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The First Detective: The Life And Revolutionary Times Of Eugene-Francois Vidocq Criminal, Spy and Private Eye |  | Author: James Morton
Publisher: Ebury Press
Category: Book
List Price: $35.00
Buy New: $6.43
as of 9/7/2010 19:43 CDT details
You Save: $28.57 (82%)
New (8) Used (10) Collectible (1) from $5.73
Seller: horizonbb
Rating:  1 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 340
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 5.9 x 1.4
ISBN: 0091887968
Dewey Decimal Number: 364.092
EAN: 9780091887964
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Eugene Vidocq was born in France in 1775 and his life spanned the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Wars and the 1848 revolutions. When Vidocq himself published his memoirs they were an overnight bestseller - a European publishing sensation. He was the Morse, the Guv'nor, the James Bond of his day. A notorious criminal and prison escaper, he turned police officer and employed a gang of ex-convicts as his detectives. His triumphs were many and he was the darling of the Parisian press - actresses, politicians and thieves hung on his every word. He invented innovative criminal indexing techniques and experimented with fingerprinting. He passed in disguise through the highest and lowest of European society, until his cavalier attitude towards the thin blue line meant he was forced out of the police. So he began the world's very first private detective agency. The cases he solved were high profile, from forgery in Pimlico to stolen jewels in the South of France, and he himself grew in notoriety. However, his infamy didn't prevent him from becoming a spy and moving secretly across the dangerous borders of Europe. The novelists Balzac, Hugo and Dickens all created characters based on Vidocq and his life reads like a cross between a Wilbur Smith novel, Casanova's memoirs and the Scarlet Pimpernel. This is gloriously enjoyable historical romp through the eighteenth century - in the company of a man who was many things to many men - a jewel thief, a spy, a policeman and a private eye. A man whose influence still holds to this day.
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| Customer Reviews:
Stranger than Fiction July 27, 2007
Couch Cutie (Cypress, TX United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The winds of fortune blow hot and cold for our hero Vidocq as he pursues careers ranging from the criminal to those of crime busting. However, Vidocq is a shrewd, intelligent individual that refuses to be pigeonholed by either of these pursuits. Prepare to be surprised and delighted by the many twists and hairpin turns of this exceptional man's unbelievable life.
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