Poison at Versailles: The Affair That Threatened Louis XIV’s Court

Behind the mirrors of Versailles, someone was selling murder.In the late 1670s, Paris police uncovered a hidden trade in poison, love potions, illicit rituals, and discreet solutions for people who wanted lovers restored, inheritances accelerated, or rivals removed. Then the names began climbing the social ladder.At the center stood La Voisin, the notorious broker of secrets. Above her loomed Madame de Montespan, Louis XIV's powerful mistress, accused of seeking forbidden help to keep the king's affection. And overseeing it all was Nicolas de La Reynie, the police chief forced to decide which confessions were true, which were born under torture, and which truths the monarchy could survive.Poison at Versailles reconstructs the Affair of the Poisons with the pace of true crime and the discipline of serious history, separating documented fact from centuries of sensational legend.For readers who love royal intrigue, famous historical figures, hidden crimes, and the darker machinery behind absolute power, this is Versailles after the candles go out.