The Devil's Point

"How do you catch a killer when there are no witnesses, no DNA and no apparent motive?"
A young Parisian academic is brutally murdered in the quiet streets of a small town in South West France.
Former police detective Celestine Courbet, escaping with her partner Jacques Lecoubarry from tragedy and betrayal in Bordeaux, is reluctantly drawn into an increasingly dangerous investigation. The answers appear to lie in an eighty-year-old coded message left for the victim’s grandfather by a man in imminent peril from the Nazis.
From the ancient cloisters of a 12th-century abbey to the ruins of a deserted village in the woods, Celestine follows the clues and places her and Jacques in increasing jeopardy from a powerful and ruthless killer. When a second brutal murder takes place they are forced to take even greater risks to decipher the code and to solve the murders.
"A gripping murder mystery that will enthral readers and keep them turning the pages to the very end."

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 (a bit like calling checkmate in a game of chess). 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, who is 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.

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                                                                                                               Places 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.