The Elegant Criminal
Pierre Lacenaire, a robber and murderer, is executed by guillotine on January 9, 1836. He delivers police inspector Allard his autobiography, which he penned while on death row. For more than 10 years, he has been Hermine's guardian, and he now wants Allard to take care of the young lady. We see Lacenaire's childhood as he stands up to bullies, including priests, his youthful thieving, his first murder, his brief army career, his seduction of a princess, and his affair with Avril, a young man who dies beside him, all in flashbacks from the prison as Lacenaire writes, from Allard's study as he and Hermine read, and from other readers' memories after the book is published.