Blood Royal: A True Tale of Crime and Detection in Medieval Paris
On a November evening in 1407, Louis of Orleans, brother of the mentally unbalanced French king Charles VI, was bludgeoned and stabbed to death on a Parisian street by several masked men.  This was no simple street mugging. Louis had exercised great power during his brother’s frequent bouts of incapacitation. With France still embroiled in the Hundred Years’ War with England and facing severe internal threats to the monarchy, the murder had far-reaching implications.  To unravel the assassination  plot, Guillaume de Tigonville, the chief law enforcement officer of Paris, had to wade through the layers of criminality, corruption, and high politics that permeated different levels of French society.  Jager has utilized de Tigonville’s written report as the basis for a tense and exciting true-life detective story. De Tigonville is the ideal detective, combining street smarts, a relentless drive, and a willingness to follow where the facts lead regardless of whose toes he steps on.  An outstanding crime tale that also provides a good survey of both the glittering facade and the seamier aspects of medieval Paris. --Jay Freeman