The Brothers of Death — Charles Rabou

The Brothers of Death (1856) is the second volume in a series of four that tells the story of the Hulet family which, for generations, has headed the government's spy network, the Secret Bureau, that intercepts and opens all private mail. From the execution of Charles I of England to the secret terror spread by the Apostles of Nuremberg, we follow the doomed destinies of the Hulets and their relentless enemy, the Marquis de Vulpiano, now the leader of the Brothers of Death....
This volume also continues the adventures of Gregorio Matiphous, now accused of having murdered the mysterious Ephraim, founder of the Illuminati.

Charles Rabou (1803-1871) was one of the founders of the prestigious Revue de Paris and a friend of Honoré de Balzac, whose unfinished novels he completed after the latter's death. He was also a master of the roman noir (crime novel). The Secret Bureau is an important link between the works of Jules Janin and Frédéric Soulié on the one hand, and Paul Féval and Ponson du Terrail on the other.