The First Fingerprint [Hardcover]

… the main characters are well-drawn and the sights, smells and atmosphere of the city are vividly evoked - Mail on Sunday. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

the main characters are well-drawn and the sights, smells and atmosphere of the city are vividly evoked - Mail on Sunday. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

In a prehistoric underwater cavern off the coast of Marseilles are the first human engravings known to man. Among them is a crude drawing of a three-fingered hand, which has long puzzled archaeologists. Is it a hunting signal? A mystic sign invoking the spirits? Or is it, as many believe, evidence of ritual amputation in a Shamanistic world? The one who names himself 'The Hunter' apparently believes the latter. Driven by strange voices to kill and mutilate, he severs the body parts of his victims - and always signs his horrific crimes with a drawing of a three-fingered hand. The identity of this brutal killer is unfathomable, but Michel de Palma, of the Marseilles murder squad, has never lost a case, and he is not going to start now. De Palma heads to the University to investigate, but the clique of pre-history professors he encounters are as secretive as the cave-drawing itself. Slowly and alone, de Palma unravels a mystery that dates back to the Ice Age - and comes closer to discovering the killer's identity. But the academic community protect their own, and de Palma is no longer welcome in their circle…

The First Fingerprint introduces a policeman as polished as he is brutal, as charming as he is streetwise and as deceptively noble as he is coarse. Michel de Palma, called “the Baron” by his colleagues, knows the dark underside of the city of Marseille as do none of his rivals. But his enemies are everywhere: in the crime-infested sinks of the suburbs; in the sleek and squalid bars of the old quarter; even in the police ranks themselves. When Marseille is thrown into turmoil by a series of savage murders, each signed with a print of a three-fingered hand, the Baron is ordered to drop his present investigation into the puzzling death of historian Christine Autran. But the Baron ignores his instructions, for unbeknown to his colleagues he has discovered a bizarre connection between the two cases. Autran was researching Le Guen's Cave, an underwater cavern containing some of the earliest engravings known to man - including a crude drawing of a three-fingered hand. De Palma heads to the university in Aix-en-Provence to investigate further, but the clique of pre-history professors he encounters are as hard to unravel as the meaning of the cave-drawing itself. As he gets closer to the truth, the group of academics closes ranks. Deliberately and alone, de Palma begins pursuing a mystery that dates back to the Ice Age.

“Certain novels stand out and this is one of them…Bonnot will make you shiver” La Provence In an underwater cavern off the coast west of Marseille are the first human engravings known to man. Among them is a crude drawing of a three-fingered hand, which has long puzzled archaeologists. Is it, as many believe, evidence of a ritual mutilation in a Shamanistic world? “The Hunter” certainly believes so. Driven by inhuman voices to maim and kill, he severs the body parts of his victims - and signs his savagery with the print of a three-fingered hand. The identity of this monster is unfathomable, but Commandant Michel de Palma, of the Marseille murder squad, has devoted himself to the investigation. Psychotic murders are his speciality - and he has yet to lose a case.

Xavier-Marie Bonnot has a PhD in History and Sociology, and two Masters degrees in History and French Literature. The First Fingerprint is the first of a quartet of De Palma novels and has won two literary awards in France.