"We never solve a damned thing, really. We just make more questions. Now get my snake working, will you, Hector? There's a f lower girl over in the Rue Saint-Claude. Ready for pollinating. . . ."

Acknowledgments.

My account of the dauphin's final months in the Temple is about equal parts history and invention. For the real deal, the reader is advised to consult Deborah Cadbury's excellent The Lost King of France.

Special thanks to Marjorie Braman, for breathing Vidocq's name in my ear, and to Vidocq himself, for giving me a reason to go back to Paris.

From there, the usual roll of debt: Christopher Schelling, Peggy Hageman, Sharyn Rosenblum, Abby Yochelson.

To these, add: Dan Mallory (whose talents now extend to book jacket design), Jean-Luc Piningre (French translator nonpareil), Paul Bayard (pro bono medical consultant), Denny Drabelle, Dan Stashower, Sheryl Kroen.

Top it all off with Don.

About the Author.

Louis Bayard is the author of the national bestseller The Pale Blue Eye and Mr. Timothy, a New York Times Notable book. A staff writer for Salon.com, Bayard has written articles and reviews for the New York Times, the Washington Post, Nerve.com, and Preservation, among others. Bayard lives in Washington, D.C.

www.louisbayard.com.

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Al so by Louis Baya rd The Pale Blue Eye Mr. Timothy Fool's Errand Endangered Species.

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