Volume 01 · Available now
L’Affaire Lerouge
Annotated & illustrated
The case that helped invent the modern detective novel, restored in its complete French text with a lucid editorial apparatus.
About the work
A landmark mystery, returned to its full narrative force.
At La Jonchère, a widow is found murdered inside her isolated house. The official inquiry appears straightforward—until the quietly brilliant Père Tabaret notices the details that refuse to fit. Gaboriau’s foundational mystery arrives in an edition designed to preserve the momentum of the story while opening its historical and judicial world to today’s reader.
Textual source. Complete French text, first published in 1866; source history documented against nineteenth-century editions.
What this edition adds
Care around the text,
never over it.
The complete novel
The original French text remains central, with its chapter structure and narrative rhythm preserved.
Context without clutter
Concise notes explain legal practice, social codes and unfamiliar vocabulary at the moment they matter.
A coherent visual world
Ten original monochrome plates echo the line and atmosphere of nineteenth-century literary engraving.
Made to be read
A reflowable Kindle and EPUB structure supports enlarged type, semantic navigation and meaningful alternative text.