Thriller: Murders against a background of spirituality with the latest Grangé
May 68, Paris. The body of a student is discovered mutilated, hanging by one ankle in a position reminiscent of a yoga figure. He is also covered in strange bites. A few days later, the body of a second student, friend of the first, is found tied to a tree, in another yoga position. The two young women have one thing in common, apart from their friendship: they know Hervé, who is also a student. An unfortunate coincidence? Maybe not. Especially when a third student, Nicole, friend of the first two and of the young man, fails to fall under the blows of a silhouette in black, equipped with a sickle. After the Berlin of the 1930s in The brides, Jean-Christophe Grangé places his plot this time in the fiery Paris of spring 68. But not only. The investigation, led by Jean-Pierre, an inspector with the crime squad, which brings Hervé, his little brother, and Nicole in his wake, will take the reader to India, a Mecca of Hinduism. Because these murders seem to be linked to a form of spirituality. And everything seems to revolve around the unfortunate Hervé. In Karma Redwe find everything that makes the mark of Grangé: detailed crime scenes, nervous writing and an uncompromising exploration of evil.
Karma Redby Jean-Christophe Grangé, Albin Michel, 592 pages, €23.90
Novel: Cozy Dutch Mystery
A cozy mystery with hollandaise sauce. This is what Anne Boudart offers with The dark affairs of Rosita Marcadet: whoever burns his buttocks must sit on the blisters. This volume is the first in a series of investigations, led by detective Rosita Marcadet. This little piece of woman discreetly arrives in a coastal village in the Netherlands. Very quickly, she is overtaken by the crime: a man threw himself from the roof of the church during a funeral. Three sisters with well-kept secrets (and sometimes questionable morals), a government hacker still clinging to his mother’s skirts, a tender-hearted firefighter, a policeman overwhelmed by events… The inhabitants of Beek aan Zee give Rosita a hard time .
The dark affairs of Rosita Marcadetvolume 1, Anne Boudart, Ed. Moissons Noires, 426 pages, €20.
Novel: A Catalan Youth
Conxa grew up in the 1920s, in a Spanish village in the heart of the Catalan Pyrenees. At 13, she left her five brothers and sisters to join the house of her uncle and aunt. The teenager helps in the fields and with the animals. The Spanish Civil War quickly upset Conxa’s silent daily life. Love, dramas and revolts allow the young Spaniard of the earth to grow. The novel The one who was silent dates from 1984. It made its author – Maria Barbal – one of the references of Hispanic literature. Charleston has chosen to publish this title on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the publishing house, in the “Les elsewhere” collection.
The one who was silentMaria Barbal, translated by Marie Vila Casas, Éditions Charleston, 216 pages, €19.
Polar: Lifting the veil on the silences
Twenty-four years after leaving with his mother, Damien returns to the fishing district where he grew up. If he is there, it is to attend the funeral of his father, Jean, who threw himself from the top of the cliff… and to spit on his coffin. For John had become a murderer. Between economic crisis, oil spill and disappearance of resources, the fishing district is now abandoned and only Jean has lived there since his release from prison. While finding Oriane, his childhood sweetheart, Damien begins to empty the mobile home and the discovery of a photo will lead him to doubt his father’s guilt… Jérôme Loubry raises the tension with small nervous touches . Until the masterful finale of which he is customary.
The Song of SilenceJérôme Loubry, Calmann-Lévy, 400 pages, €21.90.