Another free short story offered by Éditions ActuSF. You can download it here. As with the other ones, it takes place in the world of another book, this time [b:Sorcières Associées|34120601|Sorcières Associées|Alex Evans|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1486314782s/34120601.jpg|45929288], which I haven't read.

The short story is about an antiquarian running a shop with an associate. They got their hands on an old collection of erotic artefacts and books. As this is not their speciality (they run a respected shop, after all), they need to ask advice from someone who does know this world. Apparently, the collection contains a some rare and therefore expensive items. To attract the higher class of society means the rest of the population will follow and visit her shop. So she and her associate organise a sort of party to put the erotic stuff into the spotlight. This attracts all sort of upper-class and literate people. However, there's one little book that seems to be desired by various sorts of people, which is curious to witness. And so the game begins.

The little book is said to contain a code to summon a sort of genie, caught forever inside the book. As our antiquarian has more on her mind, like a customer whose wife has an insatiable lust for the pleasures of the flesh (and him seeking a potion to counter it), she ultimately decides to decode 'Les Fleurs de Minuit' (The Flowers of Midnight) herself and strike a deal with the genie to eliminate the guy who kidnapped her son to obtain the little book. Not that she doesn't already have other problems with her son, but the kidnapper sure as hell isn't going to get away with this. In comes the genie.

I found this story quite entertaining. It's fluently written, there are some fun moments, ... You might then want to read the book itself and its sequel/successor ([b:L'Échiquier de jade|40733710|L'Échiquier de jade|Alex Evans|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1530902027s/40733710.jpg|62399161]). As always, too many books, too little time. Besides, my French TBR-pile is still more than large enough, as are some of the books on it. ( )