The Lerouge Case

A widow is found murdered in her cottage on the outskirts of Paris, and the local police read the scene as an ordinary crime. An eccentric older amateur with a passion for puzzles sees it very differently. Gaboriau’s 1866 novel follows the retired sleuth Pere Tabaret and the investigating magistrate Daburon as a handful of small clues point toward an unexpected suspect, opening questions of class, legitimacy, and long-buried family secrets. Often named among the earliest detective novels, it also brought in the young police agent Lecoq and laid out the patient, evidence-first method that later writers, Conan Doyle among them, would build on. Available here as a free PDF and EPUB.