Leo Malet

I ran across a reference to Leo Malet the other day. So I looked him up on the infernalnet to see what I could learn. The original reference said that he wrote fifteen hard-boiled crime stories each set in a different arrondisment of Paris. There are twenty arrondisments in Paris but Malet only managed to write fifteen stories set in Paris. He wrote many other novels set elsewhere in France. His character is Nestor Burma, who owns the Fiat Lux Detective Agency. Next I searched to see how many books had been translated into English. As far as I can tell only nine were translated. They were published in paperback editions by Pan Books in England. A trip to ABE Books told me that they might be a bit expensive to acquire. I’ve managed to buy the first paperback, 120 Rue de la Gare and have just started reading it. I’m liking it a lot. So the quest is on. The goal will require only a rather short quest. Eight more books doesn’t seem like a lot. I’m hoping that it won’t be too expensive. Since most of the books will have to come from either England or Australia, it’s the postage that will probably kill me. Although the first book I found was from Edmonton, Alberta. Wish me luck. There’s a good website at http://www.thrillingdetective.com/burma.html in case you are interested.