Little Demon in the City of Light: A True Story of Murder in Belle Epoque Paris
Steven Levingston, 2014
Knopf Doubleday
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780307950307
Summary
In 1889, the gruesome murder of a lascivious court official at the hands of a ruthless con man and his pliant mistress launched the trial of the century.
When Toussaint-Augustin Gouffe entered 3, rue Tronson du Coudray, expecting a delightful assignation with the comely Gabrielle Bompard, he was instead murdered by Gabrielle and her lover, Michel Eyraud.
An international manhunt chased the infamous couple from Paris to America’s West Coast, culminating in a sensational trial that investigated the power of hypnosis to possess, control, and even kill.
As the inquiry into the guilt or innocence of the woman the French tabloids dubbed the "Little Demon" intensified, the most respected minds in France vehemently debated: Was Gabrielle Bompard the pawn of her mesmerizing lover or simply a coldly calculating murderess capable of killing a man in cold blood? (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1956
• Rasied—California, USA
• Education—B.A., University of California-Berkeley; M.A., Stanford University
• Currently—lives in Bethesda, Maryland
Steven Levingston is the nonfiction editor of the Washington Post. He also writes books and plays and does some book reviewing. Most recently, he is author of Little Demon in the City of Light: A True Story of Murder and Mesmerism in Belle Époque Paris (2014) and The Kennedy Baby: The Loss that Transformed JFK (2013).
Before taking on the greatest job in the world as nonfiction editor, he worked for the Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribune, Associated Press and China Daily, with stints in Beijing, Hong Kong and Paris. He grew up in California and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and Stanford University. He now lives in Bethesda, Maryland with his wife and two children. (Adapted from the publisher and from the author's website.)
Book Reviews
Levingston has unearthed a whopper of a story, and lovingly crafted a dense, lyrical yarn that hits the true-crime trifecta of setting, story and so-what. Such books remind us that times may change, but the human animal does not.
New York Times
Levingston, who is nonfiction book editor of the Washington Post and knows a good story when he sees one, has given it a richly enjoyable telling. Its lurid and improbable plot twists are expertly transposed into a breathless true-crime thriller set against a sumptuous evocation of the boulevards, nightclubs and boudoirs of Belle Epoque Paris."
Wall Street Journal
An engaging—and finally chilling—portrait of an uneasy era and a city of more shadow than light.
Washington Post
Fascinating.... A rich portrait of the period, as well as the intriguing story of a notorious murder case, with its strange (and often amusing) cast of characters.
Boston Globe
Equal parts period piece, forensic manual, and legal thriller, the book is a strong entry in the 'fascinating case in a fascinating time' genre.
Daily Beast
A terrific story well told.
Seattle Times
Readers are well-served by his reimagining of this amazing true story.
Minneapolis Star-Tribune
[T]he book is lovingly constructed from available sources, including newspapers, memoirs, and secondary histories, and immerses the reader in a period whose newfound obsessions—science and pseudo-science of the mind, criminal forensics, mass media, the macabre, and fame—have a seminal connection to our own time.
Publishers Weekly
[A] fascinating and easy-to-read true crime story about a sensational murder connected with hypnotism in late 19th-century Paris. [Levingston] weaves historical details of the grisly murder of a court official by a con man and his mistress...with background information about the rise of hypnotism in the scientific world.... Levingston's writing is entertaining yet informative, and clearly produced from years of research. —Amelia Osterud, Carroll Univ. Lib., Waukesha, WI
Library Journal
Levingston's smartly chipper prose and fine attention to detail...add an entertaining and authentic sensibility to this re-creation of a culture, a crime, and "the first time an accused murderer had put forward a hypnotism defense. —Eloise Kinney
Booklist
[Steven] Levingston uses the story of a murder by a foolish girl and her lover to illustrate another side of belle epoque Paris. The author foregoes the tabloid excesses and exploitation of lurid details from that time and focuses on the debate as to whether a person is capable of committing a crime under hypnosis or even post-hypnotic suggestion.... [A] well-constructed, informative work by a talented author.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. Paris in the Belle Epoque was a strange and sensational place. What were some of the signs of its bizarre city life? Would you have liked to be alive then?
2. Do you think hypnotism has the powers that the French in the 19th century believed it had, even to the point that someone could be hypnotized to commit murder?
3. Women in the Belle Epoque were sometimes perceived as "hysterics." How did doctors and scientists treat women like that? And was it right?
4. The Paris newspapers played up the Gabrielle Bompard murder case. Consider the hunger of the press for the latest morsels about the little demon and her behavior. Were you surprised by the extent of the media hype more than a century ago? Discuss how this hype foreshadows the intense coverage of cases like the story of OJ Simpson.
5. Chief detective Goron was a classic, indefatigable gumshoe. What did you think of his style of police work?
6. Programs like CSI feature cutting edge forensics. But in the Belle Epoque, Dr. Alexandre Lacassagne was a pioneer in forensic science and his revolutionary techniques helped solve the case. How did early forensics figure in the story?
7. Putting the bloody trunk on display at the morgue for thousands of Parisians to see was just as much a spectacle as a night at the Moulin Rouge. Sigmund Freud, who was a medical student in Paris in 1885, wrote home: "Suffice it to say that the city and its inhabitants strike me as uncanny; the people seem to me of a different species from ourselves; I feel they are all possessed of a thousand demons." What did you think of the public’s eagerness to embrace the ghoulish?
8. Inspector Jaume felt that Gabrielle had become too popular and was disgusted by the public’s excitement over a murder suspect. "There is truly hypnotism in the air," he said. "Only it’s Gabrielle who magnetizes public opinion." Did you believe Gabrielle’s testimony?
9. What do you think of the sentencing of Gabrielle Bompard and Michel Eyraud. Fair or not?
10. Did this book change or inform your perception of Paris in the Belle Epoque?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)