The Paris Secret (24 page)
Authors: Angela Henry
He stared at it and smiled like he was seeing an old friend. Tears filled his eyes. “I would have told you where to find the
Aurum Liber
had I remembered at the time where I hid it. The stress of being in jail was hard on me. In all my one hundred and eighty-five years on this earth, I’ve never once been arrested. And I’m afraid after so many years my memory is failing me. Some days I’m unsure of my own name or where I live. But today is a good day.” He smiled.
“Yes,
monsieur,
” I said, patting his hand and thinking of Simon and a future full of possibilities. “Today is a very good day.”
In the fall of 2007, much like my heroine Maya Sinclair, I took a solo trip to Paris, France. And just like Maya I also toured the Palace of Versailles and heard a tale about a French queen who gave birth at the palace to a child fathered by her African lover. I was instantly fascinated by this story and started researching it as soon as I got home. What I discovered was that though this child, Louise-Marie Therese, a.k.a. the Black Nun of Moret, did in fact exist, and was financially supported by King Louis XIV throughout her life, her true origins and the circumstances surrounding her birth remain a mystery as well as a topic of debate.
I would like to thank my editor, Jessica Schulte, for seeing the potential in this book. Her guidance, patience and expertise helped me to make it shine and her humor made it a fun and painless process. I would also like to thank the fine folks at Carina Press for giving this quirky cross-genre book a home and for being such a great team to work with.
Angela Henry was once told that her past life careers included spy, researcher and investigator. She stuck with what she knew because today she’s a mystery-writing library reference specialist, who loves to people-watch and eavesdrop on conversations. She’s the author of four mysteries featuring equally nosy amateur sleuth Kendra Clayton, and is also the founder of the award-winning MystNoir website, which promotes African-American mystery writers, and was named a “Hot Site” by USATODAY.com. When she’s not working, writing or practicing her stealth, she loves to travel, is a connoisseur of B horror movies and an admitted anime addict. She lives in Ohio and is currently hard at work trying to meet her next deadline.
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ISBN: 978-1-4268-9108-3
Copyright © 2011 by Angela Henry
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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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