Maybe the worst indignity for a Paris cop is to be shot dead by an old granny he is trying to help across the street on a frosty morning. She packs an ancient P-38 of Germany manufacture. Benjamin Malaussene, a professional scapegoat, gets pulled in as accessory to murder.

2000-10-25 Nonsensical, weird, utterly brilliant

It should not work, but it does. And how. Managing to capture a France rarely put on show, a Paris of ethnic diversity not of chic gallic charm, and coincidentally a detective story (of sorts), this tour de force juggles wit with moral dilemmas, belly laughs with social observation. A novel to leap into, and from which you will rise feeling disappointed only that there is not more at the end. I bought it because I liked the cover. Shame. It should be being bought by the truckload even if its cover were dull grey.