Claire Gorrara is Senior Lecturer in French at Cardiff University. She is author of French Women's Writing and the Occupation in Post-1968 France (Macmillan, 1998) and co-editor of European Memories of the Second World War (Berghahn, 1998) and France Since the Revolution: Texts and Contexts (Arnold, forthcoming 2003).

...as a highly readable starting point for those wishing to research aspects of French crime fiction, and as a student-friendly survey of themes and trends in post-war French culture, this study has much to recommend it.

• Introduction ; 1. Origins and beginnings: Leo Malet's 120, rue de la Gare (1943) ; 2. Criminal Intentions: Film Noir and Les Diabioliques (1955) ; 3. Counter-Cultural Politics: Jean-Patrick Manchette's Le Petit Bleu de la cote ouest (1976) ; 4. Historical investigations: Didier Daenickx's Meurtres pour memoire (1984) ; 5. Telling Tales: Daniel Pennac's La Fee Carabine (1987) ; 6. Feminist fictions: Maud Tabachnik's Un ete pourri (1994) ; Conclusion ; Select Bibliography ; Index

Claire Gorrara is Senior Lecturer in French at Cardiff University. She is author of French Women's Writing and the Occupation in Post-1968 France (Macmillan, 1998) and co-editor of European Memories of the Second World War (Berghahn, 1998) and France Since the Revolution: Texts and Contexts (Arnold, forthcoming 2003).

...as a highly readable starting point for those wishing to research aspects of French crime fiction, and as a student-friendly survey of themes and trends in post-war French culture, this study has much to recommend it.

• Introduction ; 1. Origins and beginnings: Leo Malet's 120, rue de la Gare (1943) ; 2. Criminal Intentions: Film Noir and Les Diabioliques (1955) ; 3. Counter-Cultural Politics: Jean-Patrick Manchette's Le Petit Bleu de la cote ouest (1976) ; 4. Historical investigations: Didier Daenickx's Meurtres pour memoire (1984) ; 5. Telling Tales: Daniel Pennac's La Fee Carabine (1987) ; 6. Feminist fictions: Maud Tabachnik's Un ete pourri (1994) ; Conclusion ; Select Bibliography ; Index

Claire Gorrara is Senior Lecturer in French at Cardiff University. She is author of French Women's Writing and the Occupation in Post-1968 France (Macmillan, 1998) and co-editor of European Memories of the Second World War (Berghahn, 1998) and France Since the Revolution: Texts and Contexts (Arnold, forthcoming 2003).

...as a highly readable starting point for those wishing to research aspects of French crime fiction, and as a student-friendly survey of themes and trends in post-war French culture, this study has much to recommend it.

• Introduction ; 1. Origins and beginnings: Leo Malet's 120, rue de la Gare (1943) ; 2. Criminal Intentions: Film Noir and Les Diabioliques (1955) ; 3. Counter-Cultural Politics: Jean-Patrick Manchette's Le Petit Bleu de la cote ouest (1976) ; 4. Historical investigations: Didier Daenickx's Meurtres pour memoire (1984) ; 5. Telling Tales: Daniel Pennac's La Fee Carabine (1987) ; 6. Feminist fictions: Maud Tabachnik's Un ete pourri (1994) ; Conclusion ; Select Bibliography ; Index