Publication Date: August 5, 2012
BearCat Press
Formats: Hardcover, Paperback, eBook, Audio
Genre: Historical Mystery
Young American painter Theodora Faraday struggles to become an artist in Belle Époque Paris. She’s tasted the champagne of success, illustrating poems for the Revenants, a group of poets led by her adored cousin, Averill. When children she knows vanish mysteriously, Theo confronts Inspecteur Michel Devaux who suspects the Revenants are involved. Theo refuses to believe the killer could be a friend—could be the man she loves. Classic detection and occult revelation lead Michel and Theo through the dark underbelly of Paris, from catacombs to asylums, to the obscene ritual of a Black Mass. Following the maze of clues they discover the murderer believes he is the reincarnation of the most evil serial killer in the history of France—Gilles de Rais. Once Joan of Arc’s lieutenant, after her death he plunged into an orgy of evil. The Church burned him at the stake for heresy, sorcery, and the depraved murder of hundreds of peasant children. Whether deranged mind or demonic passion incite him, the killer must be found before he strikes again.
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Praise for Floats the Dark Shadow
“Yves Fey writes with the eye of an artist, the nose of a perfumer and the nerves of a hardened gendarme in this chilling tale of love and love’s perversion. Not for the faint of heart!” — Cuyler Overholt, award-winning author of A Deadly Affection
“Fey’s writing is gorgeous: she evokes the sights and smells of Paris and poetically presents the darkness and horror that plague tormented souls.” — Historical Novel Society
“Paris is painted with uncanny realism, using masterful splashes of descriptive color against a somber backdrop … The characters develop as their entwined relationships become ever more enmeshed in the dark plot woven around mysticism, Satanism, and sadistic murders…” — Kirkus Reviews
“Yves Fey delves into the dark well of occult, violence and eroticism lying just beneath the surface of fin-de-siècle Paris. The valiant heroine, American artist Theo Faraday, confronts the ultimate evils of child torture and murder as the serpentine page-turning plot unfolds. Beware! It’s strong stuff.” — Barbara
Corrado Pope, author of Cézanne’s Quarry and The Blood of Lorraine
“This dark, gothic tale will delight fans of decadent, sensuous, fin-de-siècle Paris.” — Kenneth Wishnia, award-winning author of 23 Shades of Black and The Fifth Servant
“Yves Fey recreates the haunting world of absinthe, of the Symbolist poets, of Salomé, of the Golden Dawn, and of darker, more unfathomable forces, that was Paris in 1897. This well-researched thriller offers satisfyingly complex characters. Powerful, violent, elegant.” —Beth Tashery Shannon, Pushcart Prize winner, author of Tanglevine
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About the Author
Floats the Dark Shadow, Yves Fey’s debut mystery set in the dynamic and decadent world of Belle Époque Paris, has won the Silver Medal “IPPY” Independent Publishers Award in mystery, and both the Mystery and Historical Finalist Awards from the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. It’s also nominated for ForeWord’s Independent Publishers BookTwitter of the Year Award in the Mystery Category.
Yves has an MFA in Creative Writing from Eugene Oregon, and a BA in Pictorial Arts from UCLA. She has read, written, and created art from childhood, and is an ardent movie buff. In her varied career, she has been a tie dye artist, go-go dancer, baker, creator of ceramic beasties, illustrator, fiction teacher, and now, novelist. A chocolate connoisseur, she’s won prizes for her desserts. Her current fascination is creating perfumes inspired by her new novel.
Yves has traveled to many countries in Europe and lived for two years in Indonesia. Currently, she resides in the San Francisco area with her husband and three cats, Marlowe the Investigator and Charlotte and Emily, the Flying Brontë Sisters.
Writing as Gayle Feyrer and Taylor Chase, she previously published four unusually dark and mysterious historical romances, The Prince of Cups, The Thief’s Mistress, Heart of Deception and Heart of Night. She plans to rerelease these with her own cover designs in the coming year. Her fantasy, House of the Twin Jewels, appears in Erotic Interludes.
For more information please visit Yves Fey’s website. You can also connect with her on Facebook, Twitter,Pinterest, and Goodreads.
My Thoughts
Floats the Dark Shadow is a historical novel in the late 1800's Paris. It is about the decadent art world that includes artists, poets and the dark arts. The background of the story features "Baron de Rais, who was a lord from Brittany, Anjou and Poitou, and a companion-in-arms of Joan of Arc in the 1400's. When Joan of Arc was burned to death it seems that Gilles de Rais loses it and turned to the occult and is later convicted as a serial killer of children, poor peasant children that the police don't think are important enough to even search for.
In this novel it appears that there is someone who is emulating Gilles de Rais and children turn up missing, most not found, but there is one little girl who is found in a cemetery. Theodora Faraday is a struggling American artist who is living with an aunt and uncle in Paris. She is in the same circle as writers, poets and artists in a time in Paris history that it was en-vogue to be in the circles of these people and their lifestyles. Most of these people are dark and brooding and living inside their heads so that their writings reflect their inner torments. Theo's cousin Averill is one of these tortured souls. She finds herself very attracted to Averill. Others in their circle include 'revenants' who Inspecteur Michel Devaux thinks is involved in the disappearance of the children, but which one? Michel Devaux has his own demons to fight along with searching for this despicable killer, but between the efforts of him and Theo hopefully the killer can be found.
I found this story to be well researched and told in such a descriptive way that it was easy to imagine how life was within the artist community. Dark and brooding for the most part but I think that when the occult is involved it certainly isn't rainbows and sunshine. The chapters that involved the killer, I found to be exceptionally chilling and scary. I love scary though so reading this book of a bygone era for me was exceptional. Doesn't hurt that I love reading about the occult either. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the cover of the book is gorgeous and mysterious. I highly recommend it!
I received a copy of this book for review and was not monetarily compensated for my review.
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Leaving him was Impossible…
