- By Paul Halter
- First published: France: Masque, 2006
I read Lunes assassines last year, but realised that I had not gotten around to reviewing it. In that time, sadly, its dedicatee, John Pugmire, died.
In 2006, John had just translated The Night of the Wolf, a collection of Halter short stories – much to the joy of the author, who dedicated the book thus:
“Dear John Pugmire, Dr. Alan Twist [Halter’s detective] will soon cross the Atlantic. For your faithful servant, it’s a dream come true, thanks to you. With all my gratitude and friendship, P. H.”
Four years later, John set up Locked Room International, beginning with his translation of Halter’s Roi du désordre (The Lord of Misrule) – the first of 50 translations of impossible crimes from around the world, bringing French, Japanese, Taiwanese, Chinese, Italian and Nordic works to an Anglophone audience for the first time. Twenty-one of those books were by Halter.
As Martin Edwards stated: “Since the death of Bob Adey nobody has done more than John to advance the cause of locked room mysteries.”
Lunes assassins is a Gothick romance. Two sisters – one blonde, one dark – join their uncle, a retired Indian Army colonel, in the English countryside. Four people have died in that house: 15 years ago, an artist went mad and butchered his wife, then killed himself; one of his pictures is said to be “baleful”, to have the power to drive people to evil…
It is Halter’s habit to pay homage to the classics. As in Conan Doyle’s “Speckled Band”, the colonel, returned from India and is guardian to two young women, has a private menagerie of reptiles; his wife was bitten by a cobra, fatally… Then one of the girls, we suspect, may have committed a murder as a child – just as in Agatha Christie’s Towards Zero.
Lunes assassins is slow-moving. The main murder (the one in the present) does not take part until after p. 190. But the build-up is well-handled: the two sisters’ (abnormal?) relations with each other and with their two boyfriends; the deaths in the past; the eerie paintings that might have the power to drive people to suicide – these combine to build up suspense until then.
The solution is minimalist: ROT13: Bar bs gur gjb fvfgref, vg orpbzrf nccnerag, vf gur zheqrerff – juvpu? It veers into Ruth Rendellian psychological territory (see, for instance, Na Haxvaqarff bs Eniraf). ROT13: Gurl ner obgu thvygl, nppbzcyvprf, va n xvaq bs qbz-fho eryngvbafuvc. Znetnerg, gur ryqre, unf Ybhvfr haqre ure vasyhrapr, rawblf gbeghevat ure, naq bofrffviryl xvyyf nalbar jub zvtug “frcnengr” gurz.
Blurb
Nous sommes en 1935 en pleine campagne anglaise. Deux sœurs orphelines, Louise et Margaret, vivent en recluse dans un manoir sombre et désolé sous l’autorité despotique d’un vieil oncle aigri. Mais une légende hante ce lieu sinistre : Un peintre y vivait autrefois et il y serait devenu fou. Une toile, son chef-d’œuvre, aurait disparu avec lui. On raconte qu’elle incitait quiconque la regardait à commettre les pires crimes. Intriguées par cette effroyable histoire, les deux sœurs tenteront de percer le mystère du tableau. Mais leurs beaux visages impassibles finiront par devenir inquiétants, surtout les soirs de pleine lune quand la nuit est presque blanche… Ce manoir recèle décidément une bien trouble vérité.
Paul Halter est le digne héritier des auteurs anglais du siècle dernier, ces spécialistes d’énigmes et de meurtres en chambre close, domaine dans lequel il excelle incontestablement. Son précédent romain, Les larmes de Sibyl, a été élu « Masque de l’année » en 2005.
English translation:
We are in 1935 in the heart of the English countryside. Two orphaned sisters, Louise and Margaret, live in seclusion in a dark and desolate mansion under the despotic authority of a bitter old uncle. But a legend haunts this sinister place: A painter once lived there and is said to have gone mad. A painting, his masterpiece, would have disappeared with him. It is said that it incited anyone who looked at it to commit the worst crimes. Intrigued by this dreadful story, the two sisters will try to unravel the mystery of the painting. But their beautiful impassive faces will eventually become unsettling, especially on full moon nights when the night is almost white… This mansion certainly holds a very troubled truth.
Paul Halter is the worthy heir of the English authors of the last century, specialists in puzzles and locked room murders, a domain in which he excels indisputably. His previous novel, Les larmes de Sibyl, was elected “Masque de l’année” in 2005.
The Grandest Game in the World 