exploits of Chantecoq" series, which sees the secret agent and expert spy catcher of Chantecoq and the Aubry Affair reborn as the greatest private detective of his age.
Belphégor: Chantecoq and the Phantom of the Louvre
Chantecoq and the Mystery of the Blue Train
Chantecoq and the Haunted House
Chantecoq and the Aviator's Crime
Chantecoq and Zapata
Chantecoq and the Amorous Ogre
Chantecoq and the Père-Lachaise Ghost
Chantecoq and the Condemned Woman
Chantecoq and the Ladykiller
Harrassed by the police and shunned by her family, there's only place Countess de Roscanvel can turn. A small house in Paris on Avenue de Verzy, home to...
Chantecoq. King of detectives, master of disguise.
With the help of his secretary Météor, daughter Colette, and star reporter son-in-law Jacques Bellegarde, Chantecoq finds himself caught up in a race against time to save an innocent man, and to restore the Countess's honour.
As an enigmatic former client returns to haunt France's greatest detective, and a masked man stalks the Countess de Roscanvel, can Chantecoq solve the Mystery of the Blue Train?
First published in France in 1929 (as "Le Mystère du Train Bleu""), and never before translated into English, this book is part of the "Further Exploits of Chantecoq" series, which sees the secret agent and expert spy catcher of Chantecoq and the Aubry Affair reborn as the greatest private detective of his age.
Belphégor: Chantecoq and the Phantom of the Louvre
Chantecoq and the Mystery of the Blue Train
Chantecoq and the Haunted House
Chantecoq and the Aviator's Crime
Chantecoq and Zapata
Chantecoq and the Amorous Ogre
Chantecoq and the Père-Lachaise Ghost
Chantecoq and the Condemned Woman
Chantecoq and the Ladykiller
220 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 10, 2019
148 people are currently reading
150 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
March 24, 2020
Chantecoq and the Mystery of the Blue Train is the tale of an old-world charming detective with the cleverness of Sherlock Holmes and the personality of a warm, humorous continental gentleman. A beautiful but treacherous Italian stops at nothing to get want she wants, leaving bodies and heartbreak in her wake. It’s up to the brilliant Chantecoq to unravel the mystery of the blue train murder. I recommend this book to any Holmes, Poirot, or Agatha Christie fan,
December 31, 2020
A French detective solves the murder of a count. Very mid 20th century in style!
May 24, 2021
I received a free copy from the translator, because he's an awesome person. I promised a review, but if it's good it's because the book deserves it :)
So, I've finally finished this. I really enjoyed it, but boy is it weird to listen to a book with a narrator you know. Especially as I haven't actually spoken to him for years (because Facebook). It took at long time for me to get through because the good old British weather didn't cooperate and this was my incentive to go for a walk during lockdown
This is a good old fashioned detective story. More like Sherlock Holmes than Hercule Poirot, but like both, boy does Chantecoq have a ego! It felt like he definitely needed to keep reminding us that he is the King of Detectives, when he could have shown us how brilliant he is instead. But I did like the cast of characters and hope that the next book has more of the understatedly competent Colette (Chantecoq's daughter)
The mystery kept me engaged, I won't spoiler the details, but I will say that 95% of it is pretty predicable, the final plot twist did take me by surprise. Thinking back over the course of the story, there are sufficient "clues" left that I guess its just my lack of brain power that didn't spot it. Or I was lulled into a false sense of "oh, it's pretty obvious"
Translation: The story flowed well, and there were enough French bits left in (e.g. M. Chantecoq, la belle countess) to give it the right Parisian vibe. I did struggled with some of the written clues, but I don't particularly cope well with written clues in an audio book anyway.
Audio book: Less noticeable on earphones, but definitely noticeable on turning the volume up on speakers there is a definite "hiss" and white noise present in the background. I guess that's because this was recorded during during lockdown? The narration was pretty good - lots of distinct accents and tones to distinguish characters. However, he does sometimes drop back into the "default" voice occasionally. But the Brummie accent one of the gendarmes had made me laugh
4 stars and I've convinced the translator to give me a copy of the next book too!
Cross posted on audible
So, I've finally finished this. I really enjoyed it, but boy is it weird to listen to a book with a narrator you know. Especially as I haven't actually spoken to him for years (because Facebook). It took at long time for me to get through because the good old British weather didn't cooperate and this was my incentive to go for a walk during lockdown
This is a good old fashioned detective story. More like Sherlock Holmes than Hercule Poirot, but like both, boy does Chantecoq have a ego! It felt like he definitely needed to keep reminding us that he is the King of Detectives, when he could have shown us how brilliant he is instead. But I did like the cast of characters and hope that the next book has more of the understatedly competent Colette (Chantecoq's daughter)
The mystery kept me engaged, I won't spoiler the details, but I will say that 95% of it is pretty predicable, the final plot twist did take me by surprise. Thinking back over the course of the story, there are sufficient "clues" left that I guess its just my lack of brain power that didn't spot it. Or I was lulled into a false sense of "oh, it's pretty obvious"
Translation: The story flowed well, and there were enough French bits left in (e.g. M. Chantecoq, la belle countess) to give it the right Parisian vibe. I did struggled with some of the written clues, but I don't particularly cope well with written clues in an audio book anyway.
Audio book: Less noticeable on earphones, but definitely noticeable on turning the volume up on speakers there is a definite "hiss" and white noise present in the background. I guess that's because this was recorded during during lockdown? The narration was pretty good - lots of distinct accents and tones to distinguish characters. However, he does sometimes drop back into the "default" voice occasionally. But the Brummie accent one of the gendarmes had made me laugh
4 stars and I've convinced the translator to give me a copy of the next book too!
Cross posted on audible
August 29, 2021
This is rather a stupid book. Even the title is stupid, given that the "blue train" has almost nothing to do with what's going on. I'm not sure if the overall problem is in the original, or in the translation, or perhaps both. It appears to me that the translation isn't very good, but then, I'm not a French scholar. It's just that we wobble back and forth between effected, pompous declarations about how "awesome" the "king of detectives is" and then common-place jargon that sounds like 1990s and beyond, but certainly not like 1920s, which is the setting of the book. WTF?
So, I'm not sure if the book sucked because the author sucked, or because his translator, some 80 or so years later didn't do a very good job. When one translates a book from the 1920s, one needs to use the appropriate jargon of the 1920s, not that of the 2000s+. WFT?
So, anyway, a body is found on the tracks traversed by the "blue train". A young man is accused and the police try to hurry him to conviction. But a young woman entreats Chantecoq, the "King of Detectives", to investigate. Eventually he does and things get unraveled, but not before much irrelevant tedium heaped upon us by the author.
FWIW, the only thing the "blue train" has to do with the book is that it hit a body on the tracks. Nothing else. No significance at all. It could have been any other train, just one that came by to disfigure a corpse. There's nothing in the nature or existence of the train that has anything to do with the mystery.
My best friend has a masters in French literature, and reads mysteries voraciously. She is especially fond of the Inspector Maigret books by Georges Simenon. She never heard of Arthur Bernède. I'm guessing it's because Bernède was rather a hack. Certainly, I'll never waste any more time on his rubbish.
So, I'm not sure if the book sucked because the author sucked, or because his translator, some 80 or so years later didn't do a very good job. When one translates a book from the 1920s, one needs to use the appropriate jargon of the 1920s, not that of the 2000s+. WFT?
So, anyway, a body is found on the tracks traversed by the "blue train". A young man is accused and the police try to hurry him to conviction. But a young woman entreats Chantecoq, the "King of Detectives", to investigate. Eventually he does and things get unraveled, but not before much irrelevant tedium heaped upon us by the author.
FWIW, the only thing the "blue train" has to do with the book is that it hit a body on the tracks. Nothing else. No significance at all. It could have been any other train, just one that came by to disfigure a corpse. There's nothing in the nature or existence of the train that has anything to do with the mystery.
My best friend has a masters in French literature, and reads mysteries voraciously. She is especially fond of the Inspector Maigret books by Georges Simenon. She never heard of Arthur Bernède. I'm guessing it's because Bernède was rather a hack. Certainly, I'll never waste any more time on his rubbish.
February 25, 2020
First you have to take a scoop of Sherlock Holmes and his disguises, add a scoop of Hercule Poirot's little grey cells and compassion, stir thoroughly and what do you get? Chantecoq, King of Detectives!
For those of you that are like me and have read every Sherlock and Hercule book, this is a boon. A return to what is a real detective story. No bang, bang, shot em up, car chases, etc., just cerebral excellence. Now we can add French along with English and Belgium when perusing the masters of detection.
This is the second book in this series that I have read, am completely enthralled and look forward to more.
Although Chantecoq embodies Sherlock and Hercule, I wish he could add a dash of Sherlock's terseness. Sherlock was a man of few words, being short, simple and concise.
Unfortunately ,Chantecoq is more long winded and tends to regale us with a dissertation when he speaks. But, even that I can excuse when he provides me with such wonderful entertainment.
Again, I highly recommend you try this series, you will be hooked as I am. Happy reading.
For those of you that are like me and have read every Sherlock and Hercule book, this is a boon. A return to what is a real detective story. No bang, bang, shot em up, car chases, etc., just cerebral excellence. Now we can add French along with English and Belgium when perusing the masters of detection.
This is the second book in this series that I have read, am completely enthralled and look forward to more.
Although Chantecoq embodies Sherlock and Hercule, I wish he could add a dash of Sherlock's terseness. Sherlock was a man of few words, being short, simple and concise.
Unfortunately ,Chantecoq is more long winded and tends to regale us with a dissertation when he speaks. But, even that I can excuse when he provides me with such wonderful entertainment.
Again, I highly recommend you try this series, you will be hooked as I am. Happy reading.
September 17, 2024
I love stuff like this, and I've really loved a couple of Bernède's big hits (Judex and Belphégor), so I was delighted to come across a series of translations of the other Chantecoq novels. (Sometimes I'm not in the mood to read the French, although Bernède's not too taxing).
With pulp, I also have a fairly flexible attitude to production and typesetting (it's part of the charm). But... I got a warning fairly early on here, when I came across a reference to a celebrity chef and his 'unedited recipes'. That just didn't look right, and it didn't look right in a depressingly familiar way, so I checked it against a French text online. Sure enough, the recipes were described as 'inédites'. That doesn't mean 'unedited', it means 'unpublished'. As a faux ami, that's pretty high profile in publishing terms.
It set a pattern, unfortunately. The translation reads all too often like it was a first pass through Google Translate that wasn't then checked or reworked. The tone is often extremely clunky, not because of the period prose (although it gives a bad impression of the writing) but because the translator doesn't seem to have tried to make it readable. Like Google Translate, it doesn't always follow the grammatical twists of longer sentences. You sometimes find what were evidently cute idioms just translated word-for-word literally, with the result that the text is dotted with phrases that don't mean anything at all in English.
You still get some sense of a fun little thriller (he's wearing a mask under his mask!), but it does a disservice to Bernède, and makes him look a lot less interesting and fun than he actually is. It's a pity. Don't start here, and don't let this translation shape your reading, because Bernède's got a lot more going for him than this.
With pulp, I also have a fairly flexible attitude to production and typesetting (it's part of the charm). But... I got a warning fairly early on here, when I came across a reference to a celebrity chef and his 'unedited recipes'. That just didn't look right, and it didn't look right in a depressingly familiar way, so I checked it against a French text online. Sure enough, the recipes were described as 'inédites'. That doesn't mean 'unedited', it means 'unpublished'. As a faux ami, that's pretty high profile in publishing terms.
It set a pattern, unfortunately. The translation reads all too often like it was a first pass through Google Translate that wasn't then checked or reworked. The tone is often extremely clunky, not because of the period prose (although it gives a bad impression of the writing) but because the translator doesn't seem to have tried to make it readable. Like Google Translate, it doesn't always follow the grammatical twists of longer sentences. You sometimes find what were evidently cute idioms just translated word-for-word literally, with the result that the text is dotted with phrases that don't mean anything at all in English.
You still get some sense of a fun little thriller (he's wearing a mask under his mask!), but it does a disservice to Bernède, and makes him look a lot less interesting and fun than he actually is. It's a pity. Don't start here, and don't let this translation shape your reading, because Bernède's got a lot more going for him than this.
May 19, 2020
Where is he?
The plot was good. I gave it a very good rating because it used too many words to say something simple. It was well translated from French to English. I liked the way he uses his disguises to make himself a totally different person. This book was more for the average teenager and older.
The plot was good. I gave it a very good rating because it used too many words to say something simple. It was well translated from French to English. I liked the way he uses his disguises to make himself a totally different person. This book was more for the average teenager and older.
August 13, 2021
This is a curious book. Written in a style Conan Doyle would recognise, the detective is portrayed as the genius who knows things before they’re provable, from evidence nobody could’ve had access to. The Blue Train appeared just two years before the first of Simenon’s Maigret books, I get a sense of a style of writing about to change.
March 3, 2021
Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle got together in Paris and this is the child of that meeting.
It is translated from French and has the more formal speech of the 1920s I enjoyed it and will probably read another in the series of 8
It is translated from French and has the more formal speech of the 1920s I enjoyed it and will probably read another in the series of 8
Read
April 3, 2021This is a bit plodding at times, but mostly interesting. Modern readers might have difficulty with Chantecoq always being the best at everything he's involved in, but he has some worthy opponents and there are some interesting plot twists.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 17, 2022
Ok
I liked the premise of the story and the endings twist was also good, but spoiled it for me was the exaggerated descriptions of the main characters in the story. To me it detracted from the story. .
I liked the premise of the story and the endings twist was also good, but spoiled it for me was the exaggerated descriptions of the main characters in the story. To me it detracted from the story. .
May 16, 2025
Does the author tell a good story?
How can one truly divine the innate quality of exposition or plot when confronted with a missive whose prose though adhering to the inestimable rules of grammar embodies a style that employs labyrinthine construction steeped in ostentatious pretension?
How can one truly divine the innate quality of exposition or plot when confronted with a missive whose prose though adhering to the inestimable rules of grammar embodies a style that employs labyrinthine construction steeped in ostentatious pretension?
February 9, 2021
Not My Cup of Tea
Boring. Stilted language. Constant self praise; look how smart I am. Really not a good "story teller". And a silly name in translation for the "hero".
Boring. Stilted language. Constant self praise; look how smart I am. Really not a good "story teller". And a silly name in translation for the "hero".
Read
February 23, 2021I found this book to be a little over the top in its style of writing. The story itself was OK but the use of language was off-putting. I don't think I'll read any more books by this author.
April 14, 2024
France's Shrtlock Holmes
I had never heard of Chantecoq before, but I enjoyed this immensely. I'll be sure to read more of them.
I had never heard of Chantecoq before, but I enjoyed this immensely. I'll be sure to read more of them.
September 19, 2025
This book is very old-fashioned, but I like old-fashioned books. The plot was very far-fetched.
September 5, 2020
Perhaps a better translation would have worked. But I doubt it.
The hero cannot pass a mirror without falling madly in love with himself.
Maybe I'm just tired of psychopathic narcissists.
The hero cannot pass a mirror without falling madly in love with himself.
Maybe I'm just tired of psychopathic narcissists.
November 13, 2019
Pacey, entertaining and stylish detective thriller in the guise of Sherlock Holmes. But super French. The plot is more a battle of wills than a murder mystery, and the fun comes from watching how the ‘King of Detectives’ stays on step ahead of his adversaries, and the truly audacious steps he takes to bring them to justice.
I really enjoyed the female characters especially, such rounded representations of women are rare in books of this type and era.
It’s also got some very funny moments.
I really enjoyed the female characters especially, such rounded representations of women are rare in books of this type and era.
It’s also got some very funny moments.
September 24, 2023
A rather subpar attempt at a hercule poirot style murder mystery
April 22, 2025
When the husband of Madame Roscanvel is killed by her supposed lover Julien Gueret, he is arrested. She approaches Chantec0q to prove his innocence.
An enjoyable historical mystery
An enjoyable historical mystery
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews