The first volume of the collected works of ‘the true heir to Simenon’, the late French noir writer Pascal Garnier. 'A mixture of Albert Camus and JG Ballard' Financial Times Enter the world of Pascal Garnier, where life's misfits take centre stage, there is drama in the everyday and the unexpected is always just around the corner. Volume 1 includes The A26, in which a new Picardy motorway brings modernity close to a flat in which a brother and sister live together, haunted by terminal illness and the events of 1945; How’s the Pain?, the tale of an ageing ‘pest exterminator’ taking on one last job on the French Riviera; and The Panda Theory, in which a stranger, Gabriel, arrives in a Breton town and befriends the locals ... but is he as angelic as he seems? Dark, funny and shot through with menace, these perfectly crafted novellas of Gallic noir are also affecting studies in human alienation.

In The Panda Theory, from the 'slyly funny' [Sunday Times] Pascal Garnier, a newcomer's benign appearance is shattered by the secrets of his past. 'Action-packed' The Telegraph Gabriel is a stranger in a small Breton town. Nobody knows where he came from or why he's here. Yet his small acts of kindness, and exceptional cooking, quickly earn him acceptance from the locals. His new friends grow fond of Gabriel, who seems as reserved and benign as the toy panda he wins at the funfair. But unlike Gabriel, the fluffy toy is not haunted by his past...

The A26 tells the grisly story of a dying man with murderous intent, from the 'slyly funny' [Sunday Times] Pascal Garnier. 'Ultimately a very dark novel, but a very impressive one' The Complete Review Bernard lives with his sister Yolande who hasn't left the house since 1945. Bernard is now in the final months of a terminal illness. With no longer anything to lose, he becomes reckless—and murderous. Locally the A26 is under construction. Concrete still wet, it stands ready to serve as a discrete cemetery for lost girls.

‘How’s the Pain? is way off kilter, blackly comic and quintessentially Gallic.’ Crime Time ‘One of the most remarkable and, in the English-speaking world at least, one of the most inexplicably underappreciated French writers of the twentieth century’ John Banville Death is Simon’s business. And now the ageing vermin exterminator is preparing to die. But he still has one last job down on the coast, and he needs a driver. Bernard is twenty-one. He can drive and he’s never seen the sea. He can’t pass up the chance to chauffeur for Simon, whatever his mother may say. As the unlikely pair set off on their journey, Bernard soon finds that Simon’s definition of vermin is broader than he’d expected ... Veering from the hilarious to the horrific, this offbeat story from master stylist Pascal Garnier is at heart an affecting study of human frailty.

French film noir has long been seen as a phenomenon distinct from its Hollywood counterpart. This book - an innovative departure from conventional noir scholarship - now adopts a biocultural approach to exploring the French genre through the years 1941-1959. Chapters reveal noir as a product of the social and cultural factors at play in occupied, liberated and post-war France: marked by malaise at military defeat, Nazi collaboration and the impact of industrialisation. Furthermore, the book uncovers the evolutionary mechanisms of sexuality and reproduction beneath the national context that drive gendered behaviour on screen. During this period, for example, the emerging urgent demand for population growth, coupled with the severe shortage of eligible males, rendered the mating game particularly perilous for traditional women beginning to enter the workplace. This explains the cynical yet seductive behaviour of the femme fatale. Deborah Walker-Morrison focuses on the dangerous, often deadly, desires of an array of male and female character-types: moving past the celebrated, fatal `femme' to tragic heroines, psychopathic narcissists, fatal `hommes' and gangster anti-heroes. The book re-examines productions by directors such as Henri-Georges Clouzot, Jacques Becker and Jules Dassin and pulls together strands of sociological, biological, psychological and evolutionary science to create an illuminating study of the intense human passions underlying the cut-throat world of noir.

A Long Way Off is a shocking noir about an impromptu road trip where a father discovers he doesn't know his daughter at all, from the 'slyly funny' [Sunday Times] Pascal Garnier. 'Plays out like an existential fever dream' Wall Street Journal Marc dreams of going somewhere far, far away – but he’ll start by taking his cat and his grown-up daughter, Anne, to an out-of-season resort on the Channel. Reluctant to go home, the curious threesome head south for Agen, whose main claim to fame is its prunes. As their impromptu road trip takes ever stranger turns, the trail of destruction – and mysterious disappearances – mounts up in their wake. Shocking, hilarious and poignant, the final dose of French noir from Pascal Garnier, published shortly before his death, is the author on top form.

A writer finds fame and misfortune after winning a big literary prize and embarking on a roadtrip with his son in this novel by the 'slyly funny' [Sunday Times] Pascal Garnier. 'A jeu d'esprit of hard-boiled symbolism' Wall Street Journal Writer Jeff Colombier is not accustomed to success. Twice divorced with a grown-up son he barely sees, he drinks too much and his books don’t sell. Then he wins a big literary prize and his life changes for ever. Overwhelmed by his newfound wealth and happiness, he feels the need to escape and recapture his lost youth, taking his son, Damien, with him. And if shady lawyers and mysterious girls lead them down dangerous paths . . . well, c'est la vie.