Russell James has been named “the Godfather of Noir” by Ian Rankin. Russell writes crime novels - about criminals and victims, not the cozy procedural or whodunnit. He is the editor of Great British Fictional Detectives.
Where to set a new crime series – how about beautiful Nice, on the French Riviera?
Doesn’t sound like a nest of vipers? Well, to Police Captain Paul Darac of the Brigade Criminelle, the French Riviera most certainly is. Asked – no, told – to investigate the apparently accidental death of a naked old lady in a hot tub he finds Nice’s vipers in an incredibly complex tangle. Practically everyone in this story has a secret to hide: art crime, sex crime, theft and misdemeanour and, of course, murder most foul. Or murder most devious. (Darac’s only misdemeanour, incidentally, is to be a part-time jazz guitarist.)
Peter Morfoot knows his Nice while being British, and Fatal Music is the second in his Captain Darac series – although given what happens to the poor cop in the closing pages it may be a moot question whether he wants, or is able, to face more of this French venom.
