The First Detective: The Life and Revolutionary Times of Vidocq: Criminal, Spy, and Private Eye

By James Morton and James Morton

Book Overview

He was the Inspector Morse, the Sherlock Holmes, the James Bond of his day. A notorious criminal in his youth, he became a police officer and employed a gang of ex-convicts as his detectives. He developed innovative criminal indexing techniques and experimented with fingerprinting, until his cavalier attitude towards the thin blue line forced him out of the police. So he began the world's very first private detective agency. The cases he solved were high profile, and gradually he grew in notoriety. However, his reputation didn't prevent him from becoming a spy and moving secretly across the dangerous borders of Europe. The First Detective is a gloriously enjoyable historical romp through the eighteenth century in the company of the man whose influence on law enforcement still holds to this day.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1468300571
• ISBN13: 9781468300574
• Release Date: August 2012
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
• Length: 266 Pages
• Weight: 0.57 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.4" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Stranger than Fiction

The winds of fortune blow hot and cold for our hero Vidocq as he pursues careers ranging from the criminal to those of crime busting. However, Vidocq is a shrewd, intelligent individual that refuses to be pigeonholed by either of these pursuits. Prepare to be surprised and delighted by the many twists and hairpin turns of this exceptional man's unbelievable life.