Roman Policier historique

A corpse at the locker

Avril 2019 : sortie du polar historique

d’ Isabel Lavarec

1920.

Roman policier historique placé juste après l’hécatombe de la guerre qui a entraîné une perte de repères et une banalisation de la mort.

Vivant dans cette période folle où le meilleur et le pire se côtoient, les Rostova font souvent la une des journaux. Lui, affairiste dans l’import-export, accumule les maîtresses ; elle, féministe engagée, journaliste, n’hésite pas à dénoncer les injustices sociales.

Cela semble s’écouler comme un long fleuve tranquille jusqu’au jour où on dénonce la disparition de monsieur. Puis, tout bascule, lorsque l’on découvre un cadavre à la consigne de la gare…

En mettant face à face un progressiste et un réactionnaire, quelques problèmes fondamentaux sont posés : le statut de la femme dans la société patriarcale du début du XXe siècle ; la partialité et l’iniquité de la justice ; la peine de mort ; l’inhumanité des prisons ; l’importance de l’amour, de la culture et la nécessité de donner un sens à son existence.

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This colorful police investigation, not devoid of lightness,

rich in twists and turns, inspired by a real fact (Bessarabo affair)

is to be devoured.

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In the post-war patriarchal context (1920s), the wife of a businessman, a committed feminist, is an ideal culprit. But is it that simple?

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An investigation, a trial, who do we judge? the feminist? The crime ?

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But a corpse on the deposit is much more than that:

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Isabel LAVAREC confirms

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" For some, the period of the 1920s is that of the" Roaring Twenties "with its procession of novelties and pleasures, forgetting that only a minority benefited from it. This detective story features not only middle-class women but also women of the poor people. favored; prisoners of Saint-Lazare, thus, some societal problems of the time are raised. "

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An original angle:

The only, the true, the only journey

it's to change your look "

Marcel Proust.

Making the reader travel by changing his perspective on the Bessarabo affair was the author's motivation.

To show thus, the importance of the reading grids in the interpretation of the facts to ask the only question which is essential during a judgment: where is the truth located?

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Finally, to change the reader's gaze, the author, a feminist, has transformed the color of the drama to offer another, mixed with hope.

This historical detective story has inspired readers:

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“A captivating plot very pleasant to read, fluid style, human characters, endearing by their somewhat outdated sides. Marine

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“I just finished reading this whodunit… like no other!

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Not like the others, although the pipe is for the humanist curator an essential tool for the gestation of his reflection, which is reminiscent of certain illustrious reference!

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Not like the others, however, because at the very end, the enigma is not entirely resolved and a part of the mystery is taken away by the protagonist, who moreover remained strangely opaque to herself ... my language is not very Orthodox "shrink" !!!

And that's what made the book so appealing to me: Truth is never achieved and society has to be content with compromise.

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But "public opinion" is insatiable and wants to know everything; I remember the Villemin affair which keeps resurfacing ... and Marguerite Duras who, what luck, had understood everything by instinct !!! Not to mention Dominici, so well perceived by his compatriot Giono ...

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It is necessary to know how to accept in human affairs not to know everything and to preserve the part of the irreducible not elucidated and besides not elucidable ... Let it be said in the era of Big Data which claims to know you better than yourself! ("these choices look like you" no but what else!)

I asked myself a question, but perhaps I am wrong, the personality of Anna de Noailles would not have been in some ways one of the author's sources to build the central character (e)? She who received in her living room all the literary elite of that time ...

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Thank you for giving us the atmosphere of this post-war period

So many things in this "thriller" like no other! Geneviève and Jean

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The historical thriller is a rare genre and that is a shame, because the atmosphere that emerges from it changes cyber criminals and other very fashionable criminal hackers.

With “Un cadavre à la deposit”, ISABEL LAVAREC offers a bit of fantasy (and a beautiful plot!) With a story set at the beginning of the last century. Give me your feather

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An excerpt from the text

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Alexandra Rostova is swimming. She suffocates, wakes up, looks at the clock: it's time! Since the departure (departure or abandonment?) Of her husband, she has regularly had this same nightmare: long and intense emotion ... she runs to cool off in the bathroom, locks herself in ... suddenly muffled footsteps in the bedroom ... she hides behind the tub… a cavalcade… She trembles, her hairs stand on end… she's cold… silence… Her heart beats even harder… she waits… her temples panic… the minutes seem like hours… the heavy silence persists… she comes out of her hiding place, gently pushes the door… no one, the way is clear… the window has remained open… she must close it. Noiselessly, on tiptoe, she runs to close it, joining her bed, she sees a LYING! She freezes. What is this man doing lying face down on the floor in his room? She blocks her breathing. His heart is racing. It will come out of his chest, the guy will hear it. The body does not move. Is he breathing? She stealthily approaches it, he's DEAD! His breathing quickens… Who is it? And Georges who does not come in… She tries to turn him around… Impossible… she tries again… in vain… she wakes up swimming…

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This recurring nightmare worries him. Did she really find a dead person? Did these steps really exist? She gets up, goes to the bathroom, runs some water on her face, wipes it off, examines her face in the oval mirror, tidies her eyebrows, stretches for a long time and ends up blaming the bad dream on his readings. She goes back to bed, takes the newspaper from the bedside table, looks through the headlines… “Landru… again that professional killer. You can no longer open a newspaper without it making the front page. Do we complain to the victims? No ! They are hardly named. Of the non-existent, their death seems anecdotal. Yet what would have happened to France if the women had not been there during the war? Angry, she quickly turns the pages. A photo of her couple stops her. What? Georges Rostova, the elegant director would have disappeared… according to the public rumor, his wife could be responsible… ”Eyes wide, she remains speechless. Then, in a fit of rage, a hoarse cry finally comes out of her throat, she vigorously crumples the leaf, throws it to the ground, tramples it on with anger.

- He would have disappeared and I would have killed him? It is nonsense ! Gentlemen journalists, we should verify your statements! At this moment, Monsieur Rostova Georges must be in the arms of Morpheus or in those of his step-in-the-night somewhere in France or Mexico. I hate it ! He's never there when I need him.

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A mad desire to eat overwhelms her. She searches the kitchen and storage cupboards. There isn't much left. No wonder, Georges no longer provides regular daily expenses, the local grocer is reluctant to give them credit. " What a shame ! Having had to borrow a large sum from Félicien in order to be able to go to Mexico! To have fallen so low… if my first husband saw that! Well, the whining will be for later, for now this jar of pâté will do. "

- Fortunately, she said with her mouth full, there is only one week left before our departure. Will Georges be back? Regardless, he's just a husband. Alexandra Rostova, you are a mother above all and Marguerite your second daughter, ask for your help… Poor little darling, her sick husband, she has trouble taking care of her son and the department store. My little darling, soon we will be reunited ...

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Imagining George's face in front of the slate he will have to adjust, she can't help laughing.

- This time, friend, you will be the abandoned one!

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Despite the stale bread, the pâté accompanied by a sip of red wine drunk from the neck comforts her. Returning to bed, she walks with delight on the newspaper, tears it into a thousand pieces and like confetti, throws them in the air.

- Georges the hidalgo, you deceived me literally and figuratively. The seducer from Mexico, a nice husband and admirable adoptive dad for my daughters, quickly turned into a monster when he arrived in France. You squandered my inheritance, my daughters' dowry, but as a perverse hypocrite that you are, you still manage to pull the blanket over ... You are too strong for me, I am leaving you. I should never have married you.

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The advocating portrait on the bedside table, thrown with force against the wall does not resist the shock, shards of glass splash the parquet.

The screeching of the curtains on the window wakes her up, the sun dazzles her.

- Ho, la, la! Maria-Louisa hums as she jumps on the bed, you screamed again last night and you got up to eat! You're unreasonable… and all those drinks everywhere… What happened? Has the monster returned? No, no, there is only me next to you.

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Ashamed, the mother pulls the sheet over her face, Maria-Louisa throws herself on her, tickles her. They laugh heartily. Then, making her mom sit down, the daughter puts the breakfast tray on her lap and shares the same bowl of coffee. A breath of well-being invades the mother who can not help hugging her eldest against her chest.

- My dear, no one will ever hurt you more. I will always protect you. I promise you.

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Tenderly stroking the abundant brown hair, the mother hears the silent sobs of her daughter ...

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Isabel LAVAREC is also police officers for teenagers!

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The Halinea Notebooks form a series with the same people who investigate and a common thread that connects them: the heroine's tumultuous love with a gypsy Kiero.

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A first opus has already been published in 2016 by Oskar editions: "It is easier to disintegrate an atom than a prejudice", around discrimination.

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A second opus published in January 2020 by Editions Ex-Aequo: "the Stéphanie affair" around school phobia.

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Teenagers like to see the evolution of the character, who grows at the same time as them: in the first opus, Halinea is in third, in "The Stéphanie Affair" she is in second, etc.

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Notebooks 3 and 4, which will lead Halinea to the 1st, are already being written!

Isabel LAVAREC is a former Associate Professor in Life and Earth Sciences. She has taught in initial and continuing training, at different levels (high school, normal school, PEGC center, IUFM, university) and in different countries, departments and overseas territories (France, Algeria, Comoros, Martinique, Tahiti).

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At the same time, she was part of troupes of amateur actors in Nice, then in Montpellier. She also learned the art of storytelling and interviewing in ethnology.

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His first publications were devoted to themes related to his profession (scientific and educational articles in several specialist journals and several series of textbooks).

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Isabel then decided to pass on her life experience through detective novels, fantasy novels, tales and short stories.

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In 2019, his work was rewarded with three prizes awarded by the Arts & Lettres de France (international literary prizes): 2nd prize (storytelling section) for "La Symphonie du Bonheur", 3rd prize (new section) for "Taking one's place nothing but her place "and 1st accessit (novel section) for" Lili femme de Vitruvius or crossed shadows).

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Useful information

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"A corpse at the deposit" by Isabel LAVAREC

3 formats and editions

Paperback format