Murder in the Metro: Laetitia Toureaux and the Cagoule in 1930s France - Hardcover

Brunelle, Gayle K.; Finley-croswhite, Annette

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0807136166 ISBN 13: 9780807136164

Publisher: Louisiana State Univ Pr, 2010

Synopsis

On the evening of May 16, 1937, the train doors opened at the Porte Dorée station in the Paris Métro to reveal a dying woman slumped by a window, an eight-inch stiletto buried to its hilt in her neck. No one witnessed the crime, and the killer left behind little forensic evidence. This first-ever murder in the Paris Métro dominated the headlines for weeks during the summer of 1937, as journalists and the police slowly uncovered the shocking truth about the victim: a twenty-nine-year-old Italian immigrant, the beautiful and elusive Laetitia Toureaux. Toureaux toiled each day in a factory, but spent her nights working as a spy in the seamy Parisian underworld. Just as the dangerous spy Mata Hari fascinated Parisians of an earlier generation, the mystery of Toureaux's murder held the French public spellbound in pre-war Paris, as the police tried and failed to identify her assassin.

In Murder in the Métro, Gayle K. Brunelle and Annette Finley-Croswhite unravel Toureaux's complicated and mysterious life, assessing her complex identity within the larger political context of the time. They follow the trail of Toureaux's murder investigation to the Comité Secret d'Action Révolutionnaire, a secret right-wing political organization popularly known as the Cagoule, or "hooded ones." Obsessed with the Communist threat they perceived in the growing power of labor unions and the French left wing, the Cagoule's leaders aimed to overthrow France's Third Republic and install an authoritarian regime allied with Italy. With Mussolini as their ally and Italian fascism as their model, they did not shrink from committing violent crimes and fomenting terror to accomplish their goal. In 1936, Toureaux -- at the behest of the French police -- infiltrated this dangerous group of terrorists and seduced one of its leaders, Gabriel Jeantet, to gain more information. This operation, the authors show, eventually cost Toureaux her life. The tale of Laetitia Toureaux epitomizes the turbulence of 1930s France, as the country prepared for a war most people dreaded but assumed would come. This period, therefore, generated great anxiety but also offered new opportunities -- and risks -- to Toureaux as she embraced the identity of a "modern" woman. The authors unravel her murder as they detail her story and that of the Cagoule, within the popular culture and conflicted politics of 1930s France.

By examining documents related to Toureaux's murder -- documents the French government has sealed from public view until 2038 -- Brunelle and Finley-Croswhite link Toureaux's death not only to the Cagoule but also to the Italian secret service, for whom she acted as an informant. Their research provides likely answers to the question of the identity of Toureaux's murderer and offers a fascinating look at the dark and dangerous streets of pre--World War II Paris.

About this title

About the Author

Gayle K. Brunelle, professor of history at California State University at Fullerton, is the author of The New World Merchants of Rouen, 1559--1630 and Samuel de Champlain: Founder of New France.

Annette Finley-Croswhite is a professor of history at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. She is the author of Henry IV and the Towns: The Pursuit of Legitimacy in French Urban Society, 1589--1610.

From the Back Cover

"A gripping historical whodunnit with chilling implications for our understanding of postwar France." -- Times Literary Supplement

"A fascinating study of France and of a time when the struggle between left-wing and right-wing politics was more than just rancorous. It was deadly." -- Washington Times

"An exceptionally fine work that is well researched and documented and consistently compelling." -- Publishers Weekly

"This is a great book: a gripping read and a fascinating insight into 1930s France. It will be assigned to my students." -- Kevin Passmore, American Historical Review

On the evening of May 16, 1937, the train doors opened at the Porte Dorée station in the Paris Métro to reveal a dying woman slumped by a window, a nine-inch stiletto buried to its hilt in her neck. No one witnessed the crime, and the killer left behind little forensic evidence. The murder in the Paris Métro dominated the headlines for weeks, as journalists and the police slowly uncovered the shocking truth about the victim: a twenty-nine-year-old Italian immigrant and spy, the beautiful Laetitia Toureaux. Murder in the Métro unravels this captivating murder case as it details Toureaux's story amid the conflicted politics of 1930s France.

Reviews

On May 16, 1937, Laetitia Toureaux, a 29-year-old Italian-born factory worker, was murdered in an otherwise empty first-class compartment on a Paris métro train. The case has never been solved, and the case files were ordered sealed for 101 years. In this fascinating book, historians Brunelle (California State, Fullerton) and Finley-Croswhite (Old Dominion) reveal that Toureaux was no mere factory worker. Ambitious but naïve, she was involved, both personally and politically, with a secret, extremist fascist group known as the Cagoule; she also worked for a detective agency and was an informer for both the French police and the Italian secret service. The authors look at the bitterly fractious world of 1930s French politics and explore in depth both Toureaux's enigmatic life and the press's portrayal of her as a loose woman and social climber. The authors also delve into the violent history of the Cagoule, which broke away from the better-known Action Française. Finally, they provide a speculative but strong plausible case for who murdered Toureaux and why. Brunelle and Finley-Croswhite have produced an exceptionally fine work that is well-researched and documented and consistently compelling. (May)
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Edition details

• Publisher: Louisiana State Univ Pr
• Publication date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807136166
• ISBN 13: 9780807136164
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 266