Mystery Monday: Who was Claude Aveline?

Mystery Monday: Who was Claude Aveline?

In further exploration of what my characters might have been reading in France during WWII, I discovered, Claude Aveline who was a prolife writer. His credits include poetry, screenplays, articles, and mystery novels.

The pen name of Evgen Avtsine, Claude was born in Paris in 1901 of Jewish parents who had fled Russia in 1891 because of racial segregation and persecution. They became French citizens in 1905. In 1915, at only fourteen years of age, Claude volunteered as a medic. After WWI, he moved to Cannes to begin his college studies but experienced severe health problems and had to drop out of school.

Several of his poems were published, and he was introduced to Anatole France who became his mentor. Three years later, Claude founded his own publishing house (does that make him the first indie author?!). His mystery novel released in 1932, La Double Mort de Frédéric Belot,” was a huge success, and his 1936 novel Le Prisonnier even more so.

Interesting to note is that his Wikipedia biography refers to Aveline’s membership in the French Resistance in one short sentence. What they fail to mention is that he intentionally left Paris and moved to Lyon where he shared a house with journalist Louis Martin-Chauffier that was a major center of Resistance activities. In addition, Claude founded the underground newspaper, Combat.

After the war, he moved back to Paris and continued his writing career, winning awards and recognition, especially for his radio works. He published a psychological mystery, Carriage 7, Seat 15, which many scholars consider a classic. In addition to his fictional work, he wrote his memoirs.

Claude passed away in 1992.

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A prostitute, a spy, and the liberation of Paris.

Sold by her parents to settle a debt, Rolande Bisset is forced into prostitution. Years later, shunned by her family and most of society, it’s the only way she knows how to subsist. When the Germans overrun Paris, she decides she’s had enough of evil men controlling her life and uses her wiles to obtain information for the Allied forces. Branded a collaborator, her life hangs in the balance. Then an American spy stumbles onto her doorstep. Is redemption within her grasp?

Simon Harlow is one of an elite corps of American soldiers. Regularly chosen for dangerous covert missions, he is tasked with infiltrating Paris to ascertain the Axis’s defenses. Nearly caught by German forces moments after arriving, he owes his life to the beautiful prostitute who claims she’s been waiting for the Allies to arrive. Her lifestyle goes against everything he believes in, but will she steal his heart during his quest to liberate her city?

Inspired by the biblical story of Rahab, Love’s Rescue is a tale of faith and hope during one of history’s darkest periods. Available on Amazon.