Pel and the Touch of Pitch

Fans of Chief Inspector Evariste Clovis Desire Pel ( Pel Among the Pueblos and Pel and the Pirates ) will welcome this latest mystery. On the eve of national elections local Deputy Claude Barclayart collector, hero of Dien Bien Phu and patron of many worthy causesis kidnapped. Paris suspects terrorists and sends a special squad to Burgundy to investigate. The newspapers have a field day, implying all sorts of international and political plots as well as police ineptitude. The special squad leader removes Pel from the case because he had once been a guest at Barclay's home. At the same time, Pel is working on a murder of an old soldier, while his assistant, Sergeant Jean-Luc Nosjean, is investigating a series of art forgeries, one of them possibly involving a painting of Barclay's. As a connection begins to develop between the cases, the irascible Pel works behind the scenes to solve the kidnapping. Along the way he discovers a most luxurious house of ill repute and, as always, confounds his enemies. Hebden delivers another delightful police procedural, French style, with some nice touches on country life and the private lives of the cops. ( September )