Commandant Michel de Palma, known by his colleagues as 'the Baron', has chosen early retirement and plans to travel the world. But he is dragged back into the force when a case that has haunted him for a decade erupts once more. 
Resurfacing from Le Guen's Cave, a prehistoric grotto thirty-eight metres below sea level outside Marseilles, France, an experienced diver mysteriously gets into difficulties. Meanwhile, Thomas Autran, a serial killer with a peculiar interest in the supernatural, suffering from a dangerous form of schizophrenia, is once again on the run. 
Ancient cave paintings, savage murders committed according to a precise ritual: a return to the first ages of humanity, the era of the great Palaeolithic hunters. And despite the gory trail left at each crime scene, de Palma must first understand the child, the secrets of a family, a story of exploitation - and revenge - before he can track down the First Man.

The First Man: A Commandant Michel de Palma Investigation

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Bonnot, Xavier-Marie

Mystery

Quercus Publishing

MacLehose Press

Every year in Tarascon, as they have done for centuries, the Knights of the Tarasque worship the effigy of a mythical beast. But the boundaries between myth and reality are blurred when a mutilated body is found at the foot of the effigy, apparently torn apart by gigantic teeth and claws. And at the same time an eerie voice is heard echoing across the nature reserve for migrating birds, singing in what sounds like the ancient Provencal language. Michel de Palma, from the Marseille murder squad - known as the Baron - is given the case. The mystery he unravels stretches back to the time of the German occupation and beyond. But one dark secret eludes him. Can the legends really be true? Can it really be that a terrifying monster stalks the bleak marshes of the Camargue?

The Beast of the Camargue

Literature & Fiction

Genre Fiction

Quercus

For centuries the ceremonial order of the Knights of the Tarasque have met to bear the effigy of a mythical beast through the Provencal town of Tarascon. But one summer's night the ceremony is disrupted by a gruesome discovery: a mutilated body found at the feet of the effigy, apparently torn apart by enormous teeth and claws. Could it be that the monster of legend is more than just myth?  The case draws an unwilling Michel de Palma, called 'the Baron' by his colleagues in the Marseille murder squad, into the dark heart of Provence, where mythology is part of everyday life. As more dismembered corpses appear, de Palma falls into a world coloured by murky financial intrigues and the tortured history of post-occupation France. It is a world where de Palma's uninvited investigations could soon see him in mortal danger.

Beast of the Camargue

Im Sumpf der Camargue: Kriminalroman. Ein Fall für Michel de Palma

Unionsverlag

En los alrededores de Marsella se suceden misteriosos asesinatos rituales inspirados en el hombre de las cavernas. El primer caso del comisario Michel de Palma.Desde hace tiempo, Marsella es el escenario de una serie de asesinatos salvajes, todos ellos perpetrados bajo la marca distintiva de una mano con tres dedos. El comisario Michel de Palma, también conocido como «El Barón», que conoce el lado oscuro de la ciudad incluso mejor que sus enemigos, tiene que resolver el caso. Para ello deberá remontarse a los orígenes de la humanidad: al parecer, estos crímenes, oscuros y sádicos, están inspirados por una cruel y misteriosa secta chamánica.«Un debut duro y violento: La primera huella es el principio de una gran amistad entre el Barón de Marsella y todos los que aún nos tomamos en serio la novela negra.»  Süddeutsche Zeitung

La Primera Huella (Spanish Edition)

Debolsillo]

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