# de Lourtier - Vaneau — The Eight Strokes of the Clock character guide

> de Lourtier - Vaneau in The Eight Strokes of the Clock by Maurice Leblanc.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** M. de Lourtier - Vaneau, M. de Lourtier, de Lourtier

**First appearance:** 0002-i-on-the-top-of-the-tower

## Snapshot

M. de Lourtier-Vaneau is the magistrate whose official investigation runs parallel to Rénine's private one, and usually behind it.

## Who they are

De Lourtier-Vaneau represents the machinery of justice as it actually operates: methodical, credentialed, and persistently one step behind the truth. He investigates the crimes that Rénine solves, which makes him less an antagonist than a foil — the man whose authority Rénine must work around or through. His presence gives the stories their institutional texture, reminding the reader that behind every elegant deduction stands a real courtroom, a real dossier, and a real official who got it wrong.

## In the story

### [I: On the Top of the Tower](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_eight_strokes_of_the_clock_se/chapters/i-on-the-top-of-the-tower)

Referred to as the Comte d’Aigleroche, Hortense's uncle, who is accused of murder and forced to sign a deed.

### [The Lady with the Hatchet](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_eight_strokes_of_the_clock_se/chapters/vi-the-lady-with-the-hatchet)

Retired colonial governor; initially evasive but eventually confesses that his mad wife Hermance is the serial killer.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_eight_strokes_of_the_clock_se/characters/de_lourtier_vaneau
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_eight_strokes_of_the_clock_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_eight_strokes_of_the_clock_se/characters