This French novel from 1954 (Une Sacrée Salade) appears to be a mystery but is actually a crime novel with a private drama at the core.
This takes place over the one-day interrogatory of Penelope Racan at Paris police headquarters. Inspector Forbin - suave, tricky, a little sentimental - who thought he had met every kind of woman, is intrigued by this 22 year-old with blue eyes and masses of black, naturally curly hair. Penny is strikingly beautiful.
Forbin treats her kindly, and the two survey each other as unlikely opponents. The evidence: a letter written by an unknown woman to a doctor - the hemorrhage will not stop and she needs his help. Forbin is sure this woman is Penny, yet she steadfastly shakes her head in denial. She once studied law herself, and knows the game. Two other women have denied all charges that Doctor Danieli helped with a similar problem. Danieli has disappeared.
Penny met Danieli through friends, and slowly reveals her affairs to Forbin. Buck the trumpet player, Alain the book salesman, Pierre the lawyer, another Pierre (lawyer #2). A woman who has affairs with men, and discovers she is in a bad fix, will be indicted by the law, as will the man involved, the friend who helps her, and the doctor who performed the help. Never mind the question of the police having the right to meddle in the privacy of a free woman. The Commissioner will not let this drop, they must clinch it.
Forbin delights in psychoanalysis and his open face often misleads suspects into a confession. As the two become allies, Penny hedges the facts in the face of an examination.
"In the name of what", she asked, "does a society that no longer believes in God forbid a woman to make her own decisions in a domain which concerns no one but herself?"
First published in 1954, the ailment is never named, and the help performed only alluded to. Inspector Forbin is detective with a job to accomplish, but with interest and understanding. The two become almost friends as the day wears on. For a book picked up expecting a detective mystery, I was entertained by the original characters and found it consistently interesting.
Award-winning French actress Anouk Aimee starred in the 1955 film Les Mauvaises Rencontres (Bad Encounters) made from this novel.
1954 / Paperback / 155 pages
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