The first book in 2010 was called ‘Death on the Marais’ (now being re-issued by The Dome Press on the 2nd August as ‘Rocco and the Echoes of War’.
The lead character is Inspector Lucas Rocco, formerly of the Paris police. But I didn’t want to write about Paris; I wanted to take him out of his comfort zone into one I know reasonably well. This meant transferring him, as part of a nationwide ‘policing initiative’ – writers can do stuff like this without passing lengthy legislation – to Poissons-les-Marais, a tiny village in Picardie, northern France.
Rocco’s not particularly happy about this, and even less happy when he finds himself reporting to a uniformed Commissaire in the town of Amiens, and that his new boss is Francois Massin, his C.O. during the war in Indochina (France’s own Vietnam). Having witnessed Massin having a breakdown in battle and been forced to rescue him, Rocco knows his presence is not going to sit well with either of them.
Quite apart from this awkwardness, Rocco quickly finds this apparently serene backwater is brimming with danger, such as locals who like to recycle old wartime ammunition with hammers for the brass and lead, the sinister local marais – marshland – and the discovery on his first day of a woman’s body in the local British Military cemetery.
When the body disappears from the police morgue within hours, Rocco follows the trail to a former SOE officer, now a wealthy and connected industrialist, Philippe Bayer-Berbier, who has links to the wartime Resistance. At this point Rocco finds obstacles in his way from the highest authority, and it soon becomes clear that there are people who don’t want part of their recent history turned over and will do anything to stop his investigation.
Thus begins a fight against official obstruction, corruption and murder, in an environment where city rules don’t apply. He’s also under constant scrutiny from Massin, who appears intent on finding ways to undermine him.
The research for the series was one of using what I knew from all those years ago (early 60s), and checking that my sketchy memory wasn’t letting me down (it did occasionally). For example, which precise models of cars were used in 1963, along with social flavours of the time such as singers and songs. Names like Aznavour, Brel (I know, Belgian but ubiquitous) and Francoise Hardy were easy (had a monster crush on her, aged 10), but all had to be date-checked carefully to ensure I got it right.
On the technology front, I could forget all about PCs, email, smart phones and the like – which was quite refreshing – but public phones in rural areas were few and far between – and I almost had Rocco reaching for his cellphone on more than one occasion. In addition, the use of forensics was nowhere near what it is today, so I drafted in a local doctor to provide that facility (something else authors can do on demand).
Historically, the 1960s in France was an interesting time for a backdrop on which to hang the series. Still in shock after Indochina; having just gone through a long period of tension with Algeria gaining Independence; assassination attempts on President de Galle; facing increased immigration from North Africa, and increased trading opportunities from the then Common Market. This, all on top of having to deal with the spread of American and British music polluting young minds – and worse – the French language, was ripe for all manner of ideas to be explored.
Thus was the series born – and today stands at 6 books and a novella. It’s been great fun writing them. The first four books are being re-branded and re-published with new covers by the Dome Press as follows:
‘Rocco and the Echoes of War’ (prev.’Death on the Marais’)- out 2/8/19 – https://geni.us/hBITOJd
‘Rocco and the Stranger’ (prev.’Death on the Rive Nord’) – out 6/9/19 – https://geni.us/HInAl
‘Rocco and the Black Bridge’ (prev. ‘Death on the Pont Noir’) – out 4/10/19 – https://geni.us/vM0qU
‘Rocco and the Lake of Secrets’ (prev. ‘Death at the Clos du Lac’) – out 1/11/19 – https://geni.us/AOtg
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New cover details for the other three books will be issued when available. For now the publishers have deemed it necessary to have a pic of yours truly as a stand-in on Amazon. I know – the indignity.