Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d'Art

Christopher Moore

Apr 2012 · Sold by Harper Collins

About this ebook

“Christopher Moore is a very sick man, in the very best sense of that word.” —Carl Hiassen

A magnificent “Comedy d’Art” from the author of Lamb, Fool, and Bite Me, Moore’s Sacré Bleu is part mystery, part history (sort of), part love story, and wholly hilarious as it follows a young baker-painter as he joins the dapper  Henri Toulouse-Lautrec on a quest to unravel the mystery behind the supposed “suicide” of Vincent van Gogh.

It is the color of the Virgin Mary's cloak, a dazzling pigment desired by artists, an exquisite hue infused with danger, adventure, and perhaps even the supernatural. It is . . .

Sacré Bleu

In July 1890, Vincent van Gogh went into a cornfield and shot himself. Or did he? Why would an artist at the height of his creative powers attempt to take his own life . . . and then walk a mile to a doctor's house for help? Who was the crooked little "color man" Vincent had claimed was stalking him across France? And why had the painter recently become deathly afraid of a certain shade of blue?

These are just a few of the questions confronting Vincent's friends—baker-turned-painter Lucien Lessard and bon vivant Henri Toulouse-Lautrec—who vow to discover the truth about van Gogh's untimely death. Their quest will lead them on a surreal odyssey and brothel-crawl deep into the art world of late nineteenth-century Paris.

Oh là là, quelle surprise, and zut alors! A delectable confection of intrigue, passion, and art history—with cancan girls, baguettes, and fine French cognac thrown in for good measure—Sacré Bleu is another masterpiece of wit and wonder from the one, the only, Christopher Moore.

Ratings and reviews

This was an excellent book by Christopher Moore and if you liked his other books including A Dirty Job then you should definitely give this book a read. I didn't know a thing about art before but this was very easy to understand. You can tell that Chris has quite a bit of interest in art and I really liked that. I know that the characters in this novel have been criticized but I thought that everybody had great distinctive personalities and I would even consider this book to be character driven to a certain extent. It was a good book but I didn't feel the need to keep reading the whole way through as much as his other books although I wasn't turned off by anything.

Whilst not Christopher Moore's best (that still goes to Lamb) this is an excellent read and he brings his brand of whimsical mythology to Paris at the end of the 19th century. Excellent characters and a very Mooreian story. If you like this and it's your first then go back and read the rest, you won't regret it.

Been a Moore fan since Dirty Jobs and Fool and this one didn't dissapoint. As always he seems to tie a love story together with wit and truth about the human spirit covered in reality and well placed dirty words. It really is an amazing read and the way he tied in real characters like Oscar Wilde made the story that much more believeable. Also the concept of personifying the muse instead of something cliche was an idea I have never seen done before and he pulled it off brilliantly. Another five stars.

About the author

Christopher Moore is the author of seventeen previous novels, including Shakespeare for Squirrels, Noir, Secondhand Souls, Sacré Bleu, Fool, and Lamb. He lives in San Francisco, California.