A. Louise Staman

On the night of December 2, 1945 a famous publisher and three lawyers met together on a deserted Paris street corner. That meeting went very well for the lawyers. But the publisher received a bullet in his back.

Robert Denoël left his native Belgium and came to Paris in 1926 with virtually no money or contacts. Within a few years he founded his own publishing house -- Les Editions Denoël, and by the time of the Nazi Occupation, he was one of the most significant figures in the history of French publishing. But Denoël was never good at following the rules. He published works by the Communist Louis Aragon and the Russian Jew Elsa Triolet (both French resisters) along with the anti-Semitic Celine and the fascist Lucien Rebatet. Caring more about great literature than political expediency, his decisions often put him at odds with the Nazis, the Vichy Government, and even with liberated France.
Denoël’s murder, and the subsequent acquisition of his company by his arch rival, involves a web of crime, murder, betrayal, love, and cover-up not often found even in the most intricately plotted crime fiction.

“Using sensitive documents recently unsealed by the French government, author A. Louise Staman traces the events leading up to the infamous murder, and illuminates a fascinating cast of characters set against the backdrop of France during the roaring 20’s, turbulent 30’s, the Nazi Occupation, and the Liberation. WITH THE STROKE OF A PEN is both a riveting true crime story and mesmerizing biography of a fascinating man. The story of Robert Denoël has been long untold, and his murder officially unsolved—until now.”