The Mystery of Orcival

A rich widow is strangled at her villa in Aix-les-Bains and her young companion disappears. Inspector Hanaud of the French Sûreté, sharp and theatrical, leads the case in the novel that introduced him.

A. E. W. Mason

On holiday in London, Inspector Hanaud of the Sûreté is drawn into a death at a luxury hotel when a young man fears he played a part in it. A short, fast Hanaud case told with his friend Mr. Ricardo.

A. E. W. Mason

A young woman is attacked in a room locked from the inside, and nobody can explain how the attacker escaped. Reporter Rouletabille takes on Frédéric Larsan, the Sûreté's star detective, in one of the most famous locked room mysteries.

Gaston Leroux

After a triple killing in a Paris tavern, a young police agent named Lecoq reads the footprints in the snow and refuses the easy answer. The novel that created the professional police detective, years before Sherlock Holmes.

Émile Gaboriau

A widow is found murdered in her cottage near Paris, and the amateur Tabaret works alongside the Sûreté to unmask the killer. Considered the first French detective novel, it also marks the debut of the young Lecoq.

Émile Gaboriau