This is the book that first introduces us to Jean Baptiste Adamsberg, a detective who works very much on his intuition. When objects start appearing inside chalk circles all over the streets of Paris he suspects there is something much more sinister going on than some kind of street art and when a dead body turns up in the next chalk circle it seems his suspicions were right. A great cast of quirky characters and a cleverly thought out plot make for a gripping read.
Winner of The Crime Writers' Association Duncan Lawrie International Dagger
Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg is not like other policemen. His methods appear unorthodox in the extreme: he doesn't search for clues; he ignores obvious suspects and arrests people with cast-iron alibis; he appears permanently distracted. In spite of all this his colleagues are forced to admit that he is a born cop.
When strange blue chalk circles start appearing overnight on the pavements of Paris, only Adamsberg takes them - and the increasingly bizarre objects found within them - seriously. And when the body of a woman with her throat savagely cut is found in one, only Adamsberg realises that other murders will soon follow…
'The hottest property in contemporary crime fiction' Guardian
