Deep in the Burgundy countryside, a murder case is perplexing Inspector Pel. The body was found in the salon, an elegant room with a grand piano and a Louis XIV escritoire. The shutters were still closed and the dead end of a record of Rigoletto was still turning.There are some obvious suspects, yet the clothes of none of them show any signs of blood. And what were the tensions that must have torn at this family? It’s only when a second murder takes place that the method o...

The severely battered body of a murder victim turns up in provincial France and the sharp-tongued Chief Inspector Pel must use all his Gallic guile to understand the pile of clues building up around him, until a further murder and one small boy make the elusive truth all too apparent.

A masked gang rob a supermarket at Talant, a home-made bomb is found at the local airport, and the body of an old man is found on the motorway near Mailly-les-Temps. Also, what is the connection between a fearful lawyer and the fatal stabbing of a Scottish tourist? On top of all this, Daniel Darcy, trusted deputy to Chief Inspector Pel has been suspended on suspicion of taking bribes.

The irascible Chief Inspector Pel basks in the warm glow of his marriage until a series of young women are found strangled, with macabre messages left next to them. Pel breaks his idyllic life in honeymoon heaven and begins an investigation among a student community. What ensues is a deadly game of cat and mouse.

A dead man is found floating in a canal, his wallet revealing a strange symbolic drawing, and a hostage drama unfolds at the Banque Credit Rural, where not only millions in francs and jewellery are at stake, but also lives. On the other side of town, a stunning art student switches masterpieces for copies. Somehow, the crimes fit together and Chief Inspector Pel is faced with the challenge of a lifetime, to which he responds with true Gallic guile.

Brigade Criminelle is mobilised when a fatal stabbing, an anticipated delivery of lethal drugs from Marseilles, and the discovery of a thirty-year-old corpse in an ancient turreted tower in the town of Puyceldome all coincide with a frantic search for two murderous hitchhikers. This is all on Chief Inspector Pel’s patch. And as folk-dancers, stilt-walkers, fire-eaters, and jugglers lurch through a night of carnival, Pel stalks his prey.

The twelfth title in the Inspector Pel Mystery series, this is a story of Pel’s beloved Burgundy as the Promised Land. Fires are breaking out all over the province, from small houses to woodland and when a local farmer’s flock of sheep is poisoned, a tray of valuable rings stolen from a local jewellers, and the body of a woman is found, Inspector Pel has his work cut out in this exhilarating murder mystery.

As Chief Inspector Pel honeymoons with his long-time love Mme Genevieve Faivre-Perret in St Ives, a local taxi driver is murdered on their first night. More puzzling is his attempts to reach Pel before the brutal killing and the fact his message is one of murder, arson, and smuggling. But, can Pel break the silence surrounding the Islanders, and catch the killer?

A brief spell among the Pueblos, and a shoot-out under a moonless sky brings Pel his reward when the redoubtable Chief Inspector chases leads on a double shooting of two ageing crooks all the way to Mexico. This is Hebden’s eleventh novel in a series that delights and entertains the many Pel fans.

Irritable, dyspeptic Inspector Evariste Clovis Désiré Pel did not need another murder case added to his already Herculean workload, especially not this ghoulish business of a mutilated, headless corpse, the anonymous victim of a desperate and determined killer. Yet, if the murder was so deliberate, so well-planned, why was the identity of the dead man obscured?Pel’s investigation moves from Burgundy to the frontier and back again, stirring echoes of the horror and trauma of the War...

When five murders disturb his sleepy Burgundian city on Bastille night, Chief Inspector Evariste Clovis Desiré Pel has his work cut out for him. A terrorist group is at work and the President is due shortly on a State visit. Pel’s problems with his tyrannical landlady must be put aside whilst he catches the criminals.

An unidentified, faceless corpse is discovered near a memorial dedicated to villagers killed by the Nazis. Pel is on the case searching for a way to name the faceless corpse. The trail leads him from Burgundy to the frontiers of France, aided by a canny Sergeant Darcy and the shy, resourceful Sergeant Nosjean. Follow the irascible, quirky Chief Inspector on the road to solving the mystery of the faceless corpse.