Vintage Crime
2 total works
This self-contained sequel to The Murdered House ranges over half a century. It concerns the enigmatic Seraphin Monge who, having avenged the horrific murder of his family, has vanished as abruptly as he appeared. But how to explain the ghostly visions and declared sightings of him?
In the summer of 1920, Seraphin Monge, scarred by the horrors of war, finally returns home to his native village in Provence. He learns the truth about his family, who were brutally slaughtered in a remote inn on the Eve of St. Michael in 1896. The only survivor of the massacre was a three-week-old baby.Monge is haunted and obsessed by visions of his dead young mother and is determined to avenge her murder. In an attempt to free himself from the horrors of his past, he decides to demolish, stone by stone, the centuries-old and accursed house in which the crime took place, and in the process he accidentally discovers the true identity of the murderers. Gradually the dreadful truth is unveiled, and justice takes its toll.The Murdered House is a novel of terrifying intensity, in which Pierre Magnan evokes the beauty of the harsh, arid landscape of old Provence with passion and descriptive brilliance.