The Last Crimes of Charles Mistinguett

At the outset of this charming thriller from Ross (Death in Budapest), kidnappers seize 56-year-old career criminal Charles Mistinguett on France’s Cote d’Azur. “Watching me in the mirror, he winked,” Mistinguett says of one of his abductors. “I thought about asking if he had read Camus. Was there room in his brain to even consider absurdity?” To be sure, Mistinguett would prefer to relax and manage ill-gotten investment funds from the hotel he owns. But his new enemies insist they need him for an assassination job. Our reluctant hero looks into why generals who were involved in the administration of France’s African colonies might want each other dead, and more specifically why they want his services. Is it because his father was North African? Events escalate from mere ear removal to chases across Europe and tightly written gun battles. A delight for anyone who enjoys French crime cinema from the 1970s—it feels that finely and perfectly aged. Agent: Jill Marsal, Marsal Lyons Literary Agency. (May)