The Inspector of Strange and Unexplained Deaths is the first of eight French mysteries featuring Volnay, a man who was made the Inspect of Strange and Unexplained Deaths after saving Louis XV from an assassin. He is called to investigate the murder of a young woman whose entire face had been removed. When his good friend and associate, the Monk, does the autopsy, he creates a death mask that Volnay uses to identify the victim as one of the King’s mistresses. 

The novel is full of plot and counter-plot with historical characters. In addition to Louis XV, there are Antoine de Sartine, Comte de Saint Germain, Madame Pompadour, and the famed Casanova. There are also three competing secret societies and all of them have nothing better to do than plot and counter-plot to hold or gain power. 

I stuck it out to the bitter end of The Inspector of Strange and Unexplained Deaths and wish I had not. As a mystery, though, it is fair. Volnay and the reader had the necessary clues. However, it is simply too convoluted with plots and counter-plots and sheer stupidity. Really, the inane actions of the characters baffled me again and again and far more thoroughly than the mystery.  

The Inspector of Strange and Unexplained Deaths will be published on October 6th. I received an e-galley from the publisher through NetGalley.