La conspiration du général Malet. 23 octobre 1812. Premier ébranlement du trône de Napoléon (in French)

 
From the publishers:
On 23 October 1812, shortly after Napoleon's departure from a Moscow devastated by fire, General Malet, a colourful and adventurous character, attempted to seize power in Paris with the announcement of the French emperor's death and the senate's proclamation of a provisional government. Accompanied by a handful of rag-tag accomplices, and armed with crude, forged documents, he locked up Paris' police chiefs: for a few short hours, this outlandish hold-up succeeded in throwing into chaos the tightly-managed order of a regime many thought was more securely founded. For just a short moment, the Napoleonic story stuttered. Malet was subsequently executed, but Napoleon's imperial legitimacy was dealt a severe blow: two years' later, Napoleon would be deposed.
 
Thierry Lentz is the director of the Fondation Napoléon and author of a number of books on the Napoleonic period, including the monumental four-volume opus Nouvelle Histoire de l'Empire and a biography of General Savary.
 
The author was recently interviewed on napoleon.org and answered a few questions on his latest release.