The Ferry Mystery (Le Bac)

The Ferry Mystery, Translation from the French by Nina Cooper. Original novel by Fortuné du Boisgobey

The Vignemals perished when their small ferry boat capsized in a freak autumn snow storm. They were crossing the river to neighbors to ask for the hand of one of their daughters in marriage to a nephew, Arthur, a worthless dandy.

Who inherits depends on who died first-the husband, or the wife. Will officials believe the young "savage," Roch Ferrer, who attempted a rescue? Or was he a killer in league with one of many potential inheritors of the large estate? Why has Roger Pontac reappeared? Is he an inheritor? Is he a murderer?

The Ferry Mystery (Le Bac) was one of du Boisgobey's most popular novels. First published in 1882, it went through several editions by various French, American, and British publishers.

Nina Cooper holds a Ph.D. in Romance Languages from the University of Texas at Austin. She has done critical work on the plays of Gabriel Marcel and Jean-Paul Sartre, as well as on the short stories of Julien Green.

Her first book, Servants on Horses, a novel based on the history of the Muskogees in the American South, was published in 2009. A second book on Native American history, edited by Cooper, Selected Letters of General Thomas Woodward's Reminiscences was published in 2010.