The First Detective
The Life and Revolutionary Times of Vidocq
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
Eugene Vidocq was the Morse, the Guv'nor, the James Bond of his day. A notorious criminal and prison escaper, he turned police officer and employed a gang of ex-convicts as his detectives. Now, James Morton takes us on a historical romp through the 18th century in search of this elusive figure.
Today Vidocq's influence can still be seen as members of The Vidocq Society, an unusual, exclusive crime-solving organization honor him by applying their collective forensic skills and experience to 'cold case' homicides and unsolved deaths.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Eug ne-Fran ois Vidocq (1775-1857) may be the most fascinating guy you've never heard of. A career criminal turned informant turned police officer turned private detective turned authors' muse (with stints in between as spy, memoirist, and semi-professional litigant), Vidocq introduced methods of sleuthing still used today. He was the first to use undercover agents, keep records of arrests, take foot and fingerprints, as well as inventing both indelible ink and unalterable paper. A long-time subject of French TV and film, his detective agency predates the more famous one founded by Pinkerton, and he inspired not only Balzac and Hugo (he was the model for both the detective and the criminal in Les Miserables), but arguably Edgar Allan Poe's Auguste Dupin. Later, he turns up in Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish as an example of the melding of police authority with criminality. If only Morton's biography, originally published by Random House in 2006, were as interesting as its subject. Sadly, Morton is a poor judge of when to include illuminating details, and his writing is workman-like. Vidocq deserves better: his life is a Johnny Depp costume drama waiting to happen. Aspiring screenwriters should skip this biography and go straight to Vidocq's memoirs.
