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March 29, 1971, the dead body of a man was found in a one-room apartment in the Paris banlieue of St Ouen. The autopsy revealed that he had been shot to death with three .22-calibre bullets to the head. An assassination.

The man was François Mario Bachand, a 27 year-old Canadian from Montreal recently from Cuba and Algeria. A man with a terrorist past – and possibly present.

The killers were evidently a young couple from Montreal, who had arrived the evening before, asking for assistance. Mario Bachand was away that evening and would return the next morning. Bachand’s flatmate, Pierre Barral, invited them to return the next day at mid-day to share lunch.

They came the next day and lunched with Bachand, Barral and Barral’s girlfriend, Françoise.

An hour or so after lunch, Pierre and his girlfriend left for the university of St Ouen. Pierre returned at about 5h30, and found Bachand lying in a pool of blood, dead. Evidently the two visitors had arrived with a .22-calibre pistol, with the intention to kill.

The killers were never arrested; the murder of François Bachand remained a mystery for over 25 years.

This is the story of who killed Mario Bachand that day that day in Paris, and why. It is also the story of and how the truth was uncovered. A labyrinthine tale you will not forget.

Also visit Google Books: Last Stop, Paris: the assassination of Mario Bachand and the death of the FLQ.