At our June ’26 meeting Bill Alder gave us an engaging overview of French crime fiction and made comparisons with British/American crime fiction.
This was a very detailed account of a number of authors so to summarise I will list by author with brief notes of characteristics of author and some titles he mentioned.
Emile Gaboriau (influenced by Wilkie Collins), plots rely on extended flashbacks
Maurice Le Blanc ( influential early 1900’s) His publisher suggested he write crime stories following the success of Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories. Main character – Arsene Lupin moves in aristocratic milieux, steals from rich, seduces beautiful women, and is a lovable rogue
Gaston Leroux – Wrote Phantom of the Opera, and crime fiction.His detective is a young reporter who uses reason and deduction to solve crimes, published Mystery of theYellow Room, a classic ‘locked room’ investigation.
Fantomas – hero is a criminal, perceived as anti-authoritarian, (opposite to British style)
Simenon, G. = Belgian – Famous for Maigret novels published in 1930’s. Focus on ‘why?” rather than “WhoDunnit?” Characters were ordinary people not aristocrats, professional police officer at centre of story, Maigret aims to understand and not judge, he became increasingly critical of the judicial system.
Leo Malet – 1940’s , hard boiled style, poetic language and an interest in American crime novelists, he even pretended to be an American novelist, published in France under other names, stories mainly set in Paris.
Frederic Dard – published 175 novels between 1949-2001. He introduced over 10.000 new words into the French language. His lead police officer was San Antonio. His style was irreverent and sometimes vulgar but he was popular!
Boileau – Narcejac – Two writers who wrote together. Their stories focus on suspense – will a crime take place? The interest is centred on the victim. Titles – Celles qui N’etait Plus (She Who was No More), filmed as Les Diaboliques, D’entre Les Morts – The Living and the Dead, 1958 – filmed as Vertigo
Didier Daeninckx – Main character Inspector Cardin (1983-90) Stories have roots in historical events and problems in France. Titles – Meurtres Pour Mémoire – (Murder in Memoriam). Links between political scandals in the past and present day crimes, influential as social critique of France.
Writers in France were all male unlike in Britain which produced Agatha Christie, D.L Sayers, and Marjorie Allingham. However 1980’s produced Fred Vargas (female). The Commissaire Adamsburg stories with an intuitive policeman (rather than evidence based) who read signs, was an eccentric character. This author used humour to lighten the tone.
Fred Vargas (Female) These tales feature Commissaire Adamsberg, an intuitive policeman (rather than evidence basesd) who read signs and was an eccentric character.This author used humour and eccentric characters to lighten the tone.
Jean Claude Izzo – He wrote a Marseille trilogy (1995-98), with political themes of right-wing forces with links to politicians and corrupt police officers.
Dominique Mariotti (1995-2020) She was a female writer critical of French society and politically engaged. Her books feature two main investigators. Titles – Sombre Sentier (Rough Trade). A gay investigator appears called Theo Daquin, the other is a young female detective of Algerian origin Noria Ghozali.
Karim Miske 2012 (Arab Jazz) a play on Elroy’s White Jazz. A young Arab suspected of murder launches his own investigation in this multi-cultural depiction of French society.
Pierre Memaitre – writes in the style of the American James Elroy. Titles – Karim Miske 2012 (Arab Jazz) a play on Elroy’s White Jazz. An Arab origin officer is the chief suspect in this multi-cultural depiction of French society.
Michel Bussi – Regularly among the top 5 best-selling authors of the past decade, often with Normandy settings. Titles – Un Avion Sans Elle (After the Crash), Code Lupin – pastiche of the The Da Vinci Code and Nympheas Noirs (Black Water Lilies).
Many French crime fiction stories have been adapted for the big screen – Le Roi de Detectives (1908 -Nick Carter)
Fantomes – 1914
Maigret – 1932 -2022
On the small screen – Maigret, various imports British and American, Inspector Barnaby (Midsomer Murders) and Spiral series set in Paris.Most recently, Nadine – features an archivist who collaborates with the police and helps to solve cases. She is autistic and neuro diverse.
Bill ended the presentation with a short quiz and was rewarded with answers which proved his audience had been paying attention! Bill recommended the following for Further Reading.
Lois Coulthart