Fata Morgana
Published on 1. April 2014
154 pages
978-1-4976-3100-7 (ISBN)
Description
From the award-winning legend of speculative fiction, "a witty sendup of the detective story" with "a richness of invention that doffs a hat to Dickens" (
Chicago Tribune).
At a fashionable salon, Parisians line up to have their fortunes told by Ric Lazare's amazing machine. The predictions arrive with unerring accuracy, as if the invention were imbued with some sort of wondrous sorcery. The police, however, have a different opinion. They suspect that Lazare is a con man. Accordingly, they've sent one of their own to investigate. Unfortunately, the man they send is Paul Picard.
His methods are unconventional. His appetites-for lemon tarts, and for prostitutes-are legendary. And he is no stranger to the dark side of Paris. But Inspector Picard is entirely unprepared for the string of murders that pulls him across the continent. As the killer's seductive knot tightens around him, he learns once and for all that there's more to the glimmering world of high society than first appears.
Winner of the World Fantasy Award for his novel Doctor Rat, William Kotzwinkle reaffirms his reputation as one of the most captivating and original American authors of the last half-century with this "elegant entertainment" of magic and mystery in Paris ( The Washington Post).
"Gaudy, decadent, smoothly polished, this beguiling novel is ... a feat of stage magic, well rehearsed and well performed by a fine craftsman." - The New Yorker
"Alternately dark and glittering ... a first-rate vaudeville turn." - Chicago Tribune
"Pure magic." - Playboy
At a fashionable salon, Parisians line up to have their fortunes told by Ric Lazare's amazing machine. The predictions arrive with unerring accuracy, as if the invention were imbued with some sort of wondrous sorcery. The police, however, have a different opinion. They suspect that Lazare is a con man. Accordingly, they've sent one of their own to investigate. Unfortunately, the man they send is Paul Picard.
His methods are unconventional. His appetites-for lemon tarts, and for prostitutes-are legendary. And he is no stranger to the dark side of Paris. But Inspector Picard is entirely unprepared for the string of murders that pulls him across the continent. As the killer's seductive knot tightens around him, he learns once and for all that there's more to the glimmering world of high society than first appears.
Winner of the World Fantasy Award for his novel Doctor Rat, William Kotzwinkle reaffirms his reputation as one of the most captivating and original American authors of the last half-century with this "elegant entertainment" of magic and mystery in Paris ( The Washington Post).
"Gaudy, decadent, smoothly polished, this beguiling novel is ... a feat of stage magic, well rehearsed and well performed by a fine craftsman." - The New Yorker
"Alternately dark and glittering ... a first-rate vaudeville turn." - Chicago Tribune
"Pure magic." - Playboy
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Person
William Kotzwinkle is a novelist, children's writer, and screenwriter. He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Kotzwinkle won the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel for DOCTOR RAT in 1977, and he has also won the National Magazine Award for fiction.
Kotzwinkle wrote the novelization of the screenplay for E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982) and also wrote an original follow-up novel E. T. THE BOOK OF THE GREEN PLANET )1985). Among his most popular titles are a series of children's books featuring the title character of the first book in the series, WALTER THE FARTING DOG (2001). To date, there are six titles in the series. Starting with the third book in the series, Kotzwinkle's wife, Elizabeth Gundy is listed a co-author on the titles.
Kotzwinkle wrote the novelization of the screenplay for E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (1982) and also wrote an original follow-up novel E. T. THE BOOK OF THE GREEN PLANET )1985). Among his most popular titles are a series of children's books featuring the title character of the first book in the series, WALTER THE FARTING DOG (2001). To date, there are six titles in the series. Starting with the third book in the series, Kotzwinkle's wife, Elizabeth Gundy is listed a co-author on the titles.
Content
- Intro
- Dedication
- Introduction
- PART I - The Fool
- The faces in the crowd were dark.
- Paul. Paul. wake up.
- He sat staring at the shabby wallpaper.
- The Prefect opened the dossier.
- The grey day surrendered.
- Picard walked slowly.
- PART II - The Valet of Coins
- No, Lazare is no citizen.
- The morning was grey.
- The train was halted.
- The morning was bright.
- The train rumbled through the night.
- A toy like this.
- He was called Bruno Bari.
- In the wild and sinister mountains.
- PART III - The Magician
- Snow was falling in Paris.
- The five o'clock bells chimed.
- Count Cherubini's courtyard.
- He walked down the long carpeted hallway.
- The palaces of the Right Bank.
- With the morning sun still on him.
- He rose from a sleep.
- From the trunk of a solitary tree.
