Shady Detectives, Elegant Criminals & Dark Avengers


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Author’s Portrait by Heather Marie © 2011

Robin Walz © 2024-2025

popular novels

  • Émile Gaboriau, Father of the French Detective Novel

    Portrait of Émile Gaboriau, c. 1868. Unknown photographer; restoration by Jebulon. Gallica: Bibliothèque nationale de France. One wintry February night in Paris, Sûreté Inspector Gévrol and his police squad responded to a reported disturbance in the slums of the 13th arrondissement. As they approached a squalid cabaret known as La Poivière (the “Pepper Pot”), they

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  • The Crime Factory of Paul Féval

    Caricature of Paul Féval by André Gill. La Lune, September 16, 1866. Wikimedia Commons: Public Domain. In 1866, popular novelist Paul Féval lamented, “For several years now, the crime industry just hasn’t been delivering the goods.”[1] By his calculation, there were upwards of two million upright and intelligent French readers who were dying for crime

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  • Ponson du Terrail: Rocambole, c’est moi!

    “The Vicount Ponson du Terrail” by André Gill. La Lune, February 24, 1867. Wikimedia Commons: Universitätsbibliothek, Heidelberg. Q: Who or what is Rocambole? A: Rocambole is the son of Ponson du Terrail, who created and gave birth to Rocambole. Q: Why did Ponson du Terrail create and give birth to Rocambole? A: Ponson du Terrail

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  • The Dark Avenger Appears: The Count of Monte Cristo

    The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas, “Classics Illustrated” Comics no. 3 (1941). Source: Andrew Wallace, Old-Fashioned Comics, November 8, 2017. “The Diamond and Vengeance” is one of many stories recounted in Mémoires tirés des archives de la police de Paris (“Mementoes drawn from the Paris Police Archives,” 1838), attributed to Parisian lawyer, statistician,

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