Grandville Series – serie

With top-hat and cane in hand, Scotland Yard's DI Stamford Hawksmoor shadows the murky backstreets of London on the hunt for a sadistic serial killer. In the dying days of the French occupation of Britain, through gaslit, cobbled streets and squalid alleyways, stalks the great eagle Detective Stamford Hawksmoor in search of the homicidal manic whose killing spree claims dozens of seemingly unconnected victims, from random murders to targeted political assassinations.The deeper he delves, the more he puts himself in mortal danger, pitting himself against unknown antagonists whilst under the scrutiny of the feared anti-terrorist squad, and the more he is forced to resort to working outside the law.A prequel to Talbot's pioneering Grandville series, The Casebook of Stamford Hawksmoor is also an intriguing, labyrinthine stand-alone mystery graphic novel set in a world of hansom cabs and pea-souper fogs, where explosive violence can erupt at any second - and does!

In Grandville, the first volume in the series, Talbot brings us a steampunk masterpiece. IIt tells the story of detective Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard as he stalks a gang of murderers through the heart of Belle Epoque Paris. In this alternative reality France is the major world power and its capital throngs with steam-driven hansom cabs, automatons and flying machines. The characters are mostly animals, though there is an underclass of humans, often referred to as 'dough faces'.Visually stunning, Grandville is a fantastical and audacious rollercoaster ride that will add to Talbot's reputation as one of the best graphic novelists in the world.

The third volume of the Grandville series - Anthropomorphic steampunk detective fiction from graphic novel master Bryan Talbot The Badger is back! Follow the Badger!At Toad Hall, lair of multibillionaire Baron Aristotle Krapaud, a cabal of industrialists and fat cats plot the violent overthrow of the French state. Meanwhile, the brutal murder of a famous Parisian artist is subject to the investigations of the tenacious Detective Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard, placing him and his faithful adjunct, Detective Sergeant Roderick Ratzi, in pursuit of the mysterious masked assassin stalking the cut-throat commercial world of the Grandville art scene. As the body count mounts and events spiral exponentially out of control, aided by his brilliant deductive abilities and innate ferocity, LeBrock battles against outrageous odds in this funny, high octane thriller, an adventure shot through with both high art and comic book references, a glorious illegitimate offspring of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Ian Fleming - with animals! 'The bastard child of Conan Doyle and Beatrix Potter, it’s a gripping feast for the eyes' Observer

The third volume of the Grandville series - Anthropomorphic steampunk detective fiction from graphic novel master Bryan Talbot The Badger is back! Follow the Badger!At Toad Hall, lair of multibillionaire Baron Aristotle Krapaud, a cabal of industrialists and fat cats plot the violent overthrow of the French state. Meanwhile, the brutal murder of a famous Parisian artist is subject to the investigations of the tenacious Detective Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard, placing him and his faithful adjunct, Detective Sergeant Roderick Ratzi, in pursuit of the mysterious masked assassin stalking the cut-throat commercial world of the Grandville art scene. As the body count mounts and events spiral exponentially out of control, aided by his brilliant deductive abilities and innate ferocity, LeBrock battles against outrageous odds in this funny, high octane thriller, an adventure shot through with both high art and comic book references, a glorious illegitimate offspring of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Ian Fleming - with animals! 'The bastard child of Conan Doyle and Beatrix Potter, it’s a gripping feast for the eyes' Observer

With his trusty adjunct, Detective Sergeant Ratzi, away for Christmas, there’s no holiday for Detective Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard as he embarks on an investigation into the disappearance of his housekeeper’s niece, Bunty Spall. The trail leads to a growing religious cult, where a charismatic unicorn messiah and his con men cronies, already responsible for mass murder in the United States, are about to lead a crusade for the ethnic cleansing of the French Empire’s doughfaces – the derogatory nickname for humans used by the majority, animal-headed population. Teaming up with Chance Lucas, a gun-slinging operative of the Pinkerton Detective Agency, and reigniting his steamy love affair with the voluptuous Parisian badger prostitute Billie, LeBrock clashes with both cult fanatics and doughface terrorists, uncovering in the process a centuries-old religious conspiracy that threatens to plunge the world into bloody civil war. With Paris in the grip of the mysterious crime lord, Tiberius Koenig, and an increasingly violent backlash by human extremists, can LeBrock stop the seemingly inevitable slide into fascism? What is the secret of the legendary True Gospels? Can he rescue Bunty Spall from the clutches of the strangely hypnotic unicorn named Apollo? But does Bunty want to be saved? And will LeBrock be back in time for Christmas dinner? No badger does it better!

In Grandville, the first volume in the series, Talbot brings us a steampunk masterpiece. IIt tells the story of detective Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard as he stalks a gang of murderers through the heart of Belle Epoque Paris. In this alternative reality France is the major world power and its capital throngs with steam-driven hansom cabs, automatons and flying machines. The characters are mostly animals, though there is an underclass of humans, often referred to as 'dough faces'.Visually stunning, Grandville is a fantastical and audacious rollercoaster ride that will add to Talbot's reputation as one of the best graphic novelists in the world.

The Badger is back! Set three weeks after the finale of Grandville, Grandville Mon Amour pits Detective Inspector Archie LeBrock of Scotland Yard against an old adversary and ruthless urban guerrilla, Edward 'Mad Dog' Mastock, - a psychotic serial killer whose shocking escape from his execution by guillotine at the Tower of London begins this fast-paced, Hitchcockian steampunk thriller. LeBrock, still racked by remorse for his failure to prevent the death of 'the Divine Sarah' and working outside the law after resigning his post following a blazing row with his superior officer, embarks on a quest to redeem himself by tracking down Mastock and bringing to an end his horrific murder spree. Aided by his adjunct and old friend, Detective Roderick Ratzi, he follows the trail of carnage to Paris. Otherwise known as Grandville, it's the largest city in a world dominated by France, a city used to violence following the years of terrorist bombings by the extreme fanatic wing of the British resistance during the occupation, the notorious Angry Brigade, of which Mastock was the sadistic leading light. With his customary tenacity, LeBrock stalks his prey through a world populated by anthropomorphic animals, an underclass of humans and automaton robots where advanced steam technology powers everything from hansom cabs to iron flying machines. It's a trail that leads to the demimonde of Parisian prostitution and an atrocity perpetrated twenty-three years ago. With a range of new and fascinating characters and a mix of Holmesian deduction, knowing humour and edge of the seat action, Grandville Mon Amour continues the vein of high-octane adventure begun in the first volume. Can even LeBrock escape the past or do heroes have feet of clay? Follow the badger!

In the middle of a gang war, wanted for murder, truly alone and outside the law, Detective Inspector LeBrock is on the run from both the police and gangster assassins, the victim of a diabolical scheme to annihilate himself and everyone he holds dear, engineered by mastermind crime lord Tiberius Koenig, one of the most despicable villains in the history of detective fiction.A fiendishly ingenious story of love, tenacity, treachery and tragedy, this fifth, final and longest stand-alone volume of the Eisner and Hugo Award-nominated Grandville series by master storyteller and graphic novel pioneer Bryan Talbot is a veritable rollercoaster of a detective thriller, featuring Grandville’s trademark high-octane excitement, humour and deduction on a Holmesian scale as we finally meet LeBrock’s mentor, Stamford Hawksmoor, and discover LeBrock’s untold backstory. Fan-favourite characters Detective Sergeant Roderick Ratzi and LeBrock’s vivacious fiancée, Parisian prostitute Billie are joined by a new badger in town! Enter Tasso, an Italian badger who’s bigger, meaner and uglier than LeBrock – but is he a force for good or evil? A battle royale ensues as LeBrock fights against truly outrageous odds. How can he possibly survive?Prepare to be royally badgered!

'I've never come across a fictional world as fully-realised as Bryan Talbot's Grandville... It's a world you'll never tire of exploring' IAN RANKINBeware the Badger! The acclaimed steampunk series from graphic-novel pioneer Bryan Talbot explores an alternate art-nouveau world populated by intelligent animals, a human underclass, and wondrous technology. Within this rich fantastical milieu, the relentless Detective-Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard pursues shadowy death squads, psychotic killers, dark political conspiracies, ruthless crime lords, and bloodthirsty cults through the streets of London and the center of the greatest empire on earth, the Belle Epoque Paris known as Grandville. Grandville L'Intégrale collects all five Grandville novels in one deluxe hardcover volume accompanied by voluminous author notes never before in print.*WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY IAN RANKIN*'I have greatly enjoyed the Grandville books. I think they're superbly designed, beautifully conceived, admirably written - everything about them is terrific' PHILIP PULLMAN'These ingeniously plotted fantasies will make you bark with laughter' METRO'Utterly delightful' THE TIMES'Bryan Talbot is a genius' OBSERVER

With top-hat and cane in hand, Scotland Yard's DI Stamford Hawksmoor shadows the murky backstreets of London on the hunt for a sadistic serial killer. In the dying days of the French occupation of Britain, through gaslit, cobbled streets and squalid alleyways, stalks the great eagle Detective Stamford Hawksmoor in search of the homicidal manic whose killing spree claims dozens of seemingly unconnected victims, from random murders to targeted political assassinations.The deeper he delves, the more he puts himself in mortal danger, pitting himself against unknown antagonists whilst under the scrutiny of the feared anti-terrorist squad, and the more he is forced to resort to working outside the law.A prequel to Talbot's pioneering Grandville series, The Casebook of Stamford Hawksmoor is also an intriguing, labyrinthine stand-alone mystery graphic novel set in a world of hansom cabs and pea-souper fogs, where explosive violence can erupt at any second - and does!

'I've never come across a fictional world as fully-realised as Bryan Talbot's Grandville... It's a world you'll never tire of exploring' IAN RANKINBeware the Badger! The acclaimed steampunk series from graphic-novel pioneer Bryan Talbot explores an alternate art-nouveau world populated by intelligent animals, a human underclass, and wondrous technology. Within this rich fantastical milieu, the relentless Detective-Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard pursues shadowy death squads, psychotic killers, dark political conspiracies, ruthless crime lords, and bloodthirsty cults through the streets of London and the center of the greatest empire on earth, the Belle Epoque Paris known as Grandville. Grandville L'Intégrale collects all five Grandville novels in one deluxe hardcover volume accompanied by voluminous author notes never before in print.*WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY IAN RANKIN*'I have greatly enjoyed the Grandville books. I think they're superbly designed, beautifully conceived, admirably written - everything about them is terrific' PHILIP PULLMAN'These ingeniously plotted fantasies will make you bark with laughter' METRO'Utterly delightful' THE TIMES'Bryan Talbot is a genius' OBSERVER