I am very pleased to announce...

...that Marseille, Book 4 in my Jacques Forêt series of mystery stories will be published on October 15th...

I'm not running with my usual blog post today as I have something much more exciting to talk and write about.  The fourth Jacques Forêt story will be published on October 15th, this year.  And I cannot begin to tell you how pleased I am about this. Dancing on the ceiling might come close!

Way back in September 2007, when I woke up to snow and first conceived the idea of mystery stories set in the Cévennes, I knew there would be four and I knew what the crime would be in each one.  At that point, whilst I knew the title of the first and third books (Messandrierre and Montbel, respectively), I hadn't a clue about the title for Book 2 and I was convinced that the title for Marseille would be a completely different one!

Here we are, 12 years later, and the story has developed considerably from the original outline that I had set for myself all that time ago. Didier Duclos, a secondary character who is first introduced in Montbel, takes a much greater role in this story and he lets us into one or two secrets of his own.  Richard Laurent Delacroix also features in this story and he's not exactly working for the general good of the community, either.

Jacques, of course, is leading the investigation which takes him out of his home city of Mende and into the vast city of Marseille.  A city that is the second most populous in France and that has its own problems. As with all vast conurbations, there are the wonderful and interesting places that tourists like to visit, and then there are the areas where crime is prevalent, poverty is widespread and criminal gangs can control the streets.  All cities have a dark side, somewhere.

So, does Jacques achieve the conclusion to this investigation that he's hoping for?  Sorry not answering that question, yet!  But, what I will tell you is that as well as some new characters, there are familiar ones too and life in the tiny village of Messandrierre meanders along as it always has done.

Marseille is now available for pre-order Here  and you can read more about the city of Marseille Here and in the coming weeks until publication