Plot
The necklace of Queen Marie-Antoinette that was believed to have been destroyed centuries ago has been found by Sir Henry Williamson, a wealthy British collector based in France. Blake and Mortimer arrive in Paris in order to testify at the trial of their sworn enemy Colonel Olrik only to learn that he has managed to slip away under the very noses of the police during a transfer to the court house from the main jail.
Williamson then invites them to a reception where he intends to show off the necklace for the first time in public. The party is held at the residence of Duranton-Claret, the jeweller who restored the necklace, but as he is on his way to fetch it a large explosion shakes the house. Going to the cellar, Blake and Mortimer find it in a state of collapse with water pouring in from the burst water main. They barely manage to save the jewel case from the strongroom, but when they open it the necklace is gone and they find a note in which Olrik claims responsibility. The explosion was caused by an actual bomb and Olrik and his men escaped using the Paris Catacombs over which the house rests.
Blake summons his contact Commissaire Pradier of the DST, the French security service (similar to the FBI or MI5) who is in charge of the Olrik case. Olrik himself leaks the news to the press and before long Duranton is harassed by phone calls from reporters and becomes a bundle of nerves.
In the morning, Blake and Mortimer are visiting Duranton when they witness an attempt by Olrik's men, led by his henchman Sharkey, to kidnap him. The two Britons manage to rescue Duranton but the crooks escape. A couple of nights later, Duranton is again the subject of an attempt, this time led by Olrik himself. With the help of Vincent, Duranton's loyal valet, Blake and Mortimer manage to rescue the terrified jeweller, but, in spite of the sudden arrival of the police, Olrik and his men escape, again via the catacombs.
Pradier has arranged a wire-tapping of the phones in the Duranton residence. They thus intercept a call from Olrik to the jeweller in which it emerges that Duranton, facing financial ruin, arranged for the theft of the necklace with Sharkey in return for help in springing Olrik from prison. However, Duranton also double-crossed Olrik by placing a fake necklace in the strongroom - the real item is still somewhere in his house. Olrik tells him that to end the nightmare Duranton is to deliver the real necklace to him at night at Montsouris Park.
That night Duranton recovers the necklace and discreetly leaves his house, his real intention being to flee abroad. Following him from a distance are Blake, Mortimer and Pradier, but Duranton's car is hijacked by Sharkey who was hidden inside. Driving erratically, the terrified Duranton crashes into the park fence. With the police surrounding the area he hides the necklace in a merry-go-round. He then hails a cab only to find it driven by Olrik who promptly drives through a police roadblock.
Blake, Mortimer and Pradier find Sharkey who was knocked unconscious in the crash. He agrees to co-operate and leads them to an entrance to the catacombs. While walking through the tunnels, Sharkey gives the police the slip. Blake and Mortimer go after him but then get hopelessly lost in the underground maze. Sharkey himself manages to make his way to an old underground bunker which was used by the resistance during World War II and is now Olrik's HQ. Duranton is placed in a deep, dry well which is filled bit by bit with water. As it reaches his throat he finally confesses to Olrik where he left the necklace. Olrik leaves him with the fake and sets off to recover the genuine article.
Just as he is leaving, Blake and Mortimer manage to find their way through the maze and reach the bunker. As they take on the guards they are on the verge of being killed when the police led by Pradier arrives. In the battle that follows, the police manage to capture Olrik's gang, including Sharkey, and recover Duranton and the fake necklace.
Olrik himself evades the police by making his way through the sewers. He reaches Montsouris Park and recovers the necklace from the merry-go-round. At that moment he is surrounded by police but manages to escape, again via the sewers.
Driving to a safe-house, Olrik learns on the radio that there will be a special TV broadcast about the recent events. Arriving at his hide-out he switches on the TV: during the programme Mortimer announces that the necklace Olrik obtained from the park is in fact the fake. The police had recovered the genuine article just moments before the crook's arrival. Enraged, Olrik smashes up the fake necklace.
Sir Henry Williamson then announces that he is donating the necklace to the French nation.
Blake and Mortimer is a Belgian comics series created by the writer and comics artist Edgar P. Jacobs. It was one of the first series to appear in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Tintin in 1946, and was subsequently published in book form by Le Lombard.
Atlantis Mystery by the Belgian artist Edgar P. Jacobs was the seventh comic book in the Blake and Mortimer series, first published in Tintin magazine from March 30, 1955, to May 30, 1956. It appeared in book format in 1957.
The Time Trap by the Belgian artist Edgar P. Jacobs was the ninth comic book in the Blake and Mortimer series. It appeared in book format in 1962.
The Yellow "M" by the Belgian artist Edgar P. Jacobs is the sixth comic book in the Blake and Mortimer series. It was first published in Tintin magazine between 6 August 1953 and 3 November 1954 and later appeared in book form in 1956.
The Mystery of the Great Pyramid, Volume 1: Manetho's Papyrus by the Belgian artist Edgar P. Jacobs was the fourth comic book in the Blake and Mortimer series, first published in Tintin magazine from March 23, 1950 to February 21, 1951. It appeared in book format in 1954, then was reprinted in a single-volume edition with Part 2 in 2011 (ISBN 9782870971697).
The Mystery of the Great Pyramid, Volume 2: The Chamber of Horus by the Belgian artist Edgar P. Jacobs was the fifth comic book in the Blake and Mortimer series, first published in Tintin magazine. It first appeared in book format in 1955, then was reprinted in a single-volume edition with Part 1 in 2011 (ISBN 9782870971697).
S.O.S. Meteors: Mortimer in Paris is the eighth comic book in the Blake and Mortimer series by Edgar P. Jacobs. It was first published in Tintin magazine.
Professor Sató's 3 Formulae, Volume 1: Mortimer in Tokyo is the eleventh book in the Blake and Mortimer series. It was written and drawn by Edgar P. Jacobs and was the last book of the series to be drawn by him.
Professor Sató's 3 Formulae, Volume 2: Mortimer vs. Mortimer was the twelfth book in the Blake and Mortimer series. It was started by Edgar P. Jacobs but after his death, completed by Bob de Moor, and was finally published in 1990.
The Francis Blake Affair was the thirteenth Blake and Mortimer book and the first one not to be written by Edgar P. Jacobs. It was published in 1996.
The Voronov Plot is the fourteenth book in the Blake and Mortimer comic book series. It was released in 2000.
The Strange Encounter is the fifteenth book in the Blake and Mortimer series created by Edgar P. Jacobs. Published in 2001, it was written by Jean Van Hamme and drawn by Ted Benoit who had already contributed to the series with The Francis Blake Affair in 1996. Whereas that book dealt with espionage, this story combines elements of detective and science fiction of the sort present in Jacobs' original stories.
The Sarcophagi of the Sixth Continent, Volume 1: The Universal Threat is the sixteenth Blake and Mortimer book in the series.
The Sarcophagi of the Sixth Continent, Volume 2: Battle of the Minds is the seventeenth Blake and Mortimer book in the series.
The Curse of the Thirty Denarii is the nineteenth Blake and Mortimer book in the series. The story was written by Jean Van Hamme. Its completion was delayed with the death of the artist, René Sterne, on 15 November 2006. The book was completed by Sterne's girlfriend Chantal de Spiegeleer and was released on 20 November 2009.
The Gondwana Shrine is the eighteenth Blake and Mortimer comic book in the series. The book was published in France and Belgium on March 28, 2008.
The Secret of The Swordfish was the first story in the Blake and Mortimer comic album series by Edgar P. Jacobs. It describes how a far eastern empire takes over the world and the adventures of two Britons as they try to bring about the development of a weapon which will enable them to fight back. Drawing elements from the recent events of World War II as well as the emerging Cold War, the trilogy is set in an alternate reality of the 1950s, in which a Third World War is played out.
Plutarch's Staff is the 23rd adventure in the Blake and Mortimer series. It was written by Yves Sente and drawn by André Juillard and Étienne Schréder, with color by Madeleine de Mille. The volume was released on December 5, 2014. It was pre-published as a series of daily comic strips beginning in April 2014 in Le Soir, and repeated in the summer in Le Télégramme. The title refers to the scytale, a military coding system and one of the encryption systems in history.
The Septimus Wave is the twenty-second book in the Blake and Mortimer series. It is written by Jean Dufaux, illustrated by Antoine Aubin and Etienne Schréder and released in 2013. The book is a sequel to The Yellow "M" and deals with Colonel Olrik's past with Septimus.
The Testament of William S. is the twenty-fourth album of the comic series Blake and Mortimer, written by Yves Sente and drawn by André Juillard, based on the characters created by Edgar P. Jacobs.
