L’évaporée du Red Light

I don't read enough crime novels for my own good. They make me experience emotions that I'm not used to in my daily life, so it's ideal for me to relax. So when I saw L’évaporée du Red Light, written by a translation graduate from the University of Montreal (yeah), appreciated for his style (what kind of reader doesn't like style?), I jumped at the chance.

Summary

One morning, investigator Stan Coveleski receives in his office a very pretty young woman with an evocative name. Loretta Lamour, a dancer at the Full Moon cabaret, requires his services to find her friend Gisèle, cigarette girl, who disappeared without a trace. How can you refuse when the client is so adorable?

Coveleski has barely begun his investigation when things get complicated at a lightning speed. Little Gisele is more sought after than he thought. Working at the Full Moon is not without its share of risks...

Impressions

I wanted an entertaining, well-written mystery novel: I got it. The pace was fast and engaging, the dialogue was funny, and the character of Coveleski was engaging and well defined. I was also pleasantly surprised at how graphic the action scenes were. You can hear bones cracking, see blood spurting, and feel the blows crashing down on your head. It made me laugh while also making me slightly nauseous. It was perfect.

As mentioned in the summary, the plot is complicated. There are a lot of characters, they all know each other in one way or another, and it's not always easy to keep track. It was like an action movie: all the relevant information is packed into a 30-second dialogue and if you miss it, too bad. And I'm the kind of person who misses that. Still, I managed to get the gist without having to reread passages, so I was proud of myself.

I didn't love Coveleski's shady attraction to a young girl barely of age, and especially not the fact that this girl indulged his desire as a thank you. But one can always blame the times: the situation of women in the 40s and 50s was not particularly great. And otherwise, those years are not lacking in charm.

L’évaporée du Red Light is the eighth Coveleski investigation, and I can confirm you can very well read it on its own. But I'm glad to know that if I want to dive back into this universe, I'll have hours and hours of fun ahead of me.