Title: The Green Muse: An Edouard Mas Novel
Author: Jessie Prichard Hunter
Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Historical
Release
Date: February 3, 2015
Publisher: Witness Impulse an imprint of HarperCollins
~Synopsis~
In Belle Époque Paris, the morgue is the place to see and be seen …
"This morning I was called upon to photograph the dead again." So begins the story of Edouard Mas, a photographer's assistant with a detective's soul. Edouard's job is to take pictures of corpses before they are carted off to the Paris Morgue. If the bodies are unidentified, they will be put behind glass for the whole city to view, in a morbid display of lost and found.
Edouard begins to come across more and more bodies stripped of their identification and laid out in methodical poses, and he knows he is dealing with those who dabble in art—the art of death. The morgue—their museum.
Edouard's investigation takes him from the sterile halls of La Salpêtrière to the opulent, smoke-filled soirees of high society, but he must do everything in his power to stop the artists of death, before they go after somebody he loves …
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What I Think of My Characters
Edouard Mas is the true Victorian
gentleman without being saccharin or staid or the least bit dull. I love the
way he faces his temptations, cares about the murder victims he photographs, is
willing to let his work tell him the stories of the dead. His devotion to
everything he loves in life is an inspiration to me.
When I first
decided I wanted to create a star hysteric for the Hôpital Salpêtrière, she came to me as a
fifteen-year-old girl named Augustine. I later made her seventeen, that being a
more believable age for her to fall in love. Then I started my research in
earnest—and discovered that the star hysteric of La Salpêtrière was a fifteen-year-old girl named Augustine! It was
then that I knew I absolutely had to write this particular book.
Adelaide, a
patient at La Salpêtrière and
firm friend of Augustine, is a manic-depressive. When she is manic she is
high-spirited and infectiously positive, and it is almost impossible to imagine
that she could ever be down. Without her Augustine might not have been able to
survive the atmosphere of the institution.
Dr. Charoct actually said more than 50% of the things I have
him say in the book; and he really was quite terrifying. There is a lot of
controversy about whether or how much he coached his hysterics; it is up to any
author to decide that, as we will never know for certain.
Lucille, a lifelong
patient at La Salpêtrière, is fearful,
combative, and cannot speak. She is autistic. I did not clarify this is the
book, but I have read a great deal about autism and how autistics have been
treated throughout history. Up until rather recently they were generally
institutionalized in childhood and remained so for life.
I have an autistic
son. Raising an autistic is all-consuming; one reason I chose to write about
fin de siècle France is that it was as far from autism as I could possibly get!
But it seems I didn’t get away from it after all: I love Lucille, and her
relationship with Augustine serves to show just what a good heart Augustine
has.
Charles is very much a young man of his time and class. He
is wealthy, playing at educating himself while indulging all that is worst in his
character. He is spoiled, cruel, and, I hope, fascinating. He was already in
love with death when he met V. Although he himself avers that he would never
have actually killed without her, I’m not sure we can believe him.
I created V to be the great Victorian villainess. She is
enigmatic to the point of not even having a name, and she is the only character
in the book without a voice. She is, of course, a sociopath, having no real
concept of love, living for power and pleasure alone. Charles thinks she loves
him, but what she loves is that he kills for her. She has a great ability to
mimic human emotions, convincing Augustine that she is her friend and cares
only for her highest good. And yet at her cruelest she only shows how very
strong Augustine can be.
Odette is the great sensualist, the succubus, the siren that
sings men to their deaths. She enjoys corrupting innocent young men; her great
complaint about Edouard is that he is that most boring of mortals, the
incorruptible man! But there is something almost innocent in her overarching
search for passion at all costs. And it cannot be denied that she is
irresistible. Certainly she would not deny it!
I’m quite fond of Captain Bezier, even though he is a stock
character, not in the least original. But I thought that he could be an
entertaining counter-voice to Edouard, disagreeing with practically everything
he says while carefully tucking away any information that might be useful to
the investigation. And when it really matters he shows himself to be a good and
loyal friend to Edouard.
About the Author
Jessie Prichard Hunter is the author of the psychological thriller Blood Music, forthcoming from Witness Impulse. She currently resides in New York's Hudson Valley with her husband and two children.
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