Slaves of Paris

'Caught in the Net' - Featuring a gang of thugs ensnared in a web of deception, this is a tale about scamming the rich by using poor, future-less innocents, exploiting them and bringing them into their schemes. The story centers around two young men, both penniless and ignorant of their past, and a mysterious organization of blackmailers who hide behind the disguise of a respectable employment agency. 'The Champdoce Mystery' is a sequel to the story of Slaves of Paris. Starting way back, decades before 'Caught in the Net', all those slippery threads of intrigue are being tied together slowly and what it eventually takes is the hand of Monsieur Lecoq to saunter in at the end and puts thing into their place.

Émile Gaboriau (1832-1873) was a French writer, novelist, journalist, and a pioneer of detective fiction. He became a secretary to Paul Féval, and after publishing some novels and miscellaneous writings, found his real gift in detective novels. Gaboriau's most famous character was Monsieur Lecoq, a young police officer who was the hero in several of his novels. He also wrote a long series of novels dealing with the annals of the police court which proved very popular.