Viviane Janouin-Benanti

The Ascension Day Crime

In Issé, a small French village near Nantes, rumors swirled about a woman’s love for her son, a passionate, crazy, carnal love that scandalized the entire town. Talk of this incestuous love prohibited by law, was enough to send a quiet little town into a dark spiral.

News traveled fast in Issé. Bernadette Cessé was the first to die, then young Lucas, and finally Pierre Lemasson who died on Ascension Day. Who could have committed these crimes? The village is full of suspects. Odette Lur, the envious spinster? Roman Lanec, the basket maker? The libertine Jean-Louis Urvoy, a rejected lover? Marie, his very fragile wife? Ruth and Zachary Fechner, the strange hatters? Mrs. La Noue? Gonzague, her son, the parish priest in Issé? Joséphine Toussaint? The butcher?

Potential criminals are everywhere.

An enthralling novel, another true story told by Viviane Janouin-Benanti, who once again draws us into the mysterious depths of the human soul.