by Mark Hebden
Misset jumped. ‘What!’
‘Half a million francs’ worth. They were in the strong room where the money was kept and, as a senior official, she had access to those too. She helped herself to them – as an extra, you might say. It’s a pity we lost them!’
Misset’s heart sank. Holy Mother of God, he thought, what had he overlooked? Half a million francs’ worth of diamonds! Enough for him to bolt to Brazil and live in luxury for the rest of his life. And in safety, too, because Brazil had a distinct disinclination to deport people. Half a million francs. He groaned. And he’d had the opportunity to search Ada’s room, and he’d missed them!
Briand was still lauding Misset to the skies, and Misset was trying to look as pleased as a bitch that had given birth to a litter of ten pups while inside he was writhing with pain at what had escaped his notice. Half a million francs, he thought again.
His mind was far away as he listened to Briand droning on. Half a million francs and Brazil had started him thinking again of Ada Vocci, with her smooth skin and the scent of her perfume. To say nothing of the way they’d always cheerfully pushed poor old Serafino under the bed.
‘It’s a pity about the diamonds,’ Briand went on. ‘Because they weren’t counterfeit. They were genuine. It would have been quite a haul.’
Misset tried to look as if he’d fought tooth and nail to prevent them disappearing. Pel gave him a glance of contempt.
‘Didn’t you say she wasn’t married?’ he asked.
‘That’s right,’ Briand agreed.
‘Then why,’ Pel asked silkily, ‘was she carrying round an urn containing the ashes of her husband?’
Yes, Misset thought. Why was she? What was in that damned urn she carried around with her all the time? She never let it out of her sight.
‘It had a false bottom…’ Misset began, but then he caught his breath. Name of God! He almost passed out with supressed rage, as it suddenly dawned on him. And he’d never realised! The ingenuity of it! If he’d only known.
‘What urn?’ Briand was asking.
‘She carried it about with her,’ Misset said quickly. ‘It was full of dust and crystals. She said they were perfume. To make the old bastard’s last resting place more pleasant.’
‘But they weren’t all perfume, were they?’ Pel said. ‘Some of them were–’
‘Diamonds!’ Misset said.
If only he’d known. He’d had a dozen opportunities to help himself to the urn. Ada would never have been able to complain to the police. Clearly poor old Gold-thread hadn’t been aware of this twist in the scenario either, or he’d never have left the urn behind when he’d bolted with the suitcase of counterfeit notes.
He forced himself back to the present with an effort. Briand was staring at him. ‘And what happened to this urn?’ he asked sharply.
Pel was already heading for the safe. Producing the urn, he set it on the desk and lifted the lid. Together they stared inside at the mixture of perfumed dust and crystals. Putting his hand inside, Pel produced a few of the dusty crystals, placed them on his desk and tapped them with the butt of his gun. They crumbled to powder.
‘Well, they’re not diamonds,’ Briand said gloomily.
Pel was undismayed. ‘Doubtless they’re at the bottom.’
‘It’s going to be a job to separate them.’
‘Probably not as difficult as you think.’ Pel rang for Claudie and demanded a bowl of hot water. ‘And would you have some tights you can spare?’ he asked. ‘I’m sure Inspector Briand will be happy to replace them.’
She came back a little later with a bowl of steaming water and a nylon stocking. Pel took the stocking from her, emptied the contents of the urn into it and tied it in a knot.
‘So nothing gets out,’ he said, plunging it into the hot water.
They didn’t have to wait long. The crystals dissolved quickly and vanished with the dust. Pel fished the knotted stocking out to empty the contents on to his blotter. Among the perfumed scum, there was a sediment of dullish stones.
Pel looked up. ‘I think we’ve found your diamonds,’ he said.
Note on ‘Chief Inspector Pel’ Series
According to the New York Times, Chief Inspector Evariste Clovis Désiré Pel, of the Brigade Criminelle of the Police Judiciaire, in Burgundy, France is ‘in his professional work, a complete paragon. He is sharp, incisive, honest, and a leader of men and everything else a successful cop should be.’ Outside of work, however, ‘he is a milquetoast, scared of his gorgon of a housekeeper, frightened of women, doubtful of his own capabilities.’
In fact, his morose attitude has been said to add ‘a piquancy’ to the reporting of his adventures. His general complaints about all those around him are mollified a little when, in the course of the series, he marries - but readers are left to judge that and the events surrounding it for themselves.
One of the delights of the books is their setting - Burgundy - and Pel is ‘Gallic’ to the core. Moreover, his complex character makes a refreshing change from many of the detectives to be found in modern crime. Solutions to his cases are found without endless and tedious forensic and his relationships are very much based in real life.
Order of ‘Pel’ Series Titles
These titles can be read as a series, or randomly as stand-alone novels
1. Death Set To Music Also as: Pel & The Parked Car 1979
2. Pel & The Faceless Corpse 1979
3. Pel Under Pressure 1980
4. Pel Is Puzzled 1981
5. Pel & The Bombers 1982
6. Pel & The Staghound 1940
7. Pel & The Pirates 1984
8. Pel & The Predators 1984
9. Pel & The Prowler 1985
10. Pel & The Paris Mob 1986
11. Pel Among The Pueblos 1987
12. Pel & The Faceless Corpse 1987
13. Pel & The Touch Of Pitch 1987
14. Pel & The Picture Of Innocence 1988
15. Pel & The Party Spirit 1989
16. Pel & The Missing Persons 1990
17. Pel & The Promised Land 1991
18. Pel & The Sepulchre Job 1992
Further titles are available post 1993 See Juliet Hebden (author)
Synopses of ‘Pel’ Series Titles
Published by House of Stratus
These can be read as a series, or as stand-alone novels
Pel & The Faceless Corpse
An unidentified, faceless corpse is discovered near a memorial dedicated to villagers killed by the Nazis. Pel is on the case searching for a way to name the faceless corpse. The trail leads him from Burgundy to the frontiers of France, aided by a canny Sergeant Darcy and the shy, resourceful Sergeant Nosjean. Follow the irascible, quirky Chief Inspector on a road to solving the mystery of the faceless corpse.
Death Set To Music (Pel & The Parked Car)
The severely battered body of a murder victim turns up in provincial France and the sharp-tongued Chief Inspector Pel must use all his Gallic guile to understand the pile of clues building up around him, until a further murder and one small boy make the elusive truth all too apparent.
Pel Under Pressure
The irascible Chief Inspector Pel is hot on the trail of a crime syndicate in this fast-paced, gritty crime novel, following leads on the mysterious death of a student and the discovery of a corpse in the boot of a car. Pel uncovers a drug-smuggling ring within the walls of Burgundy’s university, and more murders guide the Chief Inspector to Innsbruck where the mistress of a professor awaits him.
Pel Is Puzzled
New varieties of crime are popping up everywhere in Inspector Pel’s beloved Burgundy. Raids on a historical chateau and the surrounding churches have led to the plunder of priceless treasures. But when theft becomes murder, Pel is called to uncover the true nature of who’s behind the crime wave. The case leads him from Paris to Scotland Yard and a climax involving the famous Tour de France cycle race.
Pel & The Bombers
When five mur
ders disturb his sleepy Burgundian city on Bastille night, Chief Inspector Pel has his work cut out for him. A terrorist group is at work and the President is due shortly on a State visit. Pel’s problems with his tyrannical landlady must be put aside while he catches the criminals.
Pel & The Staghound
Violence, the mugging of gay men, and the disappearance of a wealthy local business man, Rensselaer, troubles Chief Inspector Pel who is baited by his superiors in Paris clamouring for more teamwork, technology, and sociologists. What remains is a harrowing question - has Rensselaer been kidnapped or murdered? Rensselaer’s family don’t seem to mind. Only Archer, his favourite staghound, is anxious for his missing master.
Pel & The Pirates
As Chief Inspector Pel honeymoons with his long-time love Mme Genevieve Faivre-Perret in St Ives, a local taxi driver is murdered on their first night. More puzzling is his attempts to reach Pel before the brutal killing and his message is one of murder, arson, and smuggling. But, can Pel break the silence surrounding the Islanders, and catch the killer?
Pel & The Predators
There has been a sudden spate of murders around Burgundy where Pel has just been promoted to Chief Inspector. The irascible policeman receives a letter bomb, and these combined events threaten to overturn Pel’s plans to marry Mme Faivre-Perret. Can Pel keep his life, his love and his career by solving the murder mysteries? Can Pel stave off the predators?
Pel & The Prowler
The irascible Chief Inspector Pel basks in the warm glow of his marriage until a series of young women are found strangled, with macabre messages left next to them. Pel breaks his idyllic life in honeymoon heaven and begins an investigation among a student community. What ensues is a deadly game of cat and mouse.
Pel & The Paris Mob
In his beloved Burgundy, Chief Inspector Pel finds himself incensed by interference from Paris, but it isn’t the flocking descent of rival policemen that makes Pel’s blood boil - crimes are being committed by violent gangs from Paris and Marseilles. Pel unravels the riddle of the robbery on the road to Dijon airport as well as the mysterious shootings in an iron foundry. If that weren’t enough, the Chief Inspector must deal with the misadventures of the delightfully handsome Serjeant Misset and his red-haired lover.
Pel Among The Pueblos
A brief spell among the Pueblos, and a shoot-out under a moonless sky brings Pel his reward when the redoubtable Chief Inspector chases leads on a double shooting of two ageing crooks all the way to Mexico. This is Hebden’s eleventh novel in a series that delights and entertains a growing number of Pel fans.
Pel & The Faceless Corpse
An unidentified, faceless corpse is discovered near a memorial dedicated to villagers killed by the Nazis. Pel is on the case searching for a way to name the faceless corpse. The trail leads him from Burgundy to the frontiers of France, aided by a canny Sergeant Darcy and the shy, resourceful Sergeant Nosjean. Follow the irascible, quirky Chief Inspector on a road to solving the mystery of the faceless corpse.
Pel & The Touch Of Pitch
When Chief Inspector Pel accepts a drinks invitation at the house of a big shot, Deputy Claude Barclay, he doesn’t realise how compromised he will become by his acceptance. Shortly afterwards, Barclay is kidnapped; the partially decomposed body of a retired soldier is discovered in a wood and as series of art forgeries need investigating. Pel must tie all three together and solve a scandal, which has become the talk of France.
Pel & The Picture Of Innocence
An extravagant, big time gangland criminal is ambushed and assassinated; the only witness a ten-year-old-boy. Chief Inspector Pel is called in to investigate the killing, which spirals into an international investigation when a respected spinster is bludgeoned to death and some curious links begin to clink into place.
Pel & The Party Spirit
Brigade Criminelle is mobilised when a fatal stabbing, an anticipated delivery of lethal drugs from Marseilles, and the discovery of a thirty-year-old corpse in an ancient turreted tower in the town of Puyceldome coincide with a frantic search for two murderous hitchhikers, all on Chief Inspector Pel’s patch. And as folk-dancers, stilt-walkers, fire-eaters, and jugglers lurch through a night of carnival, Pel stalks his prey.
Pel & The Missing persons
A masked gang rob a supermarket at Talant, a home-made bomb is found at the local airport, and the body of an old man is found on the motorway near Mailly-les-Temps, and what is the connection between a fearful lawyer and the fatal stabbing of a Scottish tourist. On top of all this, Daniel Darcy, trusted deputy to Chief Inspector Pel has been suspended on suspicion of taking bribes.
Pel & the Promised Land
The twelfth title in the Inspector Pel Mystery series, this is a story of Pel’s beloved Burgundy as the Promised Land. Fires are breaking out all over the province, from small houses to woodland and when a local farmer’s flock of sheep is poisoned, a tray of valuable rings stolen from a local jewellers, and the body of a woman is found, Inspector Pel has his work cut out for him in this exhilarating murder mystery.
Pel & The Sepulchre Job
A dead man is found floating in a canal, his wallet revealing a strange symbolic drawing, and a hostage drama unfolds at the Banque Credit Rural, where not only millions in francs and jewellery are at stake but also lives. On the other side of town, a stunning art student switches masterpieces for copies. Somehow, the crimes fit like pieces of a jigsaw so Chief Inspector Pel is faced with a challenge of a lifetime and responds with true Gallic guile.
For subsequent Pel titles see Juliet Hebden (author)
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