Day 235: The Eloquence of Blood

In the second of Judith Rock’s series, the Louis le Grand school run by the Jesuits is under financial hardship in this cold winter of 1686. On a visit to Monsieur Callot to ask for a contribution to the alms budget, rhetorician Charles du Luc meets a lovely young woman, Martine Mynette.

Martine’s mother Anne has recently died, and Martine is very concerned, because Henri Brion, a notary and Monsieur Callot’s nephew, has been unable to find a copy of Martine’s donation entre vifs. Because Martine is adopted, according to French law of the time she cannot inherit, so the only way her mother could leave her an inheritance is through this document. The copy usually hidden in the house is gone, and M. Brion is looking for his own copy.

When Charles relates this story to the school’s rector, Pére le Picart, the rector is dismayed because the Jesuit order was expecting the money through a bequest by Anne Mynette’s father. If a donation entre vifs exists, the school will not be entitled to the bequest. Another concern is that M. Brion is the same person who has supposedly been following up on the order’s claim. The rector sends Charles to the Brion’s house to find out what is going on.

Charles finds the area in disorder. Martine–a neighbor of the Brion’s, and Isabelle Brion’s best friend–has been murdered. No one has seen M. Brion. Isabelle is concerned because her father was trying to force her brother Gilles to marry Martine, which gives Gilles a motive for murder.

In addition to finding out about the bequest, Charles is assigned to follow the investigation into Martine’s murder. There are rumors on the street that the Jesuits murdered Martine for the money, and Paris seems to be entering one of its periodic convulsions against the Jesuit order.

As usual for the two books in this series, the historical details seem convincing and interesting. The novel is well written and keeps you involved. One very small caveat that I did not notice in the first book–Rock explains even the simplest French, which is annoying.