Authors: Tonino Benacquista Emily Read
I really would be a proper writer if I could find the right words to describe my daughter’s look. But who could do such a thing?
She said yes at once when I suggested that she take my place – I couldn’t understand why she agreed, but we’d all be the winners. Her face lit up even before she came under the spotlights. And the people saw it, that inner light; they felt it, that inner peace in her heart. When she smiled, each man thought that smile was for him alone. She’s a miracle, Belle. A Madonna like her is made to be seen
.
She gave good news about the family, and especially about her dad. It was as though she was reassuring the population of five continents about my fate. For a minute Belle was the most famous and the most watched girl in the world. She left the stage, more glowing than ever, with a little gesture that seemed to promise a return
.
Night finally fell on So Long, and everything returned to normality. The inhabitants returned to their beds after this day of madness, trucks began loading up again, and even the police lay low, awaiting new orders. Tom installed camp beds for my little family at number 9 Rue des Favorites, the Feds’ villa. His two lieutenants, each with a pump-action gun, stood guard in the sitting room, while Tom and me leaned on the window sill, knocking back the bourbon we’d been dreaming of all day
.
Malavita was trying to sleep, next to the boiler in the basement, wrapped in several metres of bandage. She had had quite enough of this fucking day. The state they’d found her in – who would do such a thing to a dog? When I saw her in that condition, I just wanted to look after her, to help her to recover, and then take her for walks in the forest, play with her in the garden, teach her
a few tricks, let her come and go freely, in short give her back a taste for life. I think she felt the same way
.
But before that she had a score to settle, and as quickly as possible. And that’s exactly what happened that very night, after everyone had gone to sleep. They say revenge is a dish best served cold. Not for her it wasn’t. It fell into her mouth, freshly cooked
.
She heard the basement window squeaking, and felt someone’s presence, and then saw a shape in the dark. The intruder had no idea that the dog was there, in the dark, still alive. She recognized him by his smell, or maybe just by instinct. How could she forget him? You never forget, and you never forgive. What people say about all that is just crap
.
In the dark, Matt had found the stairs that would take him up to me. He was prepared to die just to get my guts, and avenge the honour of his family and every other mafioso
. Omertà
would have the final word
.
He must have frozen when he heard the growl. A fucking dog? Yes, it was that fucking dog he’d beaten up that afternoon. He didn’t even know what it was called
.
Malavita
.
One of the many names Sicilians call the Mafia
. Malavita,
lowlife. I always thought it had a more melodious sound than “Mafia”
, “Onorevole Società”,
“the Octopus”, or the “Cosa Nostra”. The
Malavita.
Since I’d been forbidden to refer to my secret society under any name whatsoever, I could still call my dog anything I wanted, and shout her name everywhere, just for old times’ sake
.
From the condition of the body when they found it the next morning, it seemed that Malavita had leaped at Matt’s throat and torn it out with one bite. And I’ll lay a bet that she then went straight back to huddle against the boiler and go to sleep, content at last
.
An American family, the Browns, moved into an abandoned house in the small town of Baldenwihr, in Alsace.
As soon as they moved in, Bill, the father, found a little shed at the bottom of the garden, and decided to make it his study.
FRAMED
Tonino Benacquista
“One of France’s leading crime and mystery authors.“
Guardian
Antoine’s life is good. During the day he hangs pictures for the most fashionable art galleries in Paris. Evenings he dedicates to the silky moves and subtle tactics of billiards, his true passion. But when Antoine is attacked by an art thief in a gallery his world begins to fall apart. His maverick investigation triggers two murders – he finds himself the prime suspect for one of them – as he uncovers a cesspool of art fraud. A game of billiards decides the outcome of this violently funny tale, laced with brilliant riffs about the world of modern art and the parasites that infest it.
In 2004 Bitter Lemon Press introduced Tonino Benacquista to English-speaking readers with the critically acclaimed novel
Holy Smoke
.
PRAISE FOR
FRAMED
“Screenwriter for the award-winning French crime movie
The
Beat
That
My
Heart
Skipped
, Tonino Benacquista is also a wonderful observer of everyday life, petty evil and the ordinariness of crime. The pace never falters as personal grief collides with outrageous humour and a biting running commentary on the crooked world of modern art.”
Guardian
“Edgy, offbeat black comedy.”
The Times
“Flip and frantic foray into art galleries and billiards halls of modern Paris.”
Evening Standard
“A black comedy that is set in Paris but reflects its author’s boisterous Italian sensibility. The manic tale is told by an apprentice picture-hanger who encounters a thief in a fashionable art gallery and becomes so caught up in a case of art fraud that he himself ‘touches up’ a Kandinsky.”
New York Times
£9.99/$14.95
Crime paperback original
ISBN 1–904738–16–8/978–1904738–16–9
SOMEONE ELSE
Tonino Benacquista
“A great read from one of France’s best crime writers. A tale peppered with humour, unpredictable twists and a healthy dose of suspense. It all makes for a cracking read, with witty insights into the vagaries of human nature.”
Guardian
Who hasn’t wanted to become “someone else”? The person you’ve always wanted to be . . . the person who won’t give up half way to your dreams and desires?
One evening two men who have just met at a Paris tennis club make a bet: they give each other exactly three years to radically alter their lives. Thierry, a picture framer with a steady clientele, has always wanted to be a private investigator. Nicolas is a shy, teetotal executive trying not to fall off the corporate ladder. But becoming someone else is not without risk; at the very least, the risk of finding yourself.
“Benacquista writes with humor and verve. This novel is less
a mystery than a deftly constructed diptych of existential escapism: each story offers a unique map to new possibilities in the midst of suffocating lives.”
Rain Taxi
“This has been a big hit in France, and it is easy to see why – Thierry’s attempts to slip into a story by Simenon and Nicolas’s explosive encounter with vodka make for unexpected, cynical comedy.”
The Times
“Exuberantly written, Benacquista’s book is another triumph for the genre-bending approach to crime fiction.”
Tangled Web
Winner of the RTL-LIRE Prize.
£9.99/$14.95
Crime paperback original
ISBN 1–904738–12–5/978–1904738–12–1