Death in the City of Light by David King

Upon moving to Paris in the 1930s, Petiot built up an impressive practise, albeit plagued by rumours of illegal abortions and prescriptions of highly addictive remedies, but when Frances was invaded by the Nazis in 1940 and Paris subsequently occupied, Petiot’s killings began. His professional life was rife was shady financial dealings and duplicitous efforts to attract and treat patients. As explored by King, the search eventually led to French medical doctor Marcel Petiot (b.1897), although as King elucidates, uncovering the identity of the killer was far from simple.īeginning in his youth Petiot had a long history of petty crime and mental illness but went on to serve in the First World War and went on to earn a medical degree in 1921. Horrified at what had been found, even in the midst of war, the investigation began in earnest to discover the individual responsible for such heinous crimes. A search of the property also uncovered numerous suitcases, containing the clothes and other belongings of Petiot’s victims.

Alerted by neighbours concerned about a foul smell and intense smoke emanating from one of the chimneys of a mansion at 21 Rue la Sueur in the fashionable 16 th arrondissement of Paris, firefighters who entered the deserted building discovered human remains scattered throughout the basement. David King’s Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi Occupied Paris ( Crown, 2011) chronicles the grizzly crimes of French serial killer Marcel Petiot which shocked France and the world alike when they came to light in March 1944.

Death in the City of Light by David King