Murder in the Mtro: Laetitia Toureaux and the Cagoule in 1930s France

On May 16, 1937, Laetitia Toureaux, a 29-year-old Italian-born factory worker, was murdered in an otherwise empty first-class compartment on a Paris métro train. The case has never been solved, and the case files were ordered sealed for 101 years. In this fascinating book, historians Brunelle (California State, Fullerton) and Finley-Croswhite (Old Dominion) reveal that Toureaux was no mere factory worker. Ambitious but naïve, she was involved, both personally and politically, with a secret, extremist fascist group known as the Cagoule; she also worked for a detective agency and was an informer for both the French police and the Italian secret service. The authors look at the bitterly fractious world of 1930s French politics and explore in depth both Toureaux's enigmatic life and the press's portrayal of her as a loose woman and “social climber.” The authors also delve into the violent history of the Cagoule, which broke away from the better-known Action Française. Finally, they provide a “speculative” but “strong plausible case” for who murdered Toureaux and why. Brunelle and Finley-Croswhite have produced an exceptionally fine work that is well-researched and documented and consistently compelling. (May)