Synopses & Reviews
It’s the middle of a long hot summer on the French Mediterranean shore. The town is full of tourists and the at the Perpignan police headquarters, Sebag and Molino, two tired cops who are being slowly devoured by dull routine and family worries, deal with the day’s misdemeanors and petty complaints without a trace of enthusiasm. But out of the blue a young Dutch woman is brutally murdered on a beach at Argelès, and another disappears without a trace in the alleys of the city. A serial killer obsessed with Dutch women? Maybe. The media goes wild. Gilles Sebag finds himself thrust into the middle of a diabolical game. If he intends to salvage anything. He will have to put aside his domestic cares, forget his suspicions about his wife’s faithfulness, ignore his heart murmur, and get over his existential angst. He waits joylessly, patiently, and lets himself go. The stone house may end up being his grave. Who’s doing what, who’s chasing who?
Review
"Philippe Georget has us hooked and he will not let us go, masterfully commanding his narrative to its final denouement." —Pol'Art Noir
"The great richness of this debut novel lies especially with its context and its characters...It is hard to believe how well [Philippe Georget] seems to know the region of Catalonia. Wander through it as a reader, in any case, solely for the sake of pleasure." —Hannibal Le Lecteur
"The author's writing style is supple and nimble, and he sets into motion an inexhaustible intrigue." —Isabelle Ollivier-Queau
"The principal character of Georget's novel is Catalonia, a region seldom used in noir fiction. Far from hyper-urban cities...the countryside, brutalized by heat, the scents of the Mediterranean and of Spain, and the cosmopolitanism of Perpignan are the massive figures who are imbued little by little, through Georget's narrative, with a new mythology." —Obiwi Magazine
Synopsis
In shade of a mast bobbing o'er the wave
She waits and waits, a patient slave
The house of stone will be her grave.
Who does what, who catches who?
Who's the cat, who the mouse, who?
It's the middle of a long hot summer on the French Mediterranean shore and the town is teeming with tourists. Sebag and Molino, two tired cops who are being slowly devoured by dull routine and family worries, deal with the day's misdemeanors and petty complaints at the Perpignan police headquarters. But then a young Dutch woman is found murdered on a beach at Argeles, and another one disappears without a trace in the alleys of the city. Is it a serial killer obsessed with Dutch women? Maybe. The media senses fresh meat and moves in for the feeding frenzy.
Out of the blue, Inspector Gilles Sebag finds himself thrust into the middle of a diabolical game. In order to focus on the matter at hand, he will have to put aside his cares, forget his suspicions about his wife's unfaithfulness, ignore his heart murmur, and get over his existential angst. But there is more to the case than anyone suspects.
About the Author
Philippe Georget was born in 1963. In France, he resumed studies that lead to a degree in history and a master's degree in journalism in 1988. He first worked for Radio France and The Rough Guide before embarking on regional television side of Orleans. He has worked as a journalist editor, cameraman and presenter. For his first novel Summertime All The Cats Are Bored he received the First Novel Award 2011 and The Mystery of the Polar Price SNCF 2011.