Sacre Bleu

I consumed yet another novel, this time an intriguing story by Christopher Moore, Sacre Bleu.  A fictional baker/painter, Lucien Lessard teams up with Henri Toulouse-Lautrec (hereinafter, “HTL”) to solve the mystery of the blue paint and mysterious “Color Man”. 

            This eccentric character – crudely nicknamed “Poop on a Stick” by his ethereal female companion – sells blue paint to various Impressionist painters, while a femme fatale (sometimes quite literally) seduces and inspires the painter to prodigious output.  Moore name-checks practically every major painter of the late 19^th century, even adding in some lesser-known talents whose names have been lost to us in the 21^st century. 

            Many of the painters seem to lose days, weeks, even months traveling and painting, yet their friends report much less time has actually passed, they’ve never left their studio, and somehow all these paintings never see the light of day.  This leads Lessard and HTL to go sniffing around to get to the bottom of the mystery.  While I’m loathe to make yet another “Game of Thrones” reference, with his constant companionship of prostitutes, fondness for wine, and immense wit, HTL is very much the Tyrion Lannister of this story.

            Fortunately, Moore himself lends a hand and gives us some additional information.  I like that he pulls the story along at a comfortable pace; the author weaves historical characters into his story with authenticity and plausibility – aside from the more supernatural nature of the essential elements.  And with a few exceptions, the majority of the story takes place in late 19^th century Paris of the so-called “Belle Epoque”.