Authentic French Noir

Four pitch-dark, twisty thrillers from Frédéric Dard, France's greatest noir writer 'The French master of noir' OBSERVER Frédéric Dard is the undisputed king of French noir. Authentic French Noir contains four of his most electrifying novels: riveting, disturbing thrillers that propel you into dangerous worlds of obsession and murder. INCLUDES: THE GRAVEDIGGERS' BREAD - Blaise is out of work and down on his luck when a chance encounter with a beautifulblonde has him hooked. He'll do anything to stay by her side, even if it means workingfor her husband, a funeral director. But as everyone knows, three's a crowd. BIRD IN A CAGE - Returning to the Paris neighbourhood where he was raised, Albert seeks to escape lonely nostalgia through an encounter with a mysterious woman. But back at her apartment, a monstrous scene awaits - one that will lure Albert into a dark plot... CRUSH - Bored in her small Northern French hometown, young Louise is captivated by the glamorous American couple who move next door. She soon finds herself working as a maid in their entrancing household, but the shiny surface reveals disturbing flaws, and a dark obsession begins to grow. THE EXECUTIONER WEEPS - Daniel finds a beautiful woman motionless in a ditch, having been run over. Carrying her back to his house on a beach near Barcelona, he discovers she is alive, but she remembers nothing - not even her own name. He falls for her mysterious allure, but when he goes to France in search of her past, he slips into a tangled vortex of lies, depravity and murder.

Frédéric Dard (1921-2000) was one of the best known and loved French crime writers of the twentieth century. Enormously prolific, he wrote more than three hundred thrillers, suspense stories, plays and screenplays, under a variety of noms de plume, throughout his long and illustrious career, which also saw him win the 1957 Grand prix de littérature policière for The Executioner Weeps.