Daniel Pennac

Maybe the worst indignity for a Paris cop is to be shot dead by an old granny he is trying to help cross the street in Paris on a frosty morning. An old lady needs protection with so many druggies around these days. Dressed as an elderly Vietnamese woman, Inspector Van Thian goes to investigate. Daniel Pennac’s …

Pathetic, contrite and hapless, Benjamin is nonetheless the scapegoat at The Store: there is nothing for which he cannot be blamed. While his blunders remain minor, most of his unwitting victims can find it in their hearts to forgive him, but when violent explosions begin to follow him around, he inevitably becomes …

"Joyful ode to reading...quirky, playful sketches to complement the author's engaging prose. Passionate and witty." — BOOKLISTFirst published in 1992 and even more relevant now, Daniel Pennac's quirky ode to reading has sold more than a million copies in his native France. Drawing on his experiences as a child, a …

Parisian scapegoat Benjamin Malaussène, along with his family of half sisters and brothers, are once again the target for a series of increasingly catastrophic mishaps that culminate in Malaussène’s imprisonment on 21 counts of murder. Meanwhile, the real serial killer remains at large. In this sprawling thriller, …

Benjamin Malaussene is a downtrodden publisher at Vendetta Press. Treated as a scapegoat by Queen Zabo, doyenne of publishing, he finally resigns, only for Zabo to offer him a starring role. All he has to do is to impersonate the world's best-loved, but hitherto anonymous author, J.L.B.

Married on Saturday, Thèrése Malausséne dumps her husband, the ramrod-straight, squeaky-clean councillor, and returns to her own home in Paris's Belleville quarter on Monday morning. At about the same time, the eminent but jilted husband is found dead and shoeless at the bottom of a stairwell, and a sack of money has …