Culture Etalage

The back cover seemed attractive since evoked the era in which the story unfolded (the Roaring Twenties, precisely in 1920) and especially the fact that the novel addressed the issue of the beginnings of the Scientific Police in Lyon. I had a thousand images in mind and I imagined a struggle forensic / police "normal" (the Tiger Brigades) announces that a little summary.
Well not so much in fact. The first forensic laboratory works with a commissioner, seems well accepted ... then I thought just beginning, it was more difficult (which seemed logical but perhaps I am wrong)

So, what would have made the originality of the novel falls a bit flat and do not highlight the lot of the other detective novels. This was particularly true that the author did not really developed his characters, or at least, fairly superficially. It is not enough to say that such a person is like this or like that physically, he lived this or that to make it interesting and make it deeper. For example, the Commissioner made the first World War, is amputated, takes drugs ... Yes it is described ... but that's all. It's like a beautiful jewel case without it.

And above all, THE annoying thing of this novel is the propensity of the author to place historical details (in support dates) at a description or following a reflection of a character and this of absolutely natural way. The guy crossing the street and suddenly, like a hair in the soup "street April 12, 1908 saw her ...". It kills the description and the pace and it clearly gives the impression that the author wants to spread its culture like jam on his toast for breakfast. It is very unpleasant to the point that half of the novel, I ended up skipping these descriptions, something I almost never do.