Goupi Red Hands in Paris

You can view a free online evalution copy of issue 8 of the magazine – just click here.

Category:	Fiction
Author:	Pierre Véry (trans. Alan Grimes)
Publisher:	Francophile Press
Price:	£6.99
ISBN:	978-0955243912
Pages:	158
Reviewed in issue:	9

There is more to this translation of a 1937 French original than meets the eye. The slim volume packs a heavyweight tale between its attractively glossy covers.

The hero, poacher and gravedigger Red Hands, feels compelled to journey to alien, cosmopolitan Paris to search for his lost great niece. Brushing aside ill-advised attempts by the city-dwellers to dismiss him as a simple country bumpkin, Red Hands makes good use of his considerable sleuthing talents.

In his native Charentais region, Red Hands gives everyone a nickname, so his village is inhabited by such people as ‘Goupi-Law’ and ‘Goupi-Post Office’. This distracting device is thankfully left behind when Red Hands leaves for Paris.

The story has magical, even allegorical elements, with liberal sprinklings of humour, but this is no cosy, feel-good fairy story. With death as a theme, and gravediggers, cemeteries and skeleton jokes recurring, a black thread runs through the tale. Alan Grimes, in his translation, has resisted the temptation to polish up the narrative. At times it seems like the reader is listening to a narrator speaking in broken English, which gives an authentic atmosphere and adds to the enjoyment.

A well-edited and beautifully-bound book, this will be a treat for those who like their murder mysteries dark and quirky.

Click here for more information on this book

Go Back