The Elegant Criminal

On 9 January 1836 Pierre Lacenaire goes to the guillotine a murderer and a thief He gives Allard a police inspector his life story written while awaiting execution He also asks Allard to care for Hermine a lass to whom he has been guardian for more than ten years In flashbacks from the prison as Lacenaire writes from Allards study as he and Hermine read and from other readers memory after the book is published we see Lacenaires childhood as he stands up to bullies including priests his youthful thieving his first murder his brief army career his seduction of a princess and his affair with Avril a young man who dies beside him