The Dark Road

One of a series of exciting adventure stories featuring Leroux's criminal mastermind Chéri-Bibi. When the story starts the "astonishing bandit", Chéri-Bibi, is languishing in a penal colony, somewhere in the darkest regions of the French empire. In the colony he has befriended a more noble type of prisoner, Raoul de Saint-Dalmas, known colloquially as the Nut. The dastardly forces of the Parisian, the Burglar, the Joker and the Caid get their enjoyment from interfering in our heroes' lives. Then there are the Chief and his warders, Pernambouc the Executioner and his assistant Monsieur Desiré, for Chéri-Bibi and the Nut, to contend with. An incredible adventure begins from here. The author, Gaston Leroux, (born in Paris in 1868, died in Nice in 1927) wrote many, many other stories, of which has spawned so many celebrated performances on Broadway and in London's West End, such as The Phantom of the Opera.