the essential
Released on April 17, the latest detective novel by Jaques Ravenne and Eric Giacometti will this time take readers to Italy and France, through the adventures of Antoine Marcas, a Freemason policeman.
“A secret that transcends time, coming from the depths of the Middle Ages, to Napoleon and the world of fashion today. It’s a secret that travels”, these are the mysterious elements that Jaques Ravenne, co-author, uses to summarize his latest novel “The Key and the Cross”, published by JC Lattès.
In 1809, Napoleon ordered the theft of the Vatican archives to recover the documents from the Templar trial. Freemasons will get involved and try to save the Empire, but their enemies will do everything to prevent them. Correlated to this affair, another more contemporary story refers to the assassination of a big Italian fashion boss. He is a member of a Catholic secret society. It is this investigation that sets police officer Antoine Marcas on the road to a fabulous treasure, a treasure with deep roots. “He will find a secret or a treasure, I won’t tell you that” jokes Jacques Ravenne, also a Freemason.
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“I wrote in a medieval castle”
If it takes a special place to draw this inspiration, this one certainly won’t lack it. His workstation is on the first floor of a medieval castle overlooking the Bouriane valley. This atypical work space allowed him to participate in “The Key and the Cross,” a 480-page detective novel, written by two long-time friends, Eric Giacometti and him, Jaques Ravenne, since they have known each other since high school. .
Mystery, treasures and legends… If these themes are an integral part of Antoine Marcas’ adventures, it is perhaps not for nothing. This friendship between the two authors continued thanks to a common passion, the search for treasures. “When we were 20 years old, we did excavations near castles or caves with metal detectors, in Ariège and Aude,” he remembers with nostalgia. It was in 2005 that they decided to collaborate for the first time The two authors quickly divided the tasks, Éric Giacometti wrote the contemporary parts and Jaques Ravenne took care of the historical parts. Each part would fill the other, “everything is interconnected like a clock” explains Jaques Ravenne. .
But who is Antoine Marcas?
Antoine Marcas is also a character that they decided to create in 2005, and who will continue his journey through “The Key and the Cross”. Father of a family, Mr. Marcas does not have a stable love life, as his ex-wife will testify. The character brings together several particular character traits, he is very complex, in particular through his job as a police officer, which gives him a mysterious side, with precise values of Freemasonry, coming into confrontation with the reality on the ground. “Which will not prevent him from regularly having problems with the law,” he explains in a cheerful tone. It is by researching his ancestors that he will want to begin to unravel a family secret, and then from this, he will find himself with a historical secret. Everyone would like to get up one morning and find riches… “I offer that to readers with this character, intrigue and dreams”.
After coming across the ambassador of Iceland by chance, Jacques Ravenne learns during a discussion with her the story of a Nordic legend… “In two years, a new book will focus on this Nordic mythology, around Iceland. One day, I will also have to write about Périgord and Quercy, I will make a saga about it!”, confides Jaques Ravenne.
