On my Facebook and Instagram pages I'm continuing an interview conducted by author Helen Hollick with the hero of Murder at Cirey, mounted gendarme Victor Constant. In the spring of 1735 he was banished by the military police, the Maréchaussée, from Paris to a remote area in the Haute Marne, and then in the first week of summer he was faced with a murder case that because of a dangerous dissension with his superior officers he was forced to solve on his own. 

Here is the latest interview question from Helen Hollick. The illustration is of course a portrait of the redoubtable physicist and mathematician, Madame du Châtelet. Murder at Cirey is currently on pre-order on Amazon.

 HH: Tell me about one or two of the other characters who feature with you in your story. Who are some of the nice characters and who is the nastiest one?

I’ll start with the nastiest one, who is of course the murderer. He is just the kind of man (he would call himself a gentleman, but he doesn’t deserve the title) whom one meets in the top echelons of provincial society, and who takes advantage of his position to feather his own nest and treat everyone with contempt. This one is also intelligent enough to be a cunning conspirator, and ruthless enough to frame his associates for his own crimes. I finally got the measure of him—but I was nearly too late! At the opposite end of the aristocratic spectrum is Mme du Châtelet. But I wouldn’t describe her as ‘nice’, exactly. ‘Spectacular’ is perhaps the word. Here is the impression she made on me when she kindly offered advice on my detective work:

‘Victor took the cue and rose to his feet. He would have preferred to stay and continue the conversation that Madame du Châtelet had carried on with such verve and grace. Her presence and her musical voice animated the room, influencing the currents of feeling and thought in startling ways. Her figure was perfect. Her face, with its well-defined features and glowing eyes, had great powers of expression and she was dressed with a flair that set off her distinctive beauty. But it was not just her person that dazzled him, it was her sheer vitality.’