'One of the most remarkable and, in the English-speaking world at least, one of the most inexplicably underappreciated French writers of the twentieth century' John Banville Death is Simon's business. And now the ageing vermin exterminator is preparing to die. But he still has one last job down on the coast, and he needs a driver. Bernard is twenty-one. He can drive and he's never seen the sea. He can't pass up the chance to chauffeur for Simon,...

'Happiness for those unused to it is like food for the starving – a little too much can be fatal.' Writer Jeff Colombier is not accustomed to success. Twice divorced with a grown-up son he barely sees, he drinks too much and his books don't sell. Then he wins a big literary prize and his life changes for ever. Overwhelmed by his newfound wealth and happiness, he feels the need to escape and recapture his lost youth, taking his son, Damien, with...

Garnier's crime novels add significantly to the latest renaissance for this type of dark narrative.' Publishers Weekly Volume 2 includes The Front Seat Passenger, in which Fabien discovers his wife died in a car accident alongside her lover, and decides to track down that man's widow; Moon in a Dead Eye, in which the paranoia of the residents of a gated retirement village in the south of France spins out of control; The Islanders, whose protagonist...

A widow's quiet retirement in the foothills of the Alps is turned upside down by the arrival of a mysterious stranger. Recently widowed grandmother Éliette is returning to her home in the mountains when her micro-car breaks down. A stranger comes to her aid on foot. Éliette offers him a lift, glad of the interruption to her humdrum routine. That night, her neighbours' son is killed in a road accident. Could the tragedy be linked to the arrival of...

A quiet retirement in the foothills of the Alps is turned upside-down. A struggling author's life becomes disconcertingly entangled with the crime novel he's writing. Vultures circle as a cantankerous retiree falls for his nurse and is confronted by somebody claiming to be his long-lost son.

The future is on its way to Picardy with the construction of a huge motorway. But nearby is a house where nothing has changed since 1945. Traumatized by events that year, Yolande hasn't left her home since. And life has not been kinder to Bernard, her brother, who is now in the final months of a terminal illness. Realizing that he has so little time left, Bernard's gloom suddenly lifts. With no longer anything to lose, he becomes reckless - and murderous....

Fabien and Sylvie had both known their marriage was no longer working. And yet when Sylvie is involved in a fatal car accident, her husband is stunned to discover that she had a lover who died alongside her. With thoughts of revenge on his mind, Fabien decides to find out about the lover's widow, Martine, first by stalking her, then by breaking into her home. He really needs to get Martine on her own. But she never goes anywhere without her formidable...

Vultures, clifftops, restless retirees, bizarre murder weapons and uncanny resemblances make for the ingredients of a classic Pascal Garnier noir. At least vultures have the decency to wait until their prey's dead before picking it apart … After losing his wife and suffering a stroke, cantankerous retiree Édouard Lavenant has moved from Lyon to a village in the mountains with his put-upon nurse, Thérèse. One day, a man comes to the door claiming...