Extraordinary People

What has happened to Jacques Gaillard? The brilliant teacher who trained some of France's best and brightest at the Ecole Nationale d'Administration as future Prime Ministers and Presidents vanished ten years ago, presumably from Paris. Talk about your cold case.The mystery inspires a bet, one that Enzo Macleod, a biologist teaching in Toulouse instead of pursuing a brilliant career in forensics back home in Scotland can ill afford to lose. The wager is that Enzo can find out what happened to Jacques Gaillard by applying new science to an old case.Enzo comes to Paris to meet journalist Roger Raffin, the author of a book on seven celebrated unsolved murders, the assumption being that Gaillard is dead. He needs Raffin's notes. And armed with these, he begins his quest. It quickly has him touring landmarks such as the Paris catacombs and a chateau in Champagne, digging up relics and bones. Yes, Enzo finds Jacques Gaillard's head. The artifacts buried with the skull set him to interpreting the clues they provide and to following in someone's footsteps--maybe more than one someone--after the rest of Gaillard. And to reviewing some ancient and recent history. As with a quest, it's as much discovery as detection. Enzo proves to be an ace investigator, scientific and intuitive, and, for all his missteps, one who hits his goals including a painful journey toward greater self-awareness.From Publishers WeeklyIn the first breezy installment of a projected new series from Scottish author May (The Firemaker), Enzo Macleod, a Scottish forensic biologist who lives in France, bets that he can solve an old case with new science. Lonely and bored with his teaching career, the widowed biologist takes on the unsolved case of Jacques Gaillard, a public intellectual with a controversial political career who disappeared without a trace 10 years earlier. With the help of his adored daughter, Sophie, and new flame, Charlotte, a beautiful psychologist trained in criminal profiling, Enzo traverses France and Germany to follow a series of clues that lead to scattered body parts and Gaillard's dangerous killers. Despite some unlikely coincidences, this travelogue–cum–murder mystery makes for a fun puzzle. (Nov.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Review"In the first breezy installment of a projected new series from Scottish author May (The Firemaker ), Enzo Macleod, a Scottish forensic biologist who lives in France, bets that he can solve an old case with new science. Lonely and bored with his teaching career, the widowed biologist takes on the unsolved case of Jacques Gaillard, a public intellectual with a controversial political career who disappeared without a trace 10 years earlier. With the help of his adored daughter, Sophie, and new flame, Charlotte, a beautiful psychologist trained in criminal profiling, Enzo traverses France and Germany to follow a series of clues that lead to scattered body parts and Gaillard's dangerous killers. Despite some unlikely coincidences, this travelogue-cum-murder mystery makes for a fun puzzle.(Nov.)" --Publishers Weekly