French Crime Fiction

The town of Sarlat is staging a reenactment of its liberation from the British in the Hundred Years’ War when the play’s French hero, Brice Kerquelin, is stabbed and feared fatally wounded. Is it an unfortunate prop malfunction—or something more sinister? The stricken man happens to be number two in the French intelligence service, in line for the top job. Bruno is tasked with the safety of the victim’s daughter Claire, as well as her father's old Silicon Valley buddies, ostensibly in town for a reunion.

Ellie Falkner’s world has been destroyed. Her husband, Greg, died in a car crash - and he wasn’t alone. In the passenger seat was the body of Milena Livingstone, a woman Ellie’s never heard of. But Ellie refuses to leap to the obvious conclusion, despite the whispers and suspicions of those around her. Maybe it’s the grief, but Ellie has to find out who this woman was - and prove Greg wasn’t having an affair. And soon she is chillingly certain their deaths were no accident.

A young American woman is attacked at a historic Paris chateau and four paintings are stolen the same night, drawing Hugo Marston into a case where everyone seems like a suspect. To solve this mystery Hugo must crack the secrets of the icy and arrogant Lambourd family, who seem more interested in protecting their good name than future victims. Just as Hugo thinks he's close, some of the paintings mysteriously reappear, at the very same time that one of his suspects goes missing.

Monday, the lowest point of the week. A day of dark impulses. A day to snatch a child from the streets.... The abduction of five-year-old Matthew Farraday provokes national outcry and a desperate police hunt. And when his face is splashed over the newspapers, psychotherapist Frieda Klein is left troubled: one of her patients has been relating dreams in which he has a hunger for a child. A child he can describe in perfect detail, a child the spitting image of Matthew. Detective Chief Inspector Karlsson doesn't take Frieda's concerns seriously until a link emerges with an unsolved abduction twenty years ago....

He kills without motive. He vanishes without trace. And he wears a tuxedo to every crime. In 1911, the world met a new kind of villain: Fantômas. Master of disguise. Genius of terror. A phantom whose crimes made Sherlock Holmes look like an amateur—and whose shadow still darkens every masked killer, supervillain, and antihero today. In Fantômas: The Phantom Lord of Crime and the Birth of the Modern Villain, explore how this pulp fiction menace became the template for an entire century of evil. From his origin in French penny dreadfuls to his resurrection by Surrealist poets, from silent...

The captain of the Newhaven to Dieppe steamer spots a small pleasure yacht lying motionless in the water and, on closer inspection, sees a body lying on the deck. When members of his crew go aboard the yacht, they find not one male corpse but two. The dead men were chairman and vice chairman of Moxon General Securities, one of the largest financial houses in the country. Inspector Joseph French of Scotland Yard is called in. French soon discovers that Moxon's is on the brink of collapse.

Ike Randolph has been out of jail for 15 years, with not so much as a speeding ticket since. But a Black man with cops at the door knows to be afraid. The last thing he expects to hear is that his son Isiah has been murdered, along with Isiah's white husband, Derek. Ike had never fully accepted his son but is devastated by his loss. Derek's father, Buddy Lee, was almost as ashamed of Derek for being gay as Derek was ashamed that his father was a criminal. Buddy Lee still has contacts in the underworld, though...and he wants to know who killed his boy.

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 ...

Investigating stolen art is not a pretty picture… Nikki’s dream job becomes a reality when a New York antique art dealer hires her for a covert mission aboard a cruise ship. Her task is to gather evidence on two passengers suspected of stealing art from the New York dealer. The presumed thieves, posing as art experts, quickly befriend Nikki, plunging her into a moral quandary. Can she remain impartial? As her investigation intensifies, she identifies a third suspect and breaks into his cabin. The situation escalates when he arrives unexpectedly and finds her rummaging through his ...

Antoinette Conway, the tough, abrasive detective from The Secret Place, is still on the Murder Squad, but only just. She's partnered up with Stephen Moran now, and that's going well - but the rest of her working life isn't. Antoinette doesn't play well with others, and there's a vicious running campaign in the squad to get rid of her.

You can die and you can lose your soul. They aren't the same. The pandemic is over, Jazz Fest pending in New Orleans, and French Quarter private detective Wyatt Thomas has a new client. Dita Lika, the headliner of this year's Jazz Fest is having a recurrent nightmare related to New Orleans. Will Wyatt solve the mystery of her Satan-related nightmare, or will the Prince of Darkness prevail, claim their souls and drag them both to hell? Take an intoxicating ride with Wyatt Thomas, the French Quarter's favorite private investigator, and voodoo mambo Mama Mulate as they chase the answers on an ...

A mysterious woman with dark secrets rocks Oyster Island to the core Embark on an exhilarating journey to the Big Easy with lighthouse keeper Jack Wiesinski and the last Atakapa Indian Grogan ‘Chief’ la Tortue as they indulge in their favorite pastime at Rockie’s strip club. When an alluring stripper named Vixen takes the stage, their wild night takes an unexpected twist. Vixen is an enigma—a mysterious woman living in squalor behind the club. With nothing but a duffel bag and a few meager possessions to her name, she captivates Chief with her otherworldly dance moves. When she ...

So you want to play with magic? There’s trouble in the French Quarter when a professional basketball player hires Wyatt and voodoo mambo Mama Mulate to help him exorcise a supernatural demon. Wyatt is thrilled to have a paying client, Mama, over the moon in lust for the handsome athlete. Things look rosy for the pair of paranormal investigators until the assignment dictates Wyatt travel back in time to antebellum New Orleans. Thrust headfirst into the middle of a dangerous situation, Wyatt must deal with a red-haired Irish witch named Aisling and avoid becoming a haunted torture room ...

Bonjour, Detective. Now watch your back. Very handsome and charming French detective Luc Moncrief joined the NYPD for a fresh start - but someone wants to make his first big case his last. Welcome to New York.

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.

Hoteliers Maxime and Catherine Le Bon have spent their life savings restoring the hotel, which lies in an archipelago of sun-soaked islands off the coast of Marseille. To celebrate the grand opening, a group of privileged guests joins Verlaque and Bonnet: Marine's free-spirited best friend; an aging film star, his much-younger wife, and her son; a pair of affable American tourists; and a querelous Parisian couple. But the murder of one of the guests casts a shadow over everyone's vacation, and things go from bad to worse when a violent storm cuts off all communication with the mainland.

Miranda's sister Kerri has a new boyfriend. He's a handsome charmer who seems to dote on Kerri. But Brendan isn't the man he says he is. Miranda should know. She broke off her own affair with him just a few weeks ago when she found him reading her diary.

Along the picturesque Belon River, home of the world famous oyster beds, between steep cliffs, ominous forests, and the Atlantic Ocean, a stubborn elderly film actress discovers a corpse. By the time Commissaire Dupin arrives at the scene, the body has disappeared. A little while later, he receives a phone call from the mystical hills of Monts d'Arree, where legends of fairies and the devil abound: Another unidentified body has turned up. Dupin quickly realizes this may be his most difficult and confounding case yet.

Winery-owner Olivier Bonnard is devastated when he discovers a priceless cache of rare vintages has been stolen from his private cellar. Soon after, Monsieur Gilles d'Arras arrives to report another mysterious disappearance: His wife, Pauline, has vanished from their apartment. Madame has always been as tough as nails, but in recent weeks, she's been wandering around town in her slippers, crying for no reason. As the mistral arrives to temper the region's late-summer heat, Commissioner Paulik receives an urgent call from Bonnard: He's just found Pauline d'Arras - dead in his vineyard.

Gorgeous women are dropping dead at upscale department stores in New York City. Detective Luc Moncrief and Detective Katherine Burke are close to solving the mystery, but looks can be deceiving....