lionel lizee

For his time, 1730, Etienne is a devil out to entice people into hell. He hs corrupted his landlord-billet's wife and possibly teen age daughter. He has behaved immorally with his soldier, canoe partner. He has killed native warriors after having sex with their squaws. When his body is found with a portion of a rope hanging from a limb above his head, and, another portion around his body and the tree trunk, the priest believes it is a suicide, and, refuses to bury him with Catholice rites. Ville Marie's citizens disagree. They believe there is a murderer loose. Etienne has a bullet hole in the middle of the forehead. A knife stabbed between his shoulders, another in his chest. His scalp is half removed.
The legal system does not exist in New France, but the bureacracy must deal with it. Sweepting it under the rug of suicide does not placate the population. An investigator is appointed whose characteristic of grinding detail after detail may, they hope, bring the issue to a disappearance. His investigation reveals the motives of several citizens.
But, the earthquake of 1732 intervenes, the evidence is lost. Who murdered Etienne Bastarache.