Camille

At the start of the stunning final volume of Lemaitre's Commandant Camille Verhoeven trilogy (after 2014's Ir%C3%A8ne), Anne Forestier, the diminutive Paris detective's new girlfriend, surprises two thugs in a restroom as they are preparing to rob the Galerie Monier, a shopping mall on the Champs Elys%C3%A9es. The men beat her severely, and later, in a near miss, one of them fires his shotgun at her from their getaway car as she staggers along the street. In the aftermath of this outrage, Camille does all he can to have the case assigned to him. Clues point to master criminal Vincent Hafner, and the hunt begins. Camille keeps his assistant, Louis Mariani, in the dark, and lies to his boss, Commissaire Michard. In addition, he's forced to confront his late wife's imprisoned killer, and dig deep into the background of physically and psychologically scarred Anne. Meanwhile, the man who took the shot at Anne aims to finish her off. The author won the CWA International Dagger Award for 2013's Alex, the first book in the trilogy to be published in the U.S., and this gut-wrenching entry may well garner similar honors. (May)