Paris Noir (27 page)
“Get out of here,” the manager says. “We’re closing up. You’ve read enough, dickhead.”
“I’m finishing the page, boss.”
I took a step, one step, forward. And this time, without getting up, the Arab drew his knife and held it up to me inthe sun. The light shot off the steel and it was like a longflashing blade cutting at my forehead … My whole beingtensed and I squeezed my hand around the revolver. Thetrigger gave; I felt the smooth underside of the butt; andthere … is where it all started.
The light went out, the café closed. Everything closed. I finished living for the day. I’ll never know what began.
S
ALIM
B
ACHI
is the Algerian author of
Le Chien d’Ulysse
,
La Kahéna,
and
Tuez-les tous
.
Le Chien d’Ulysse
won the Prix Goncourt for best first novel and
La Kahéna
won the Prix Tropiques in 2004. He has been living in France since 1996.
D
IDIER
D
AENINCKX
was born in Saint-Denis, France in 1949. After working for ten years in a printing office, he began to write and created his series hero, Inspector Cadin. He has won many literary awards, including Le Grand Prix de Lit-térature Policière in 1985 for
Meurtres pour mémoire
and the Paul Féval prize for lifetime accomplishment.
DOA
was born in Lyon and worked as a creator of video games in France and London before finally settling into the dark side of literature. He is the author of several highly acclaimed novels, including
Les Fous d’avril,
which won the Prix Agostino in 2005,
La Ligne de sang,
and
Citoyens clandestins,
which won Le Grand Prix de Littérature Policière in 2007.
J
ÉRÔME
L
EROY
was born in the north of France. Whether writing short stories that are primarily poetic (
La grâce efficace
) or a science-fiction novel (
Big Sister)
, Leroy’s work is always adventurous, dark, and visionary.
D
OMINIQUE
M
AINARD
is the author of the novels
Le grandfakir
(2001) and
Leur histoire,
which won the Prix du Roman FNAC in 2002, the Prix Alain-Fournier in 2003, and was adapted into a film by Alain Corneau in 2005 under the name
Les Mots bleus
.
L
AURENT
M
ARTIN
was born in Djibouti in 1966. He is an art historian and archeologist. His first novel,
L’Ivresse desdieux,
based on a Greek tragedy, won Le Grand Prix de Lit-térature Policière in 2003. His subsequent novels include
Latribu des morts
,
Or noir peur blanche
, and
Des rives lointaines
.
A
URÉLIEN
M
ASSON
was born in 1975 and became an editorial assistant for la Série Noire at Gallimard, one of France’s premier publishing houses, in 2002 ; he was promoted to director of the series in 2005.
C
HRISTOPHE
M
ERCIER
was born in 1960 and has worked as an editor, literary critic, and translator. He published his first book,
Les singes hurleurs sur l’autre rive
, in 2003, then
Lacantatrice
in 2005.
P
ATRICK
P
ÉCHEROT
wrote his first novel,
Tiuraï,
at the age of forty-six. He is the author of eight novels, including
Soleil noir
, recently published by la Série Noire, an imprint of Gallimard. He won Le Grand Prix de Littérature Policière in 2002 for
Les brouillards de la butte
.
C
HANTAL
P
ELLETIER
wrote for theater and film before publishing her first novel,
Eros et Thalasso
, featuring Inspector Maurice Laice. Her subsequent novels include
Le chant duBouc
and
More Is Less
.
