Gaston Leroux’s The Perfume of the Lady in Black

Gaston Leroux’s impossible crime novel The Perfume of the Lady in Black (the original French title is Le parfum de la dame en noir) was published in 1908.

Gaston Leroux (1868-1927) is best known in the English-speaking world as the author of The Phantom of the Opera. Keen detective fiction fans are also aware of his 1907 locked-room mystery The Mystery of the Yellow Room but Leroux is not regarded as a big deal in the Anglophone world. Leroux was however a prolific and extremely successful author and in France he is definitely a big deal, being considered one of the greats of genre fiction.

The Perfume of the Lady in Black is a kind of sequel to The Mystery of the Yellow Room. Once again the hero is Joseph Rouletabille, newspaper reporter and amateur detective. Joseph Rouletabille was a mere teenager when the events recounted in The Mystery of the Yellow Room took place. Since this book constantly refers to the events of The Mystery of the Yellow Room you probably should read that one first. To avoid spoilers I’ll be very vague about plot details.

There’s a man who should be dead but may not be. He was (or is) a nefarious villain, cunning and ruthless.

Rouletabille has become obsessed with the perfume of the Lady in Black. It’s a childhood memory with immense significance for him.

Most of the story takes place in a castle on the border between France and Italy. The castle was built in the 12th century, extended in the 15th century and again in the 17th century. It’s a maze of intact and partially ruined towers on a peninsula which is almost an island. It’s a great setting for a story of mystery and terror and Leroux makes extensive and skilful use of it. The castle has withstood attack many times and now Rouletabille is hoping it can withstand a more modern type of attack - by a master criminal.

Leroux goes to extraordinary lengths to convince us that the impossible crime which occurs really is impossible. He provides us with floor plans. The big problem is that there is one body too many.

There are several murders and several disappearances. Rouletabille is sure that Larsan is not far away.

The plot hinges on a device that was immensely popular in the mystery and thriller fiction of the late 19th and early 20th century. It’s device which most modern readers will find much too far-fetched. The plot is ingenious but contains a number of elements of doubtful plausibility. Very few readers today will be satisfied with the solution to the impossible crime angle.

Modern readers will also have problems with the pacing.

There are two major plot strands. One concerns events in the here and now and one concerns events in the past, events which concern Rouletabille. The perfume of the Lady in Black continues to haunt him. He feels it is the key not just to his past but to his future happiness and sanity.

Rouletabille is a boy genius detective who enjoys keeping his secrets. He knows certain things which he has reasons not to reveal to anyone else. His plan to apprehend a dangerous criminal depends on secrecy.

I like the breathless sensational tone and the general atmosphere of overheated emotional hysteria.

The concept of fair play had not yet become an accepted part of the detective fiction genre but if you’re familiar with the conventions of the crime fiction of that era you will have your suspicions as to at least a part of what is going on.

There are also several interlocking romance subplots.

The Perfume of the Lady in Black is, to be honest, mainly of historical interest. It has some slight affinities to the 19th century English sensation novel. I enjoyed it well enough but you do have to be a fan of the crime fiction of that era. If you fall into the category you’ll find it worth a look.

There have been several film adaptations of this novel, including Francesco Barilli’s giallo Perfume of the Lady in Black (1974).