@2@@20@'Ends with one of the most reverberating shocks in modern crime fiction' Sunday Times@21@@3@@2@This is the story of a mystery, of thirteen days that begin with one murder and end with another. Jerome Morval, a man whose passion for art was matched only by his passion for women, has been found dead in the stream that runs through the gardens at Giverny, where Monet did his famous paintings. In Jerome's pocket is a postcard of Monet's Water Lilies with the words: Eleven years old. Happy Birthday. @3@@2@Entangled in the mystery are three women: a young painting prodigy, the seductive village schoolteacher and an old widow who watches over the village from a mill by the stream. All three of them share a secret. But what do they know about the discovery of Jerome Morval's corpse? And what is the connection to the mysterious Black Water Lilies, a rumoured masterpiece by Monet that has never been found...@3@@2@@20@'This elegant crime mystery shimmers as delicately as the paintings of Claude Monet that lie at its heart . . . A bestseller in France, it is a dazzling, unexpected and haunting masterpiece' @18@Daily Mail@19@@21@@16@@20@@21@@16@@20@'An enchanting tale that kept me absolutely hooked as Bussi cleverly breaks all the perceived rules of plotting in a story containing riddles within riddles . . . stunning' @18@Daily Express@19@@21@@3@
It is summer 1989 and fifteen-year-old Clotilde is on holiday with her parents in Corsica. On a twisty mountain road, their car comes off at a curve and plunges into a ravine. Only Clotilde survives. Twenty-seven years later, she returns to Corsica with her partner, Franck, and their sulky teenage daughter Valentine. Clotilde wants to the trip to do two things - to help exorcise the ghosts of her past, and to provide a bridge between her and her daughter, so that Valentine can begin to understand why her mother is the way she is. But in the very place where she spent that summer all those years ago, she receives a letter. From her mother. As if she were still alive. As fragments of memory come back, she begins to question the past. And yet it all seems impossible - she saw the corpses of her mother, her father, her brother. She has lived with their ghosts. As she tries to untangle her doubts, she is being observed by someone who very much wants the past to remain buried.
BEFORE A man running along a remote clifftop path on an icy-cold February morning. A woman standing on the cliff's edge. A red scarf on the ground between them. AFTER The man is alone - paralysed by fear. The woman is on the beach below - dead. The red scarf is now perfectly - and impossibly - arranged around the woman's broken neck. A handful of seconds. Two lives colliding. WHAT HAPPENED?
Nothing is as fragile as the memory of a child... Malone, a child barely four years old, starts to claim that his mother isn''t his real mum. It seems impossible: his mother has birth certificates, photos of him as a child and even the paediatrician confirms this is her child. The school psychologist is the only one who believes him. Desperate to find out the truth, he approaches Marianne Augresse, a police captain with better things to do with her time: hot on the heels of a a major criminal, she doesn''t think the wild fantasies of a child are something she should worry about. But what if she''s wrong?
@2@Giverny. During the day, tourists flock to the former home of the famous artist Claude Monet and the gardens where he painted his @18@Water Lilies@19@. But when silence returns, there is a darker side to the peaceful French village.@3@@2@This is the story of thirteen days that begin with one murder and end with another. Jerôme Morval, a man whose passion for art was matched only by his passion for women, has been found dead in the stream that runs through the gardens. In his pocket is a postcard of Monet's @18@Water Lilies@19@ with the words: Eleven years old. Happy Birthday.@3@@2@Entangled in the mystery are three women: a young painting prodigy, the seductive schoolteacher and an old widow who watches over the village from a mill by the stream. All three of them share a secret. But what do they know about the discovery of Jerôme Morval's corpse? And what is the connection to the mysterious, rumoured painting of @18@Black Water Lilies@19@?@3@
Picture the scene - an idyllic resort on the island of Reunion. Martial and Liane Bellion are enjoying the perfect moment with their six-year-old daughter. Turquoise skies, clear water, palm trees, a warm breeze... Then Liane Bellion disappears. She went up to her hotel room between 3 and 4pm and never came back. When the room is opened, it is empty, but there is blood everywhere. An employee of the hotel claims to have seen Martial in the corridor during that crucial hour. Then Martial also disappears, along with his daughter. An all-out manhunt is declared across the island. But is Martial really his wife's killer? And if he isn't, why does he appear to be so guilty?
