12 h 5 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a wedding brings no safety, and the enemy you fear can wear another face?
In Gaston Leroux’s The Perfume of the Lady in Black, Mathilde Stangerson has married the loyal Robert Darzac, but fear still shadows her life. Joseph Rouletabille, a teenage newspaper reporter with a sharp mind, returns to help. His rival Larsan is a master of disguise, and the threat he poses makes familiar faces hard to trust.
The pursuit moves from Paris to the sunlit Mediterranean coast and the Fort of Hercule. Sainclair, Rouletabille’s loyal friend, tells the story as the young detective reasons through danger. Mathilde, Darzac and Rouletabille each carry secrets from the past. Beyond the puzzle lies a painful question: what do people hide from those they love?
What you’ll discover
- A mind against disguise Follow Rouletabille as he trusts clear reasoning against a rival who can change his face.
- Sunlight without safety Enter a coastal fortress where bright sea and rocks offer a striking setting for fear.
- Love under strain Meet a loyal husband and a guarded wife whose shared life remains shadowed by secrets.
- A friend's watchful account See the mystery through Sainclair, who follows Rouletabille faithfully without always understanding his thoughts.
- Questions that pull you onward Short chapters sharpen the suspense, often closing with a question or a sudden event.
Who will love it
For readers who love classic puzzles, suspense and a clever young detective, and anyone who enjoyed the first Rouletabille story. Secrets, disguise and loyalty shape this mystery by the sea.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A wedding that does not end the danger
- Rouletabille trusts the good sense of his mind
- Larsan, the enemy who changes his face
- A fortress by the sea and a tightening net
- What the story says about secrets and identity
- How Leroux builds suspense and surprise
Who’s who
- Joseph RouletabilleA very young newspaper reporter who solves crimes by pure reasoning and who cares deeply for the Darzac family.
- SainclairA young lawyer and loyal friend of Rouletabille who tells the story and often follows without understanding.
- Mathilde StangersonThe scientist's daughter, now married, who lives under a shadow of fear and keeps her thoughts to herself.
- Robert DarzacMathilde's husband, a loyal and troubled man who seems to guard a painful secret.
- LarsanA master of disguise and former police detective, Rouletabille's cunning rival, feared wherever he is suspected.
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- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
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- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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Read and hear Le Parfum de la dame en noir in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Le Parfum de la dame en noir
by Gaston Leroux · 1908
At a fortress by the sea, Rouletabille must protect Mathilde and Robert Darzac from an enemy who can change his face.
Medium level10–20 hours to read25 languages
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In short
The Perfume of the Lady in Black is a detective novel by Gaston Leroux, first published in France in 1908. It is the second case of Joseph Rouletabille, the teenage newspaper reporter who solved the riddle of The Mystery of the Yellow Room the year before.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A wedding that does not end the danger
The story begins after the events of the first book. Mathilde Stangerson, the daughter of a famous scientist, has married Robert Darzac, the quiet and loyal man who stood by her through the trouble at the Glandier estate. A reader would expect a happy ending to follow a wedding. Leroux does the opposite and uses the marriage as the place where new fear can grow.
The tale is told by Sainclair, a young lawyer and the close friend of Rouletabille. He is an honest witness, but he often does not understand what he sees. That is useful for the reader, because Sainclair asks the questions we would ask and is surprised when we are surprised.
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What is The Perfume of the Lady in Black about?
It is a detective novel in which the young reporter Rouletabille tries to protect Mathilde Stangerson and her husband Robert Darzac from a dangerous enemy, as secrets from the past threaten their lives in a fortress by the sea.
Do I need to read The Mystery of the Yellow Room first?
It is best to. This book is a direct sequel and relies on the characters and events of the first. You can follow the plot without it, but the emotional weight and the villain's history will mean more if you start there.
Who is Rouletabille?
He is a teenage newspaper reporter with a gift for reasoning, created by Gaston Leroux. He solves crimes by weighing facts and people rather than by following physical clues, and he appears in several novels.
The author
Gaston Leroux
1868–1927 · French mystery novelist
Gaston Leroux was a French author and journalist born in Paris in 1868. He wrote mystery novels, including The Mystery of the Yellow Room, published in 1907, and The Phantom of the Opera, serialized in 1909–1910. He later lived in Nice, where he died in 1927.
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