0
17+
This tale takes place in 1937, but begins in 1944 in Paris, where,
during an RAF bombing, several people are hiding in a shelter. Aimé
Louzeau, the ‘Mondaine’ inspector, is among them. His story is told in
one long flashback, with a final epilogue in the shelter. It is the
winter of 1937, and Aimé Louzeau lives with his mother and their
servant. One day, he goes to the Quai des Orfèvres, the police
prefecture of Paris, to speak with the vice squad, also known as the
‘Mondaine’. He currently works in the Criminal Investigation department,
but crimes of passion and back alley stabbings really aren’t his thing,
so he requests a transfer from Chief Inspector Séverin. The atmosphere
immediately darkens, as Louzeau is thrown straight into the
interrogation of a pimp called Guapito and his prostitute. We join
Louzeau on these investigations of vice, and find out all about his
somewhat unusual family life (his father is a defrocked priest shut up
in a mental asylum) in the years before the Second World War.