Almost a year to the day after launching the amazing memory of ice creamthe critically acclaimed first volume of Michel Duquesne’s investigations, in which she took the journalist to Saint-Albert (a fictional village in the Eastern Townships), in the coldest of winter, on the trail of a network of human trafficking, Catherine Lafrance is back in force with The last breath is the heaviest.
Setting this dense and captivating new investigation some two years later, the novelist once again embraces her Nordicity by reviving the famous snowstorm of 2019 to create a hostile and anxiety-provoking atmosphere. Having buried the metropolis under forty centimeters of snow, this storm with violent blasts that bite into the flesh brings back to the memory of Michel Duquesne the incident of the frozen lake which almost killed him in the previous volume.
“I didn’t want winter to be just a backdrop,” explains the novelist we met at her home. There’s a reason it’s happening in the winter. In the first volume, the mirror revealed clues; in the second, it is the storm which paralyzes, which takes us by surprise, which carries everything away. »
It was on this stormy day that a heart surgeon, accused of negligence following the death of two patients, chose to throw himself in front of the metro, slowing down several Montrealers, including the journalist and his spouse, the lawyer Odile Imbault, now proud and happy parents of little Victoria. The arrival of the little girl in the life of this man with a dark family past seems to have made him more stable, but also more vulnerable. Beware of anyone who dares to attack his family.
“Michel is as one always is when one becomes a parent. In his case, it appeals to all the violence he has in him. Michel could have gone very wrong, but he chose the right path thanks to his intelligence and the love of Louis, his adoptive father. Under the layer of varnish, there is something that burns and will always remain there because of the wounds of childhood. Michel can’t be perfect because I like to play with nuances. Sometimes good people do bad things by mistake, which, without their knowing it, will have an impact on others. »
I always take the point of view of the victims because, contrary to the traditional detective story, I chose to give them a voice so that we know from the start what they are going through. I denounce power, cheating, greed, greed, because for me, it’s awful, it’s in the worst faults. Why is it serious? Because it has an impact on people, on their lives. And me, when I was a journalist, I served people.
Family portrait
While The amazing memory of ice cream took Michel Duquesne into the field, most of the action in the second volume takes place in the newsroom of the major daily newspaper where he works and in private. By emphasizing the family in this way, Catherine Lafrance fleshes out her characters and makes the ties that unite them more complex. While he is at the bedside of his mother, Juliet Sullivan, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, Duquesne understands that the one who abandoned him as a child is hiding a dark secret from him.
For her part, Odile Imbault, unmotivated to delve into the pile of files awaiting her on her return from maternity leave, learns that Commander Donovan, who has devoted the last 10 years of his career to vainly searching for the assassins of his parents and his sister, is retiring. Without slipping a word to Michel, Odile then embarks on her own investigation, at the risk of shattering family harmony.
“Odile, who, unlike Michel, comes from a privileged background, became a lawyer for a very simple reason: to bring those who killed her family to court. From the moment she goes straight into her quest, everything else will be less meaningful to her. She believes that justice will settle things and that she will heal. She has the reflexes of a lawyer; she will keep secrets up her sleeve that she will release at the last minute. I dream of the day when I will be able to play the conflict of interests between Michel and Odile. »
If Michel Duquesne is Catherine Lafrance’s alter ego, Odile Imbault, driven by a thirst for justice that will push her to take risky actions, wouldn’t she also be a literary double of the novelist?
“Perhaps I have this same desire for justice and it embodies a facet of my personality, even if I have never been attracted to the law,” replies Catherine Lafrance. She has a great naivety that I admire, but life will get the better of her naivety. Odile is someone who has great ideals and who doesn’t get bogged down in nuances, and I have fun deconstructing that. When you’ve been a journalist, you can no longer see life as all black or all white, it’s impossible. »
The voice of the victims
Intrigued by the cardiac surgeon’s suicide in the middle of rush hour, the journalist embarks on an investigation that soon leads him into the high echelons of politics, provincially and federally, and pharmaceuticals. Linda Fasalli, director of the computer department, journalist Anne-Marie Bérubé, now transferred to Quebec, and William Latendresse, former director of communications for the SQ who recently arrived at the SPVM, will come to his aid. If the environment she explores has nothing to do with that of the previous novel, Catherine Lafrance implacably deals with the same subject: the blindness of power to the detriment of others.
“It’s often the same people who pay, the vulnerable people, in this case people in hospital, of a certain age. Of course, it is very much related to the pandemic, the first victims of which were the elderly. For what ? Because there are not enough staff in the CHSLDs. For what ? Because we put the money elsewhere. I don’t want to say it’s organized crime, but it’s always the basis of the decisions that are made, whether for political reasons, power or money. That’s why I started with the impact on people; the victims arrive early in the novel. First there is the doctor, who is in a way a victim, then it comes down to the patients who have lost their lives. »
If she stages a violent suicide from the first pages, the author avoids bloody details and focuses on what is going on in the head of the suicide: “I always take the point of view of the victims because, unlike the novel traditional policeman, I chose to give them a voice so that we know from the start what they are going through. I denounce power, cheating, greed, greed, because for me, it’s awful, it’s in the worst faults. Why is it serious? Because it has an impact on people, on their lives. And me, when I was a journalist, I served people. »
A few days before the arrival of Michel Duquesne’s second investigation in bookstores, Catherine Lafrance, who says she is fulfilled by her career as a novelist, announces that she is already preparing the third volume, which will take place after the pandemic.
“I had established that it would be at least a trilogy, but there could be other investigations. I wouldn’t dare say I’m in my comfort zone, but I know my characters well because I’ve lived with them for years, so I can really play with each one of their quests. »
The author also reveals that a well-known Quebec producer, whose name she kept silent, bought the rights to bring to the screen The astonishing memory of ice cream. Until the official announcement, let’s hope that English-speaking and foreign publishing houses discover the talent of Catherine Lafrance. After all, if Camilla Läckberg, Arnaldur Indriðasson and Jo Nesbø enchant fans of Scandinavian thrillers around the world, why shouldn’t they succumb to the exoticism of Nordic noir à la Québécoise?
Need help ? Do not hesitate to call the Quebec Suicide Prevention Line: 1 866 APPELLE (1 866 277-3553).