• Critical Praise
• Read a Review
• Read an Excerpt
• Author Interview –– September 5, 2008

Welcome to Paris, c. 1818. After the execution of Marie Antoinette and King Louis XVI, and the death of their son, the Dauphin, the Bourbon monarchy has at last been restored. But a remnant core of Republicans is still working to fulfill the promise of the Revolution, and the great Napoleon is plotting his next return to power from the rocky exile of St. Helena. Partisans on every side will do whatever it takes to advance their causes. Dr. Hector Carpentier is a partisan of no cause. His father, Dr. Julien Carpentier, saw first-hand the ravages of the Revolution and remained resolutely impartial to politics. His son, cowed by his domineering mother and missing his deceased father, leads a very quiet life.

Until he meets Vidocq, Paris’s most legendary police officer. As founder and chief of the newly created plain-clothes force called the Sûreté, Vidocq has used his mastery of disguise and surveillance and his extensive knowledge of the Parisian underworld to capture some of France’s most notorious and elusive criminals. And now he needs the help of the shy, provincial Hector Carpentier. Between the two of them, they may prove that the Dauphin, like Anastasia, lives, which could change the course of history.

THE BLACK TOWER © Copyright 2009 by Louis Bayard. Reprinted with permission by William Morrow. All rights reserved.

Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.com.

Back to top.   

Critical Praise

"A compelling and sympathetic narrator instantly draws the reader into Bayard’s stellar third historical. Few writers today can match the author’s skill in devising an intelligent thriller with heart."

––– Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Having previously channeled Dickens and Poe, historical novelist Bayard throws down the gauntlet to Dumas in another high-energy melodrama. The novel’s witty succession of trapdoor endings, culminating in “the quietest of abdications,” keeps surprising us. Who says they don’t write ‘em like this anymore? Long may Bayard reign."

––– Kirkus Reviews

"Readers be grateful, THE BLACK TOWER breathes life into the world’s first police detective, Vidocq, an overdue literary feat that happily waited for this novelist. As the gripping and nuanced story races through the parlor rooms and back alleys of Paris, Louis Bayard shows why he is at the forefront of literary historical fiction today."

––– Matthew Pearl, author of THE DANTE CLUB and THE POE SHADOW

Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.com.

Back to top.