Torture. Sweeping police powers. Unlawful detention. Scandal at the highest level. We’re talking about… Paris, roughly 340 years ago.

In a remarkable new book, professor Holly Tucker tells the story of l’Affaire de les Poisons — the Affair of the Poisons, which rocked France and put a target on King Louis XIV himself. Louis responded by appointing Paris’ first police chief, who kept voluminous records. Tucker’s story reads like fiction — witches! Black Sabbaths! Poisonous powders slipped into the wine glasses of nobles! — but it’s history, and it feels all too familiar to modern debates about whether torture works, and just how much we’re willing to give up in the name of security. Tucker is our guest for the hour . . .