French Crime Fiction

The old salt farmers have always said that the violet scent of the Fleur de Sel at harvest time on the salt marshes of the Guerande Peninsula has been known to cause hallucinations. Commissaire Dupin also starts to believe this when he's attacked out of the blue in the salt works. He had actually been looking forward to escaping his endless paperwork and taking a trip to the "white country" between the raging Atlantic Ocean and idyllic rivers.

As dusk approaches a small Dublin suburb in the summer of 1984, mothers begin to call their children home. But on this warm evening, three children do not return from the dark and silent woods. When the police arrive, they find only one of the children gripping a tree trunk in terror, wearing blood-filled sneakers, and unable to recall a single detail of the previous hours. Twenty years later, the found boy, Rob Ryan, is a detective on the Dublin Murder Squad and keeps his past a secret.

Martin Walker’s novels starring Chief of Police Bruno Courrèges are a boon to Francophiles and mystery lovers around the world. In The Crowded Grave, Bruno is up to his ears in trouble after a local archaeological dig unearths a corpse with a bullet in its head. Further complicating matters are a meddlesome local magistrate, animal rights activists, and a missing professor - not to mention two lovely ladies vying for Bruno’s affections.

In the “compellingˮand “pitch perfectˮ follow-up to Tana French’s runaway best seller In the Woods, Cassie Maddox has transferred out of the Dublin Murder Squad - until an urgent telephone call brings her back to an eerie crime scene. The victim looks exactly like Cassie and carries ID identifying herself as Alexandra Madison, an alias Cassie once used as an undercover cop. Suddenly, Cassie is back undercover, to find out not only who killed this young woman, but, more importantly, who she was.

A year ago a boy was found murdered at a girlsʼ boarding school, and the case was never solved. Detective Stephen Moran has been waiting for his chance to join Dublin’s Murder Squad when 16-year-old Holly Mackey arrives in his office with a photo of the boy with the caption: “I know who killed him". Stephen joins with Detective Antoinette Conway to reopen the case - beneath the watchful eye of Holly’s father, fellow detective Frank Mackey. The private underworld of teenage girls turns out to be more mysterious and more dangerous than the detectives imagined.

Mick “Scorcherˮ Kennedy is the star of the Dublin Murder Squad. He plays by the books and plays hard, and thatʼs how the biggest case of the year ends up in his hands. On one of the half-abandoned “luxuryˮ developments that litter Ireland, Patrick Spain and his two young children have been murdered. His wife, Jenny, is in intensive care. At first, Scorcher thinks itʼs going to be an easy solve, but too many small things can't be explained.

Bizarre New Orleans Death Ceremony Ends in Murder French Quarter paranormal investigator Wyatt Thomas meets a new client at an bizarre death ceremony in a revamped Canal Street movie theater. The man gives Wyatt a bag of cash and a single clue: a solid gold Krewe of Rex, 1948 Mardi Gras doubloon. His only request is for Wyatt to find the person or persons who murdered his mother. The case isn't simply cold, it's 50-years old. When his client is shot dead on the way out the door, Wyatt must go into hiding, solve both murders, or suffer the same fate

Alice, an American who loves to speak French, wants to study in Paris. She spends a week in a language school for adults. The students are friendly, and the school is located on the most beautiful avenue in Paris. At first, it's a dream! But her dream turns into a nightmare when Madame Douce, her French teacher, is found dead in the classroom.

As Paris rediscovers its joie de vivre, Tabitha Knight, recently arrived from Detroit for an extended stay with her French grandfather, is on her own journey of discovery. Thanks to her neighbor and friend Julia Child, another ex-pat who's fallen head over heels for Paris, Tabitha is learning how to cook for her Grandpere and Oncle Rafe and Tabitha's sojourn is proving thoroughly delightful. That is, until the cold December day they return to Julia's building and learn that a body has been found in the cellar.

A thriller book set in Aix-les-Bains, Savoy, during the early 20th century. Step into the opulent yet enigmatic world of Aix-les-Bains, where the tranquility of the early 20th century is shattered by the chilling and unexpected murder of Mme. Camille Dauvray. In "Framed for Murder," a leisurely vacation takes a harrowing turn for Mr. Henderson, a well-to-do widower, when he becomes entangled in a gripping investigation led by the legendary detective, M. Hanaud. Mr. Henderson's annual retreat to the serene town becomes anything but routine when he encounters Celia Harland, a captivating ...

Automne 1910. Ophélie a quinze ans lorsque son père, un éminent juge montréalais, la confie au monastère des Augustines, à Québec. La faute qu’elle a commise dépasse l’entendement, argue-t-il, pour cette infâme, c’est le cloître ou la prison ! Abandonnée dans le silence, l’adolescente est en proie à une profonde détresse. Au fil des ans, devenue sœur Marie-Hosanna, religieuse infirmière, elle parvient à donner un sens nouveau à sa vie en soignant les malades, jusqu’au jour où, à vingt-deux ans, son désir de liberté se fait trop pressant…

The graceful domes of Sacre Coeur, the imposing cathedral of Notre Dame, the breathtaking Tour Eiffel . . . Paris is overflowing with stunning architecture. Yet for Tabitha Knight, the humble building that houses the Cordon Bleu cooking school, where her friend Julia studies, is just as notable. Tabitha is always happy to sample Julia's latest creation and try to recreate dishes for her Grand-pere and Oncle Rafe.

It's not good to live in the past; even worse to die in it Paranormal investigator Wyatt Thomas awakens from a vivid dream in his French Quarter apartment. He finds an antique double-moonstone pendant placed in his hand by the ghost of a voodoo mambo. One of the two moonstones is missing, and both gemstones are needed to make the pendant magical. The rightful owner of the pendant is a supernatural fairy named Maurelle. Someone chopped off Maurelle’s wings and buried her alive in the ruins of a French Quarter Creole townhouse. A mystical beast still haunts the grounds of the estate. Now, ...

A Saint-Pétersbourg, en 1865, Raskolnikov, un jeune noble sombre et altier, renfermé mais aussi généreux, a interrompu ses études faute d'argent. Endetté auprès de sa logeuse qui lui loue une étroite mansarde, il se sent écrasé par sa pauvreté. Mais il se croit aussi appelé à un grand avenir et, dédaigneux de la loi morale, se pense fondé à commettre un crime : ce qu'il va faire bientôt - de manière crapuleuse.

At the dawn of the French Revolution, the men, women, and children of Paris have one hope to escape the guillotine: the masked and mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel. But who is this daring swordsman and quick-thinking master of disguise? London’s privileged, self-obsessed Sir Percy Blakeney. When his estranged wife, Marguerite, falls prey to French envoy Chauvelin’s blackmail, she unwittingly exposes the Pimpernel and imperils the covert league he commands.

When a British tourist fails to turn up for a luxurious cooking vacation in Bruno's usually idyllic Dordogne village of St. Denis, the worried hostess is quick to call on Bruno for help. Monica Felder is nowhere to be found, and her husband, a retired British major, is unreachable. And not long after Bruno discovers that Monica was traveling with a mysterious Irishman (her lover?), the two turn up dead. The Irishman's background in intelligence and his connection to Monica's husband only raise more questions for Bruno.

Some say vampires came to America through New Orleans. Many believe they are still there. When French Quarter private investigator Wyatt Thomas is hired by the Greater Archdiocese of New Orleans to investigate a possible satanic ceremony that may have occurred at the Old Ursuline Convent, he soon learns that more is involved than Satan, The platform where the ceremony allegedly occurred is possibly a satanic altar placed in the convent by a secret society for the specific purpose of devil worship. The Order of the Blood, an offshoot of Freemasonry, has a centuries-old secret guarded by ...

They were six university students from Oxford - friends and sometimes more than friends - spending an idyllic week together in a French farmhouse. It was supposed to be the perfect summer getaway...until they met Severine, the girl next door. For Kate Channing, Severine was an unwelcome presence, her inscrutable beauty undermining the close-knit group's loyalties amid the already simmering tensions. And after a huge altercation on the last night of the holiday, Kate knew nothing would ever be the same.

Paranormal investigator Wyatt Thomas treks into the dangerous Honey Island Swamp in search of a forbidden convent where all the sisters are vampires When French Quarter detective Wyatt Thomas is awakened from a dark dream by his cat Kisses, he witnesses an eerie funeral procession from the balcony of his Chartres Street apartment. Riding in the limousine ahead of a hearse is his former lover, Desire Vallee - the first time he’s seen her since she became a nun and entered a convent. Desire’s skin is ashen, her once dark hair now ghostly white. He's left with a single clue. Is Desire in ...

When Dr. Georges Moutte is found murdered, investigator Antoine Verlaque is stumped. Certainly the director of theology at the Universite d'Aix had his enemies. Moutte was just about to name the recipient of an elite fellowship as well as his own successor - a highly coveted position - when his lips were sealed permanently. But Verlaque isn't convinced anyone in the tiny community of academics is capable of murder.