Bruno, Chief of Police, comes face to face with black-magic and an infamous royal mistress in the fifth novel-in this series set in the idyllic French town of St-DenisIt’s two weeks before Easter, and satanism has reared its ugly head in St-Denis. A female body bearing the ghastly signs of a black magicritual has been found on a boat. The search for her identity leads to a local elderly aristocrat known as the Red Countess, herself a descendent of the bewitching Madame de Montespan, also known as Athénaïs, a mistress of Louis XVI and a notorious figure in French history. This is the last thing Bruno needs. The chief of police-cum-culinary connoisseur has too much on his plate as it is, mediating both a domestic abuse case and a local development proposal that seems just too good to be-true. Moreover, his beloved hound, Gigi, is gone, as is his usual roster of ladies. He’s never felt so alone. But Bruno soon finds himself energized by the case and back at his best, which is just as well if he’s to solve the mystery that’s threatening to scar his town’s reputation.
