The Count's Millions : 9781592242900

This detective novel revolves around a contested inheritance and a young man's desperate attempts to secure his fortune. Through a web of intrigue, mystery, and suspense, the story delves into a high-stakes legal battle over the vast wealth left by a wealthy count. As secrets and lies are uncovered, the truth behind the inheritance comes to light, with unexpected twists and masterful deductions typical of Gaboriau's work in early detective fiction.

Emile Gaboriau (1833-1873) is an important figure in the history of detective fiction. A French journalist and novelist, he created the "roman policier" with a series of books involving private detective Monsieur Lecoq, who works logically. Lecoq was based on a real-life thief turned policeman named Francois Vidocq (1775-1857), whose memoirs mixed fiction and fact. Gaboriau's huge following was eclipsed by Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. Interestingly, Holmes may have been at least partly based on another of Gaboriau's characters, consulting detective Father Tabaret, whose methods Lecoq adopts in the first Lecoq book.