Paris in the late 17th century was not a place for the faint of heart. Despite the frightening ease with which you could be imprisoned without trial on the king’s command, the infamous lettre de cachet, crime, particularly at night, was rampant in the city. Paris was such a city of darkness in fact that it was in danger of becoming “an embarrassment” to the Sun King. In her new non-fiction book, City of Light, City of Poison: Murder, Magic, and the First Police Chief of Paris, Holly Tucker tells the story of how that criminal darkness spread from the centre of Paris to the epicentre of power . . .