The cook of the Halcyon
Andrea Camilleri, “Black” River (in bookshops)
Published in Italian a few months before the death of its author, in 2019, this novel looks like a gangster movie script. In fact, Andrea Camilleri had first written it for a film project and then decided to take it up again by beefing up his character of commissioner Salvo Montalbano a little. Everything started very badly for the superintendent when the quaestor wanted to force him to take his accumulated leave and simply disappear from the police station for a minimum of ten days. All against a backdrop of strike and social conflict while, in a factory in Vigata, a disillusioned worker sets himself on fire in his workplace. Montalbano balks then accepts and decides to spend time on the continent with Livia, his fiancée. Until all his assistants are also “out” of the police station… What is happening? A clue: the FBI is involved in the case. A little far-fetched, this investigation is nevertheless one of the funniest and most dangerous of Montalbano.
Greed
Deon Meyer, Gallimard “Black Series” (in bookshops)
Things are never easy for captain Benny Griessel, who is still battling his alcoholism, and his partner Vaughn Cupido, both members of the Hawks’ elite unit. Especially since they have just been demoted, for not having obeyed orders in a previous case. So they are forced to lay low as they are exiled to an upscale Cape Town suburb where they investigate the disappearance of a brilliant computer science student. But by chance, they still find themselves hunting down state corruption and crooks of all kinds. To complicate matters further, a multi-millionaire businessman — and alleged con man — also goes missing. Surprise: all these cases intersect, and the two investigators find themselves in a final assault that looks like an American action movie. A triple story masterfully led by Deon Meyer and his two incorruptible police officers who never let go.
A season for shadows
RJ Ellory, Sonatine (in bookshops)
This new story of RJ Ellory begins… in Quebec! Somewhere in Montreal, ten years ago, Jack Deveraux is caught up in his past when he receives a call from Jasperville, which he has left for many moons. His younger brother is accused of attempted murder in this lost corner around an iron mine. A few decades earlier, the body of a young teenager had been found there, torn to pieces by the wild beasts that haunt this hostile land. At least that was the official version until we find another young girl in the same condition… Deveraux finds himself forced to plunge back into this hell, the assassin having visibly started to rage again; as soon as he sets foot there again, he understands that many “prefer to see the lie last rather than face reality”. The back cover specifies that Ellory finds here the accents of Only silence, his first book translated into French which has made him a must. It promises…
The spy who loved books
John le Carré, Seuil (in bookshops)
It was this halftone story that John le Carré was finishing at the time of his death, a little over two years ago. The plot is captivating, as in all of the old master’s novels, but it is above all the inimitable quality of his writing that strikes first here: what mastery, what an elegant way of drawing a character in two or three lines and then widening perspectives one small step at a time… A joy! In this book full of nuances, everything left unsaid even if a lot is said in it, appearances are always deceiving; much like the climate of Norfolk where most of the action takes place. It is in fact a classic story of a mole having infiltrated the British services and which is so intertwined in its secret organization chart that it is astonishing that anyone even suspected its existence. An astonishing book that testifies to an unequaled mastery and an elegance, as we have said, that is hardly worn anymore.
The lambs of dawn
Steve Laflamme, Free Expression (February 16)
Despite his father’s great writing skills, I always had a lot of difficulties with the character of Xavier Martel, the private detective at the heart of Steve Laflamme’s previous novels; sorry. It is not from the new opus of the solid author of thrillers that Laflamme has become since here it is Detective Lieutenant Guillaume Volta and Frédérique Santinelli, professor of literature, who are leading the investigation. They work to solve a twisted riddle based on a letter found at a crime scene in Charlevoix. The letter refers to a series of ritual murders – which the police will call the “Dawn Murders” – inspired by the work of the sinister Aleister Crowley. We guess that Laflamme, who likes to tease the limits, will have fun crossing them here, as usual. Especially since Santinelli has a heavy past that the affair brings to light…