A pterodactyl hatches a the Natural History Museum in Paris in 1911 and makes many victims and newspaper headlines over the next several days. An inspector is sent out to take it down. Meanwhile there’s a complicated scheme involving a kidnapping by Adèle and some accomplices wearing mustaches and bowler hats. Everything becomes extremely confusing when several people put on fake mustaches and bowler hats to get their hands on some stolen money. By this point, Tardi has Adèle say she can’t follow the plot either, which had me relieved because I was totally confused by then.

Fine black and white drawings circa 1976 recreating the period; costumes, cars and buildings, all with a horror/gothic twist I loved but a tiny format that doesn’t allow to fully appreciate just how good those drawings are. I just read another reviewer who mentions that the second book in this series takes on a more definitive direction and has a less convoluted plot, so I shall follow up eventually. ( )