Everybody’s talking about … IRÈNE by PIERRE LEMAITRE

Translated from the French by Frank Wynne

Published by MacLehose Press on 1 March, 2014

Trade Paperback, RRP $37.99

ISBN: 9780857052896

The first Camille Verhœven investigation – a prequel to the acclaimed and bestselling novel, Alex

For Commandant Verhœven life is beautiful: he is happily married, expecting his first child with the lovely Irène.

But his blissful existence is punctured by a murder of unprecedented savagery. (As a veteran voracious reader of crime fiction I must wan you that the opening crime scene is certainly nothing short of unprecedented savagery). Worse still, the press seem to have it in for him – his every move is headline news. When he discovers that the killer has killed before – that each murder is a homage to a classic crime novel – the fourth estate are quick to coin a nickname: The Novelist .

With both men in the public eye, the case develops into a personal duel, each hell-bent on outsmarting the other. There can only be one winner – whoever has the least to lose…

PIERRE LEMAITRE was born in Paris in 1956. He worked for many years as a teacher of literature and now devotes his time to writing novels and screenplays.  With Alex he won the CWA 2013 International Dagger Award and he was awarded the 2013 Prix Goncourt, France's most prestigious literary award, for Au revoir là-haut (to be published by MacLehose Press in 2015).

FRANK WYNNE is a translator from French and Spanish. His translations include works by Michel Houellebecq and Marcelo Figueras’s IFFP-shortlisted Kamchatka.

This is crime fiction writing of the highest order. Be prepared to be kept awake!