About The Author

Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux, a renowned French journalist and author of detective fiction, is widely recognized in the English-speaking world for his masterpiece, The Phantom of the Opera (Le Fantôme de l’Opéra, 1910). This iconic novel has captivated audiences and has been adapted into numerous film and stage productions, including the notable 1925 film featuring Lon Chaney and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s acclaimed 1986 musical.

Additionally, Leroux’s work served as the inspiration for Susan Kay’s 1990 novel, Phantom. Leroux’s educational journey began in Normandy, where he attended school before pursuing a law degree in Paris. In 1889, he successfully graduated from law school, marking the culmination of his academic endeavors. However, Leroux’s life took an unexpected turn when he inherited a substantial fortune, leading him to indulge in a lavish lifestyle that ultimately brought him to the brink of bankruptcy.

Determined to overcome his financial struggles, Leroux transitioned into a career as a court reporter and theater critic for L’Écho de Paris in 1890. It was during this time that he honed his skills as a journalist, producing significant works that would shape his future. Leroux’s journalistic prowess reached new heights when he became an international correspondent for the esteemed Paris newspaper, Le Matin. In 1905, he found himself in the midst of the Russian Revolution, reporting on the historic events unfolding before him. Another notable case that Leroux covered involved an opera house in Paris, which later transformed into a ballet house.

The basement of this establishment held a cell that once imprisoned individuals during the Paris Commune, a significant period in French history that coincided with the Franco-Prussian War. Leroux’s comprehensive coverage of these events solidified his reputation as a skilled and dedicated journalist. In a surprising turn of events, Leroux abruptly departed from the field of journalism in 1907, embarking on a new venture as a fiction writer. Collaborating with Arthur Bernède, he established Société des Cinéromans in 1909, a film company that aimed to publish novels and adapt them into movies simultaneously.

Leroux’s first foray into fiction resulted in the creation of a captivating mystery novel titled Le mystère de la chambre jaune (1908; The Mystery of the Yellow Room), featuring the amateur detective Joseph Rouletabille. This contribution to French detective fiction is often compared to the influential works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the United Kingdom and Edgar