The Devil's Point

Time is running out

Jews in South West France are being hunted. As the Nazis close in, a desperate man leaves a coded message for his son

Eighty years later, powerful men will do anything to prevent the deciphering of this message.

Former police detective Celestine Courbet is escaping with her partner, Jacques Lecoubarry, from tragedy and betrayal in Bordeaux. When they moor their barge in the small town of Lissac-sur-Tarn they have no inkling that they are about to be drawn into an increasingly complex and perilous investigation.

A young Parisian academic is brutally murdered in a quiet back street of the town. A second shocking murder follows.

To solve the murders, Celestine must decipher the clues from the ancient cloisters of a 12th Century abbey to the ruins of a deserted village in the woods. But as she gets closer, so does the killer and he has so much more to lose.

Set in a picturesque landscape of wide rivers and fruitful vineyards; as the mystery unfolds a terrible secret emerges, but does this provide proof enough?

Resolution requires one final desperate action on the hill of Calvary, but the risks are great…

Author's Note  -  The title of the story was taken from the ancient French game of tric-trac, a game played on a similar board to backgammon but with many differences and more variables. The devil's point is the second most difficult position to achieve but does not mean that the game is won. What inspired the story was the drama of the ancient abbey and the more recent history of a town situated near the confluence of the great rivers Tarn and Garonne, which is also connected through South West France by the Canal des Deux Mers. The wonderful, 12th-century Abbaye de Saint Pierre and its cloisters seemed to emanate mystery and permanence and suggest a continuity of stories told through the generations.   Equally important, was the uplifting and humbling chronicle of the actions of the people of the town and surrounds, who, during the occupation, saved the lives of nearly five hundred Jewish children, by concealing them from the Nazis in their own families.

In the book, Celestine Courbet is portrayed as a brilliant but restless former police detective. She is a Mensa member and her mind needs constant stimulation, which she finds while attempting to break the coded message. Her partner Jacques Lecoubarry is solid and supportive, a somewhat larger-than-life character full of warmth and good humour. Jacques is highly intuitive, a carpenter and a restorer of fine antique furniture by trade. Celestine feels that he sails a little too close to the wind sometimes. It is clear very early on, that they are running away from some trauma in their former lives in the city of Bordeaux, only to be thrust into mystery and danger in what should have been a haven in a quiet country town.

                                                                                                              Locations that inspired the story

The statue of the Virgin Mary stands on top of the hill called Calvary and overlooks the town of Moissac.

The peaceful Canal des Deux Mers, (Canal of the two seas) stretches from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea. and includes the Canal de Garonne and the Canal du Midi,

The cloisters of the Abbaye de Saint-Pierre in Moissac are a Unesco World Heritage site. The exquisite carving on the 76 capitals was an inspiration for a secret code.

The tympanum at the southern portal of the abbey church.

The vineyards - a picturesque source of culture and prosperity in the region.