"One day, Torrence, a former inspector of the Police Judiciaire, now owner of a private investigation agency, receives a strange phone call from one of his clients, the well kown sculptor T. The latter wants to meet him at the bar called “the Meeting of the Limousines” and asks him to bring the documents given to Torrence a few days ago. When he arrives there, T gives him an envelope and Janvier, his ex-colleague arrests him and takes him to Quai des Orfevres. He cannot understand what is going on until he finds out that he is accused of having blackmailed T in order to receive money from him. But a call received by the head of the police from Torrence's colleague Emile, telling that the phone received at the Agency was not made from “The Meeting of the Limousines” but from a bar across the street releases Torrence. This way he hears the whole story and has the chance to tell his side of it.
A few days ago T killed a man at his house in Yport because he dishonored his daughter Eveline and he threw the body from the rocks. He knew every court would let him go but wanted to spare his daughter the public scandal. However, to clean his conscience, he wrote a statement and gave it to Torrence to keep. A few days after, somebody pretending to call in Torrence's name asked for 20,000 francs to keep the secret. He gave the money but another similar phone call followed and T told the whole story to the Police.
Now, both the Police and Torrence with his team (Emile, Miss Berthe and Barbet) are trying to find the blackmailer. Emile thinks that he is not just a person who needs money, but also someone who wanted revenge on Torrence. The agency had put many criminals in jail and so, it had a lot of enemies. They search for recently released persons who are also highly educated because the letters written were good enough to trick T. The research leads them to Vatissard, ex employee of a lawyer. Barbet follows him but he gets stabbed in the back, without being killed. Now they have the right man and, the next day, the police manages to capture him. But there remains one mystery: how did he know about the secret conversation between Torrence and T, if any of Torrence's collaborators did not speak about it? It's Berthe who discovers it. At the floor under the Agency's siege is a beauty saloon. While renovating, the workers took out a candelabra and because of the hole in the ceiling Olga, one of the employees heard everything and told it to Vatissard, who was her lover. "
Dana Samson, Resident Scholar
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Review Analysis of The Secrets of the O Agency
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book descript. of violence and chases - 20% Planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 50% Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 10% How society works & physical descript. (people, objects, places) - 20%
Tone of story
- Dry-cynical
Time/era of story:
- 1960's-1970's
Kid or adult book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Crime Thriller
Yes
Crime plotlets:
- seduction/blackmail
General Crime (including known murderer)
Yes
Main Character
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- private investigator
Age:
- 40's-50's
How much violence does he/she use?
- a little
Ethnicity/Race
- French
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Genius (really!)
Physique
- healthy but a geeky weakling
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- criminal
Eccentric:
Yes
- obsessed
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- an average amount
Motive of antagonist
- revenge
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- average physique
Setting
Europe
Yes
European country:
- France
Style
Part of a series?
Yes
Person
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
How many deaths?
- 0 (not a murder mystery)
Amount of dialog
- significantly more descript than dialog
