Lacenaire
-
Lacenaire (Marcel Herrand, left) and Count Édouard de Montray (Louis Salou, right) in Les enfants du paradis, directed by Marcel Carné (Pathé Studios, 1945). Photo: Children of Paradise (Les enfants du paradis), The Criterion Collection DVD (2012). It only took the criminal court three days to convict Lacenaire of theft, murder, and attempted murder. In
-
“Murder in the Cheval-Rouge Passageway” (detail). Causes Célèbres no. 7 (1859). Collection: Bibliothèque des littératures policiers, Paris. When Pierre-François Lacenaire was arrested in January 1835, he was simply a criminal miscreant, yet another thief soon to go on trial for murder. That November, however, courtroom coverage by multiple Parisian newspapers transformed him into a media
-
Frontispiece portrait of Lacenaire by Levilly in Mémoires, révélations et poésies de Lacenaire écrits par lui-même, à la Conciergerie, 2 vols. (Paris: Chez les Marchands de Nouveautés, 1836). Gallica: Bibliothèque nationale de Paris. In the month before his execution in January 1836, convicted thief and murderer Pierre-François Lacenaire spent his final days in the Conciergerie
Shady Detectives, Elegant Criminals & Dark Avengers 