Nora, a puzzle of literature and death(published by Douro), the latest work by our friend Jehan Van Langhenhoven (already encountered in this section), has just been released.
To introduce himself to readers, Jehan is remarkably understated: "Childhood in the working-class, red suburbs. Indelible marks. Owns a dog. Unwavering loyalty beyond death and the years." It should be added that he hosts a show on Radio Libertaire that has featured a host of prominent figures over the years!
This time, armed once again with his spirited and witty pen, he draws us into the mystery of the beautiful and voluptuous Nora, "a woman of every kind of pleasure." The mystery of her short life is recounted by the narrator of this little book: Nicki Bellmoor. An anti-hero "in search of the Nobel Prize for erotic literature and spelling mistakes!" A reporter for Paris News, specializing in gory crime stories, he will attempt to piece together for us all the fragments of the puzzle surrounding the murder of the beautiful and enigmatic Nora.
However, Niki finds himself among the presumed culprits in the murder of the beautiful woman, along with a dozen other individuals, including a beardless youth; a supposed one-armed man; a "formidable" dockworker; and Sandro Becker, "the last surviving painter of the Grand Painting Barnum." All will be interrogated in turn by inspectors as unusual and atypical as the accused themselves.
Between digressions—about which the author, incidentally, philosophizes, "But what is life if not a long series of digressions?"—Niki tries to make sense of this tangled mess, confiding her doubts to a colorful cast of characters. We're only at the beginning of the story when the author warns us that "the following chapters will be full of asides, detours, direct confrontations, and explosive situations!"
After the burial of poor Nora at Père Lachaise, Niki's adventures never veer into boredom or languor. They continue in other parts of the world (the Bronx), without her obsession disappearing: "to keep the ghost of her heroine alive forever."
This small collection, "full of twisted nerves," gives us the opportunity to encounter, even briefly, some distinguished guests, such as Herman Melville; Dylan Thomas; Charles Baudelaire, "that expert in funereal theater, phantasmagoria, and various simulacra"; Francis Bacon; Ibsen; and even the wrestler Maurice Tillet, known as "the monster." Enjoy the journey!

Patrick Schindler, individual FA Paris

https://www.monde-libertaire.fr/?articlen=8248&article=Objectif_Mars_pour_le_rat_noir