Arthur Bernède (1871–1937)

This is rather a stupid book. Even the title is stupid, given that the "blue train" has almost nothing to do with what's going on. I'm not sure if the overall problem is in the original, or in the translation, or perhaps both. It appears to me that the translation isn't very good, but then, I'm not a French scholar. It's just that we wobble back and forth between effected, pompous declarations about how "awesome" the "king of detectives is" and then common-place jargon that sounds like 1990s and beyond, but certainly not like 1920s, which is the setting of the book. WTF?

So, I'm not sure if the book sucked because the author sucked, or because his translator, some 80 or so years later didn't do a very good job. When one translates a book from the 1920s, one needs to use the appropriate jargon of the 1920s, not that of the 2000s . WFT?

So, anyway, a body is found on the tracks traversed by the "blue train". A young man is accused and the police try to hurry him to conviction. But a young woman entreats Chantecoq, the "King of Detectives", to investigate. Eventually he does and things get unraveled, but not before much irrelevant tedium heaped upon us by the author.

FWIW, the only thing the "blue train" has to do with the book is that it hit a body on the tracks. Nothing else. No significance at all. It could have been any other train, just one that came by to disfigure a corpse. There's nothing in the nature or existence of the train that has anything to do with the mystery.

My best friend has a masters in French literature, and reads mysteries voraciously. She is especially fond of the Inspector Maigret books by Georges Simenon. She never heard of Arthur Bernède. I'm guessing it's because Bernède was rather a hack. Certainly, I'll never waste any more time on his rubbish.
… (mehr)

Tandis que la rumeur de la présence d’un fantôme circule au musée du Louvres, un gardien du musée y est retrouvé mort. L'enquête est confiée à l'inspecteur Ménardier. Le jeune journaliste Jacques Bellegarde, pressentant une affaire complexe et retentissante, décide se lance à son tour dans l'enquête en marge de la police.
Ce roman est le plus célèbre d'Arthur Bernède (1871-1937) qui en écrivit plus de 200, parus en feuilletons, mettant en scène des personnages comme Vidocq, Judex ou Mandrin. Mais surtout, Belphégor a été l'objet d'un feuilleton TV qui, par son retentissement à sa sortie en 1965, est passé dans l'histoire de la télévision française.… (mehr)