Mute Witness »

O'brien is Assistant Professor of Film Studies at Carleton University in Canada. He has published articles on film historiography and on relations between film theory and practice.

Picture the Scarlet Pimpernell as a woman—dealing with murder before the Terror made heads roll...

It's the eve of the French Revolution. Fiscal crisis and social tensions brew. Anne Cartier, a headstrong young vaudeville actress at Sadler's Wells company in London hears terrible news. Her stepfather, the actor Antoine Dubois has mysteriously died in Paris. The official verdict: he killed his mistress, then himself. Anne enlists the aid of Colonel Paul de Saint-Martin and his adjutant Georges Charpentier of the royal highway patrol. But, in her search for truth, Anne befriends a deaf, illiterate seamstress with a talent for puppetry who gives Anne an entre into the Palais Royale. Her quest further confronts her with an amateur theatrical society of dissolute young noblemen; a tormented female botanist; a sadistic aesthete; a rich, well-connected financier; a professional assassin.
Unravelling the mystery tests Anne's nerve as well as her remarkable acrobatic skills. At a critical juncture in the investigation, she acts the part of an exotic queen in Indian costume at a reception. Priceless Indian jewelry disappears. Its owner, an aged count is murdered. And a venal police inspector threatens to derail Anne's project.
The story rises to a violent climax in a vast limestone caveoutside Paris where the city has begun to bury its dead. Historian O'Brien's debut novel is elegantly written as befits the times and explores borders between countries and between layers of society. Few have chosen to place a crime novel here. O'Brien makes us wonder why.

Copyright 1996 - 2000, BookBrowser - Bob Hahn

The author's debut mystery, set at the end of the 18th century, swings between England and France and engulfs the reader in a world where the rights of the wealthy and the rights of men, far outweigh any sense of justice as we know it. And women such as Anne Cartier must use all their wits and wiles to endure - and find good fortune as well if they hope to emerge victorious. Anne is an actress, daughter of an actress and stepdaughter of an actor. Her mother dead and her stepfather living in Paris, Anne is earning her living in an English vaudeville theater. When Anne rejects the advances of a ruffian she soon finds herself violated more rudely by English justice than by her ill-bred suitor. Though saved from the worst fate planned for her, Anne is more than ready to leave the acting life. Opportunity presents itself when a former patron of her parents invites her to come to Paris. Unfortunately, the invitation also brings news of her stepfather's unfortunate suicide - a death that followed his murdering his mistress. Anne seizes the chance to leave England and to discover more about the fate of her stepfather. Driven by her need to uncover the truth about her stepfather's death, Anne plunges into a world of intrigue that despite her inexperience she is well-equipped to deal with. Anne's acting ability, the agility honed through acrobatics, even her knowledge of signing to communicate with the deaf - all come into play as she penetrates the ugly secrets masked by her stepfather's murder. O'Brien's debut draws heavily on his knowledge of the period and provides a solid underpinning to a mystery that combines romance, intrigue and suspense in near equal measure. Anne Cartier'sbravura first appearance is bound to leave readers applauding for an encore.