Under the Channel

French author Pétel makes his English-language debut with an enigmatic crime thriller. John Burny, a British estate agent, is planning a weekend getaway to Paris. Circumstances seem to conspire against the trip, but John manages to board a train headed to France via the Channel Tunnel. After a breakdown midtunnel, someone garrotes John to death, a murder discovered only after the train arrives in Paris. Police lieutenant Roland Desfeuillères takes on the challenging case. With few clues to go on, Roland decides to travel to London, where he’s discomfited to find the British police strangely indifferent to the investigation. After Roland tries to learn more about the victim and who could possibly have wished him ill, the story transforms into something more than a procedural—a departure that will charm some. Pétel introduces some welcome comic notes into a sometimes painful look at the quest for intimacy. (Mar.)