Little Demon in the City of Light

Mystery, murder and hypnotism in Belle Epoque Paris: Steve Levingston's (dare I say it?) mesmerizing account of a sensational crime which kept an international audience enthralled is equally riveting to modern readers in his book  Little Demon in the City of Light (#400).

The case centered around the disappearance of a well-to-do Parisian business man and widower, Toussaint-Augustin Gouffe.  The chief of the Paris Surete, Marie-Francois Goron, latched onto this case with all the persistence of a pit bull, playing his hunches.  In 1889 France Goron's methods were unusual, but formed the basis for modern forensic enquiry in the resources he employed in solving this case.  And solve it he did.  The perpetrators of this crime turned out to be a middle-aged philanderer and con man named Michel Eyraud, and his most unlikely accomplice a petite young woman of twenty, Gabrielle Bompard.  Gabrielle claimed that she could not be blamed for the murder since she had "no will" of her own.  In other words, Eyraud had hypnotized her and forced her into helping him commit the heinous act.  International society figures avidly followed the proceedings in the Paris Court, and those who could not attend in person bought every newspaper covering the case they could get their hands on.  In its day, the course of the investigation and trial was as well known as the O.J. Simpson or Casey Anthony show trials are to the modern audience.  It didn't hurt that sex was involved and that the seductress herself was actively courting the public and the press.

The details of the case, the scientific battle to vindicate the use of hypnotism as defense which played out in the courtroom, the backgrounds of those involved, criminals, victims, and judiciary alike are all presented here in a manner as engaging as a novel.  There is much truth in that old saw: truth is stranger than fiction.   My only regret is that I had a pre-publication copy which did not include the photographs.  I'll be making a beeline to my library to check those pictures out.