Louise Cansot, a Parisian artists’ model known as “the girl of 100 portraits” whose murder in September 1949 was quickly dismissed by police, has inspired two separate books published on August 19, 2024. Author Philippe Jaenada won France’s Prix Goncourt with his novel, while Luc Corlouër published a documentary study sharing decades of archives.
For nearly eight decades, Louise Cansot remained one of Paris’s forgotten murder victims, according to The Guardian. After her body was discovered on September 7, 1949, near the Quai du Javel—now known as the Quai André-Citroën—city detectives closed the investigation after just four months. Police files wrote her off as a libertine and an unmarried mother, making minimal effort to track down her killer.
Two Authors Publish Independent Books About Louise Cansot After Decades of Research
- Two authors published independent books about Louise Cansot on August 19, 2024, after decades of separate research and a unique literary collaboration.
- Philippe Jaenada’s Prix Goncourt-winning novel investigates the 1949 murder, while Luc Corlouër’s book focuses strictly on documentary evidence.
- The writers successfully traced Cansot’s surviving daughter, Nathalie, who is now 80 years old and had been raised to believe her mother was of disreputable character.
How Louise Cansot Arrived in Montparnasse
Born in Tréguier in north-west France to a shoe repairer, Cansot left her family in 1937 at the age of 16 and moved to Paris. Her striking appearance quickly caught the attention of celebrated Montparnasse artists who competed to have her pose for them. When World War II broke out and most painters fled south, Cansot stayed in Paris. She worked as a film extra, a waiter, and a dancer at the Folies Bergère while leaving her five-year-old daughter, Nathalie, with a nanny in the suburbs.
On September 7, 1949, her life ended on the Quai du Javel in the 15th arrondissement, south-west of the Eiffel Tower. Although detectives initially identified four possible suspects, they swiftly filed the case away. The original 300-page police report labeled Cansot a woman of ill repute, while contemporary newspaper accounts speculated that she struggled with alcohol, drugs, or sex work.
Why Luc Corlouër Spent Decades Collecting Archives
Luc Corlouër first learned of the tragedy in 1981 at the war memorial in Tréguier, when an elderly woman mentioned that Cansot’s younger sister, Annick, had been run over by a German truck during the war, and that her older sister had been murdered in Paris. Driven by this local connection, Corlouër spent decades assembling maps, photos, paintings, documents, letters, and newspaper clippings.
As Mezha.net reported, Corlouër initially attempted to write a novel about the case, but publishers repeatedly rejected it because it did not identify the killer. He eventually crossed paths with novelist Philippe Jaenada at a literary salon. When Jaenada later contacted him expressing interest in the case, Corlouër handed over his entire archive. We agreed we would write our respective books, which are very different. And after all, the star was him, not me,
Corlouër told The Guardian, adding that Jaenada dissected the material to uncover details he had missed himself.
What Philippe Jaenada Uncovered in the Police Dossier
In his 530-page book, L’Inconnue du Quai de Javel (The Unknown Woman of the Quai de Javel), Jaenada presents a far more sympathetic portrait of the victim than the original 1949 dossier. To prepare for the investigation, Jaenada read 74 out of the 75 novels written by Georges Simenon featuring Inspector Maigret in 1940s Paris. His research ultimately points toward a specific man he believes strangled Cansot after inviting her to view an apartment she hoped to rent.
Both authors shared the goal of rehabilitating Cansot’s reputation after 77 years of slander. Corlouër noted that Cansot was a modern woman at least 50 years ahead of her time, dressing well and exercising freedom in her choice of lovers. Because she posed for painters and had a child out of wedlock, the police and press of the era decided she had brought her fate upon herself.
How Nathalie Cansot Learned the Truth About Her Mother
Through their extensive archival work, the two writers managed to trace Cansot’s daughter, Nathalie, who is now 80 years old and was raised by her aunt Valentine. When Corlouër and Jaenada first made contact, Nathalie initially stated she did not want to hear about her mother and repeated the belief that Lise had been a prostitute. Her aunt had spent years cultivating that narrative out of jealousy.
When the authors informed her that the police records and rumors were false and that her mother was an extraordinary woman, Nathalie expressed profound shock. She was raised by her aunt, who was very jealous of Lise and who for years told the girl her mother was disreputable. Nathalie was very surprised when Philippe and I told her this was not true, that her mother was an amazing woman,
Corlouër explained to The Guardian. Though she did not cry, her reaction brought a sense of resolution to a decades-old family tragedy.
