The Lerouge Case

A murdered widow. A quiet village. A case that helped create modern detective fiction.

When the elderly Madame Lerouge is found murdered in her home near Bougival, the crime appears at first to be a brutal local tragedy. But the dead woman's past is not simple, and the investigation soon opens onto a maze of hidden identities, family secrets, inheritance, betrayal, and long-buried guilt.

Into this mystery steps one of the most important early figures in detective fiction: Monsieur Lecoq. Still young, ambitious, and not yet the celebrated investigator he will become, Lecoq observes, questions, suspects, and begins to show the methods that would influence the future of crime fiction.

First published in French as L'Affaire Lerouge, Émile Gaboriau's novel stands at the roots of the modern detective story. Before Sherlock Holmes became the supreme detective of English fiction, Gaboriau was building the architecture of the investigative mystery: clues, deduction, police rivalry, amateur insight, forensic attention, social disguise, and the revelation of truth through method.

This modern English edition presents The Lerouge Case in a clean, reader-friendly format for fans of classic mystery, French crime fiction, Sherlock Holmes-era detection, Victorian crime novels, and the forgotten origins of the detective genre.

The Lerouge Case is part of the European Crime Classics series: premium modern editions of stylish, intelligent, and historically important European crime fiction.