Editorial Review: Louis Mie and the Trial of Hautefaye by L.M Twist

Louis Mie finds himself defending a murderer whose mob brutally beat a suspected Prussian spy to death it could be the best thing to happen to his career - or the end of everything.

It’s 1870, and Emperor Napoleon III is at war; the French people are overflowing with passion for the cause and suspicion for anyone less dedicated than they are. After a rowdy disagreement about the state of the war turns into a mob of locals beating a suspicious stranger to death on the strength of their conviction that he’s a Prussian spy, republican lawyer Louis Mie is called in for the trial of his career. He knows the game that he is a pawn in—he is to set an example and elevate this trial into a spectacle for the masses. What he could not foresee is just how difficult and complex it would be to defend Leonard Piarrouty, or what it could end up costing him. Anne Mie is a dedicated wife who loves her husband and his zeal for his work—she does not, however, love the way it now seems to be eating away at him and their relationship.

The murder of Alain de Monéys and the associated trial has captured the imagination of the French people from the nobility to the peasantry, and that isn’t even Louis Mie’s biggest problem. Leonard Piarrouty is less than cooperative and almost entirely unsympathetic, but like most, he is more complex than first meets the eye.

Obsession comes in many flavors, and the story told by L. M. Twist in Louis Mie and The Trial of Hautefaye is multifaceted and explores them in detail. On the one hand, you have public and political obsessions, and on the other personal obsessions with purpose and work. Ultimately, this is a story of conflict—not just the violent conflict of war and murder but the conflicts of pride, independence, class, and patriotism, of personal interest and civic duty. In this book, you have a tale emblematic of the new French Republic, a historical and political thriller that leaves the reader gasping, and gripping interpersonal intrigue. Perfect for historical genre and legal thriller genre fans alike, L. M. Twist has created an engrossing and intricate fictional story around a true one during one of the most volatile points in history.

Louis Mie and The Trial of Hautefaye is an engrossing and complex voyage into the political, mob, and obsessive psyche that will keep you glued to every page.