Death on the Pont Noir (Inspector Lucas Rocco)

1963 - Picardie, Northern France. Following an inexplicable ramming and gun attack on a Citroen DS in the middle of open countryside, and a bar brawl involving a group of drunken Englishmen, Inspector Lucas Rocco (first encountered in DEATH ON THE MARAIS and DEATH ON THE RIVE NORD) finds himself drawn into what has all the hallmarks of a plot to assassinate President Charles de Gaulle - one of many made on the French leader's life. But why are English gangsters working for a well-known pair of London gangland twins involved, and who has set fire to an ex-army truck with a body inside? And why have those who made a previous abortive attack on the president suddenly disappeared? Rocco finds himself once more pulled several ways while attempting to investigate a seemingly disconnected series of events... only this time, he's accused of taking bribes and even suspected of being part of the assassination plot himself.The author was shortlisted for the CWA Debut Dagger. Magson's atmospheric noir-ish French mystery series has echoes of classic Maigret.