Life is going well for the usually irascible Chief Inspector Pel: he is basking in the warm glow of married life, and his bullying housekeeper Madame Routy is no longer tormenting him with deafening television shows and terrible cooking. But police work never stops, and Pel soon finds himself investigating the deaths of a series of young women, who have been strangled and left with macabre messages next to them. Pel's investigations lead him to the city's student community, and into a deadly game of cat and mouse. Moody, sharp-tongued and worrying constantly about his health, Inspector Pel ensures that no case goes unsolved, in these mordantly witty French mysteries. 'Totally convincing.' - Financial Times 'Mr Hebden has created a nice band of flics.' - Oxford Times 'Pel and his procedurals are some of the best things since Maigret.' - Observer 'Chief Inspector Evariste Clovis Desire Pel, as well rounded a character as Maigret or Van der Valk.' - Punch 'Impeccable French ambience, unexaggerated flics, and a well-constructed solution. Hebden proves again that few understand Gallic cops better than English writers!' - The Times
