The Widow Lerouge

The Widow Lerouge is a detective novel that starts out with quite a bang. The murder is discovered, and the police inspector Monsieur Lecoq is on the scene and starts investigating straightaway. The complexity of the case forces Lecoq to invite detectives Tabaret and Daburon to help and they bring their eccentric, but effective methods on the table.

Émile Gaboriau (1832-1873) was a French writer, novelist, journalist, and a pioneer of detective fiction. He became a secretary to Paul Féval, and after publishing some novels and miscellaneous writings, found his real gift in detective novels. Gaboriau's most famous character was Monsieur Lecoq, a young police officer who was the hero in several of his novels.
He also wrote a long series of novels dealing with the annals of the police court which proved very popular.