The Shattered Portrait

When one of the wealthiest and most hated men on the French Riviera is murdered, finding his killer becomes a privilege—and a danger.

It’s a Mediterranean winter in 1888. Though Cannes glistens, it’s darker behind closed doors. A real estate crisis has ripped through the city’s storied fortunes, upending lives. Courtesan Lola Deslys has survived the ruins unscathed…until she’s drawn into the desperation of a former, and unfaithful, acquaintance. With the threat of debtors’ prison hanging over her head, Lola’s latest client is running out of time and luck.

Her client has solicited Lola to reclaim an incriminating contract from the ruthless banker at the heart of the crisis. Many want to see the swindler dead, and when he’s found murdered, everyone is a suspect—including one of Lola’s closest friends. The only clue to finding the real killer: a shattered portrait. The only hope: to follow its pieces through the back alleys and deadly deceptions of the belle époque.

Alice Quinn lives on the French Riviera, surrounded by her family and cats. After achieving great success with the Rosie Maldonne mystery series, featuring Queen of the Masquerade, Queen of the Hide Out, and Queen of the Trailer Park—which was a #1 bestseller in France—she changed her register and plunged with delight into historical intrigue in Cannes in the belle époque, an era full of intriguing contrasts. The Shattered Portrait is the second novel in her Belle Époque Mystery trilogy. For more information about the author, visit her at www.alice-quinn.com.

Back in 2001, after having read philosophy and French at the University of Leeds and re­alizing that being able to write a decent essay on Kant’s categorical imperative didn’t leave her with a great many career options, Alexandra Maldwyn-Davies decided to move to Paris, where she embarked on a career in writing and translation—working on projects including widely enjoyed vid­eo games (Game of Thrones, In Memoriam, Shiness, and Men of War: Assault Squad); top-rated apps (Human Defense, Le Déserteur, and Chocolapps); bestselling fiction (the Rosie Maldonne series—Queen of the Trailer Park, Queen of the Hide Out, and Queen of the Masquerade—The Crumpled Letter, Six Months to Kill, and Versus); and seductive travel books (Fermes-Manoirs du Bessin). She has also contributed to translation guides (The Book of Standing Out: Travels through the Inner World of Freelance Translation and The Bright Side of Freelance Translation).

She is currently working on two projects of her own: her first novel and a sourcebook, Women in Translation (a collection of writings and articles on translation from the female perspective).