In 1920s France, the king of detectives takes on a new batch of baffling cases in a series of traditional crime adventure thrillers.

An innocent woman faces the guillotine!

Lucienne Vallauris, spurned former lover of Count Alain d'Aubenas, stands convicted of strangling the Count's infant daughter in her cradle. The sentence is death...by guillotine.

With witnesses placing her at the scene of the crime, no alibi, and incriminating evidence found in her home, the evidence against her is overwhelming, and yet her lawyer, the idealistic Le Dignac is convinced she is not guilty.

Fortunately for Lucienne Vallauris, there is another man in the courtroom who believes in her innocence, as he watches the trial unfold from the gallery....

Chantecoq. King of detectives, master of disguise.

The clock is ticking for France's greatest bloodhound as he seeks to clear Lucienne's name and to find young Marie-Anne's true killer. With the date set for his client's execution, he must throw himself into Paris's sleazy underworld, and solve the riddle of the d'Aubenas fortune.

The stakes have never been higher for the king of detectives, and he has never been in greater danger than in this tale of murder, intrigue, and true love.

First published in France in 1929 (as "Condamnée à mort!"), and never before translated into English, this book is part of the "Further Exploits of Chantecoq" series, which sees the secret agent and expert spy catcher of Chantecoq and the Aubry Affair reborn as the greatest private detective of his age.

Also available

Chantecoq and the Aubry Affair

Belphégor: Chantecoq and the Phantom of the Louvre

Chantecoq and the Mystery of the Blue Train

Chantecoq and the Haunted House

Chantecoq and the Aviator's Crime

Chantecoq and Zapata

Chantecoq and the Amorous Ogre

Chantecoq and the Père-Lachaise Ghost

Chantecoq and the Condemned Woman

Chantecoq and the Ladykiller