The man with the lead stomach - Jean-Franois Parot

First in series of ten historical crime novels set in pre-revolutionary Paris, featuring policeman Nicolas Le Floch.

First in series of ten historical crime novels
Series has sold 800,000 copies in French
Reads like a cross between a Maigret Mystery and Les Liaisons Dangereuses
Brings 18th century Paris vividly to life and features real-life characters Madame de Pompadour and Louis XV
A very successful French television series

The Nicolas Le Floch Mysteries have been published to great acclaim in French. The Chtelet Apprentice
is the first of six titles in the series published by Gallic Books.

Here is what Douglas Kennedy had to say about The Chtelet Apprentice in The Sunday Times:

'In The Chatelet Apprentice - first published in France in 2000 under the title, L'Enigme des Blancs-Manteaux - we are in the year 1761. Louis XV is on the throne and an ambitious young man named Nicolas Le Floch arrives in Paris from his native Brittany to be trained as a policeman by a certain M. de Sartine - who is, in essence, in charge of the secret police.
Le Floch is something of a flneur; he loves exploring Paris by foot. One afternoon during a concert of sacred music at the Louvre he meets a young seminarist who talks about wanting to "dispel the darkness of idolatry with the light of the Gospels". Though admiring such lofty ambitions, Nicolas quickly becomes the classic cop: ultra-cognisant of human venality, enmeshed in the code of secrecy that his superiors demand and aware that conspiracy and counter-conspiracy are normal at the court of the king ... Parot succeeds brilliantly in its reconstruction of prerevolutionary Paris, in splendid period detail (I learnt that this was when cleanliness became fashionable), and in its philosophic asides, with citations aplenty from such disparate sources as Diderot and the Jansenists.'

The second in the series is The Man with the Lead Stomach (Spring '14) summed up by Marcel Berlins, also in The Sunday Times:

'In The Man with the Lead Stomach, Jean-Franois Parot passes the "second novel" test as easily as Ariana Franklin did hers. A professional historian and diplomat, Parot's period is France in the 1760s, during the reign of King Louis XV and the fashionable influence of his mistress Madame de Pompadour. Parot's hero, Nicolas Le Floch, the young commissioner of the Parisian police, investigates murder within French aristocratic circles. It's a clever plot and Le Floch is sympathetic, but it's the superb Parisian detail and atmosphere that truly beguiles.'

The others in the series are:

The Phantom of Rue Royale, Fall 2014 ('the whodunnit enjoyably resembles a blend of Agatha Christie and The Exorcist in 18th-century costume.' John Dugdale, Sunday Times)

The Nicolas Le Floch Affair ('This novel is an intelligent and well-researched historical thriller, crammed with details about the food, politics and social conditions of the time. Parot doesn't stint on showing us the mud, muck and degrading living conditions of the poor in pre-revolutionary France, in contrast to the luxurious life enjoyed by the Royal family and their courtiers at Versailles. In the character of the more working class detective Bourdeau, Nicolas' assistant, Parot neatly depicts the growing tension between the people and the privileged aristocracy.' Laura Root, Eurocrime.)

The Saint-Florentin Murders, Spring 2015

The Baker's Blood, Fall 2015

There are also four remaining titles as yet untranslated.