In September 2020, three years after The Soufflot Street case,
Lauriane Emans
returns to Paris to take up a job as a transcriber of meetings at the French subsidiary of an American laboratory specialising in research and development in innovative health technologies.
Will she manage to fit in at the company?
Given her special personality, nothing is less certain! In May 2022,
Benjamin Marshall,
a freelance press correspondent in Paris for American newspapers,
is shot dead in cold blood
as he is leaving his home in the Fourteenth District to go to the scene of a report. In December 2023,
Arnaud Wagram,
a disillusioned psychiatrist from Toulouse, in the South of France,
decides to unscrew his plaque
after just twenty years in private practice, and he takes the opportunity to tell the story of how he has come to such an extreme action.
What is the link between these three stories?
That's what the team of the Third Judicial Police Department, in charge of investigating this mysterious case, will have to find out.
Managing errors and breaches of medical ethics are not the only surprises awaiting Yanaël Marceau, now an inspector, and his superior, Cédric Zandowski, now a commander.
Moreover, during their investigation, they will have to deal with
the political pressure
of the French president's state visit to the United States, scheduled for December 2022, just a few months after the assassination of Benjamin Marshall, the only American citizen to be shot dead on French territory since the end of World War II. Working as a small team, will our two investigators manage to solve this case in time and in a way that doesn't jeopardise diplomatic relations between France and the United States?
And what will become of Lauriane Emans and Arnaud Wagram at the end of the story?
These are the answers you will find out by reading this second instalment of Yanaël Marceau's investigations, written from several different points of view.
EXTRACT:
Me:
Good morning, Madam. I need an exceptional leave on Thursday 28th January, starting at 5 p.m., which would mean leaving the office at that time instead of at 7:53 p.m. as usual.
The HRM:
What is the reason for your request ?
I'm due to attend a literary prize-giving ceremony in the Sixteenth District, starting at 6 p.m.
Can't this ceremony take place without you?
No, not really.
Why is that? Do you think you're essential ?
No, I don't think so, but I have to receive one of the prizes that are to be awarded at this ceremony. If I don't go, it wouldn't reflect well on the jury who decided to award it to me.
I didn't know you were a writer.
I didn't know myself until I became one. I started this activity at a time when I wasn't yet working for the laboratory.
You didn't mention it on your CV. Are you hiding it ?
It's not really an activity, more a hobby that I do in my spare time while other people are doing sports or cultural activities at the weekend or on holiday.
It's a bit strange that you should receive an award for an activity that you only consider to be a hobby !
Very few authors make a living from their writing ! That's why I regard writing more as a hobby than a professional activity. In fact, I neither sought nor applied for this prize, but now that it's been awarded to me, I have to find a way of making myself available so that I can attend the presentation ceremony.
After your absence from the secret santa, you're certainly not missing an opportunity to draw attention to yourself !