City of Light, City of Poison
Murder, Magic, and the First Police Chief of Paris
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Narrated by:
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Kate Reading
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By:
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Holly Tucker
About this listen
Appointed to conquer the "crime capital of the world", the first police chief of Paris faces an epidemic of murder in the late 1600s. Assigned by Louis XIV, Nicolas de La Reynie begins by clearing the streets of filth and installing lanterns throughout Paris, turning it into the City of Light.
The fearless La Reynie pursues criminals through the labyrinthine neighborhoods of the city. He unearths a tightly knit cabal of poisoners, witches, and renegade priests. As he exposes their unholy work, he soon learns that no one is safe from black magic - not even the Sun King. In a world where a royal glance can turn success into disgrace, the distance between the quietly back-stabbing world of the king's court and the criminal underground proves disturbingly short. Nobles settle scores by employing witches to craft poisons and by hiring priests to perform dark rituals in Paris' most illustrious churches and cathedrals.
As La Reynie continues his investigations, he is haunted by a single question: could Louis' mistresses be involved in such nefarious plots? The pragmatic and principled La Reynie must decide just how far he will go to protect his king.
From secret courtrooms to torture chambers, City of Light, City of Poison is a gripping true-crime tale of deception and murder. Based on thousands of pages of court transcripts and La Reynie's compulsive note taking, as well as on letters and diaries, Tucker's riveting narrative makes the fascinating, real-life characters breathe and live.
©2017 Holly Tucker (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Madame Tussaud
- A Novel of the French Revolution
- By: Michelle Moran
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
- Length: 15 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Marie Tussaud has learned the secrets of wax sculpting by working alongside her uncle in their celebrated wax museum, the Salon de Cire. From her popular model of the American ambassador Thomas Jefferson to her tableau of the royal family at dinner, Marie's museum provides Parisians with the very latest news on fashion, gossip, even politics. Her customers hail from every walk of life, and word even arrives that the royals themselves are coming to see their likenesses....
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Tales from a turbulent time
- By Tim on 07-23-12
By: Michelle Moran
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Marie Therese, Child of Terror
- The Fate of Marie Antoinette's Daughter
- By: Susan Nagel
- Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor
- Length: 18 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Nagel tells a remarkable story of an astonishing woman, from her birth, to her upbringing by doting parents, through to Revolution, imprisonment, exile, Restoration, and, finally, her reincarnation as saint and matriarch.
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Essential reading for students of Bourbon history
- By Adeliese Baumann on 03-07-13
By: Susan Nagel
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Young and Damned and Fair
- The Life of Catherine Howard, Fifth Wife of King Henry VIII
- By: Mr. Gareth Russell
- Narrated by: Jenny Funnell
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Written with an exciting combination of narrative flair and historical authority, this interpretation of the tragic life of Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII, breaks new ground in our understanding of the very young woman who became queen at a time of unprecedented social and political tension and whose terrible errors in judgment quickly led her to the executioner's block.
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Magnifent scholarly work
- By Linda Erlich on 08-08-17
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Rasputin
- Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs
- By: Douglas Smith
- Narrated by: PJ Ochlan
- Length: 33 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Rasputin separates fact from fiction to reveal the real life of one of history's most alluring figures. Drawing on a wealth of forgotten documents from archives in seven countries, Smith presents Rasputin in all his complexity - man of God, voice of peace, loyal subject, adulterer, drunkard. Rasputin is not just a definitive biography of an extraordinary and legendary man, but a fascinating portrait of the twilight of imperial Russia as it lurched toward catastrophe.
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A story that deserves a better narrator.
- By James on 01-27-18
By: Douglas Smith
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Mary Queen of Scots
- The True Life of Mary Stuart
- By: John Guy
- Narrated by: Lucy Rayner
- Length: 25 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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In the first full-scale biography of Mary Stuart in more than 30 years, John Guy creates an intimate and absorbing portrait of one of history's most famous women, depicting her world and her place in the sweep of history with stunning immediacy. Bringing together all surviving documents and uncovering a trove of new sources for the first time, Guy dispels the popular image of Mary Queen of Scots as a romantic leading lady - achieving her ends through feminine wiles - and establishes her as the intellectual and political equal of Elizabeth I.
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Horrible narration - don’t purchase
- By ballymerrigan on 12-27-18
By: John Guy
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The Family
- By: Mario Puzo, completed by Carol Gino
- Narrated by: George Guidall
- Length: 14 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Mario Puzo first answered the question 'What is a family?' with the creation of the Corleones in his landmark best seller The Godfather. Now, 30 years later, Puzo enriches us all with his ultimate vision of the subject: the story of the greatest crime family in Italian history, the Borgias.
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Outstanding look at the Papacy
- By Gary on 11-12-08
By: Mario Puzo, and others
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Last Woman Hanged
- The Terrible True Story of Louisa Collins
- By: Caroline Overington
- Narrated by: Jennifer Vuletic
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In January 1889, Louisa Collins, a 41-year-old mother of 10 children, became the first woman hanged at Darlinghurst Gaol and the last woman hanged in New South Wales. Both of Louisa's husbands had died suddenly and the Crown, convinced that Louisa poisoned them with arsenic, put her on trial an extraordinary four times in order to get a conviction, to the horror of many in the legal community. Louisa protested her innocence until the end.
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Enlightening, entertaining and exceptionally done
- By Karol Heim on 02-09-24
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God's Traitors
- Terror & Faith in Elizabethan England
- By: Jessie Childs
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 14 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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For many Catholics, the Elizabethan "Golden Age" was an alien concept. Following the criminalization of their religion by Elizabeth I, nearly 200 Catholics were executed, and many more wasted away in prison during her reign. Torture was used more than at any other time in England's history. While some bowed to the pressure of the government and new church, publicly conforming to acts of Protestant worship, others did not - and quickly found themselves living in a state of siege.
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Well-researched, well-written
- By Charles on 03-23-15
By: Jessie Childs
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The Italian Secretary
- By: Caleb Carr
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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The best-selling author of the Alienist series returns with a chilling elaboration on the Sherlock Holmes canon, as the famed detective investigates a pair of gruesome murders, which cast an otherworldly shadow as far as Queen Victoria herself.
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A True Delight for the Holmes Enthusiast
- By Sagar on 06-03-05
By: Caleb Carr
What listeners say about City of Light, City of Poison
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Wayne Garner
- 10-19-18
Amazing research and details !
I love history and this opened up a fascinating and untold chapter. I’ve never studied French history and this was an amazing chapter that was well hidden for centuries . The inner workings of the Royals. The dark side of the city. The struggles of people to survive in this era at all financial levels. The treatment of those accused..... I would say we have advanced since then. But then look at what has happened to the Saudi journalist.
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- Formerly Frizzy
- 01-29-18
I wish every city had a book like this!
Would you consider the audio edition of City of Light, City of Poison to be better than the print version?
educational, interesting, accurate
Who was your favorite character and why?
King Louis, of course!
What about Kate Reading’s performance did you like?
She is just a really really good narrator.
If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?
History the way it should be taught! Through anecdotes!
Any additional comments?
I wish there were books like this for all major cities! It makes learning about history interesting.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Todd Krein
- 06-11-18
A fascinating read, bad description
The book was a really interesting read, but it wasn't at all about what I thought it would be. The first few chapters were about the new police chief of Paris, and the changes he implemented. It was fascinating, and I thought the book would continue in that vein.
But the majority of the book was about the "affair of the poisons," a story about royal/political intrigue, starring some of the characters you meet in the first couple of chapters. I kept waiting for it to return to the original premise, but once I understood it wouldn't, I again enjoyed it.
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- Raymond
- 02-25-18
Some books better read than listened
The author relates a fascinating story, previously completely unknown to me. It was thoroughly researched. However there are so many French names, though beautifully pronounced, that it is hard for this English speaking reader to follow and remember.
So I love the book, but recommend reading over listening.
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- Marsha L. Woerner
- 02-03-24
Lust,, murder, and greed: the origins of France...
(As posted in Goodreads)
Unfortunately, I took a month off in the middle of reading this book which made me forget a lot of the details. I already know that I need to reread the book.
What I did get from the book was that there was a period of 150 or so years in the late 1600s/early 1700s when France was a total mess with passion, murders, and rampant greed and desired for power and control. The number of murders and poisonings was astronomical and the ruler of France and the first police chief were involved in all of the goings on. The King of France had a lot to do to try and maintain control and run the country while tamping down Individuals desires and rights.
Again, I need to reread the book to be able to actually put things together and realize the nuances and realities of the situations, but I do know that it was an interesting read and, although, history is not my first choice in general, it was well written and held my interest!
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- Israel
- 11-11-22
Brilliant
City of light, city of poison is a brilliantly research and written book about the criminal element in Paris in the late 1600s. It had me gripped from beginning to end.
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- Roberta Scott
- 10-07-23
A challenging listen
As a non-French speaking American I was lost in the French names - without which the story simply could not be told! My strategy became one of allowing the sheer constancy of the poisonings of the disliked or the merely “inconvenient”.
Gave pause for reflection on measures the powerless in earlier societies may have chosen in evening scores.
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- Sunny Days
- 03-08-18
Non-fiction historical mystery
Did the narration match the pace of the story?
Yes, the narrator matched the type of material and I think she did a good job of pronouncing the French names throughout (though I took Spanish, not French).
Any additional comments?
I thought the book was interesting, but I would have liked to know it was not a mystery novel before I bought it. I like historical fiction because I learn a lot about the people, setting, and action during that time period. In this book you'll learn about Louis the 14th, Paris, and something about what life was like; and more than you ever wanted to know about torture, poisoning, and plotting by wealthy families, and those that catered to them. You will not really get to know the characters though, because it is non-fiction.
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- Emory
- 01-17-18
ouch my brain hurts
so many stories they are hard to differentiate between them they run into each other they seem to go on and on this book you should have been best Redd as an Abridged version
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- Lucia Solorzano
- 04-28-22
Fascinating, Factual Story!
This is a tough story to follow, replete with lots of details & French names to keep straight. In the end, though, City of Light, City of Poison is a superbly researched, factual wild ride worth exploring.
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