Skeletons in the Closet

Radical, ruthless - and razor-sharp. Welcome to the brutal, revolutionary crime thrillers of Jean-Patrick Manchette, reissued by Vintage Classics in a major new celebratory series.

Eug ne Tarpon is back to sleeping in his office and waiting for a job that pays. Then he gets a call from an old contact in the police. A distant relative of his - a polite, persistent widow - wants someone to look into her daughter's disappearance. The police have already given up. No leads, no hope, no point. Just take the case, take her money, and keep her busy.

Tarpon's too broke to refuse, and too much of a gentleman to brush her off. But the story doesn't sit right. And when something smells off, he can't help but start digging.

With Skeletons in the Closet, Manchette sends his bruised, boozy detective stumbling deeper into the wreckage of modern France - exposing a world where justice is hollow, the missing stay missing, and decency is just another dead end.

Jean-Patrick Manchette (1942-1995) was a crime novelist, screenwriter, critic, and translator. In 1971 he published his first novel and went on to establish a new genre of French novel, the neo-polar. Vintage Classics publishes his Fatale, Nada, No Room at the Morgue and Skeletons in the Closet.