Bøker av Mark Hebden

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 currency and jewellery are at stake but also lives. On the other side of town, a stunning art student switches masterpieces for copies.

Fires have been breaking out all over Chief Inspector Pel's beloved province of Burgundy, from small houses to woodland. Then 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.

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 coincide with a frantic search for two murderous hitchhikers - all on Chief Inspector Pel's patch.

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 coincide with a frantic search for two murderous hitchhikers - all on Chief Inspector Pel's patch.

An extravagant, big time gangland criminal is ambushed and assassinated; the only witness a ten-year-old-boy.

When Chief Inspector Pel accepts a drinks invitation at the house of a big shot, Deputy Claude Barclay, he doesn't realise how compromised he will become by his acceptance.

A double shooting of two ageing crooks leads Chief Inspector Pel following the trail all the way to Mexico. Pel and his detectives know how, when and by whom they were murdered; but they must discover why.Away from his beloved Burgundy, Pel is given a quick course in the history of the French intervention in Mexico during the 1860s. A brief spell among the Pueblos, and a shoot-out under a moonless sky eventually bring him his reward.Moody, sharp-tongued and worrying constantly about his health, Inspector Pel ensures that no case goes unsolved, in these mordantly witty French mysteries.Praise for the Inspector Pel Mystery series:''Totally convincing.'' Financial Times''Mr Hebden has created a nice band of flics.'' Oxford Times''Pel and his procedurals are some of the best things since Maigret.'' Observer''Chief Inspector Evariste Clovis D├⌐sir├⌐ Pel, as well rounded a character as Maigret or Van der Valk.'' Punch''Impeccable French ambience, unexaggerated flics, and a well-constructed solution. Hebden proves again that few understand Gallic cops better than English writers!'' The Times''Some characters grow as their saga lengthens and Pel... is one of them. You might say he is ripening along with the grapes.'' Police Review''...written with downbeat humour and some delightful dialogue.'' Financial Times''...all is most cunningly contrived and dovetailed into a coherent plot.'' Irish Times''A thoroughly entertaining read.'' Evening Standard''The best Gallic sleuth since Maigret.'' London Mystery Selection

In his beloved Burgundy, Chief Inspector Pel finds himself incensed by interference from Paris, but it isn't the descent of rival policemen that makes Pel's blood boil - crimes are being committed by violent gangs from Paris and Marseilles.

Pel's life as a contented newlywed is put on hold as he finds himself investigating the deaths of a series of young women, who have been strangled and left with macabre messages next to them. Pel's investigations lead him to the city's student community, and into a deadly game of cat and mouse.

Chief Inspector Pel's honeymoon with his new wife Genevieve is disrupted when a local taxi driver is murdered on their first night. More puzzling is his attempt to reach Pel before the brutal killing and his message is one of murder, arson and smuggling. Can Pel break the silence surrounding the Islanders, and catch the killer?

Pel's personal life is going far from smoothly, as he discovers himself to be the target of a letter-bomb sent by an old enemy - aside from the obvious danger, this is yet another obstacle to his plans to marry Madame Faivre-Perret. Can Pel keep his life, his love and his career by solving the murder mysteries?

When five murders disturb his sleepy Burgundian city on Bastille night, Chief Inspector Evariste Clovis Desire Pel has his work cut out for him. A terrorist group is at work and with the President due to make an official visit in a few weeks' time, the pressure is on to uncover them and stop them in their tracks.

A well-known fraudster is found dead in an alleyway - could gang rivalry be to blame? And who is behind a series of attacks targeting gay men in the town? On top of all this, a wealthy local businessman, Francois Rensselaer, disappears - but oddly, none of his family seem very bothered about it. It's down to Pel to unravel the mystery.

A series of thefts of priceless treasures from churches and chateaux has landed on Inspector Pel's desk, and matters take a darker turn when a suspicious death is confirmed as murder. The case leads Pel from Paris to Scotland Yard and a climax involving the Tour de France cycle race.

A student's mysterious death and the discovery of a corpse in the boot of a car start to uncover a fledgling drug ring operating within the university of Inspector Pel's Burgundian city. More murders follow and the trail leads Pel to Innsbruck, where the soignee mistress of a professor turns out to be rather more than she seems.

Inspector Evariste Clovis Desire 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?

Deep in the Burgundy countryside, a murder case is perplexing Inspector Pel. 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 of the first becomes startlingly clear.