Knock 'em Dead — Peter Morfoot

All summer, Captain Paul Darac of Nice's Brigade Criminelle has been in a happy place with the woman he loves, the jazz group in which he plays, and the police team he leads. But as the Brigade is called to the murder of an elderly man at nearby Saint- Laurent station, things begin to change and two of these relationships look set to fail. At the scene, the victim is identified as ex-comedy star Ambroise Paillaud, born locally and recently retired to the village in which, Darac learns, the actor spent a troubled childhood. Odder still, he bequeaths his vast fortune to the village in his will. As Darac's personal travails continue, he begins to untie a knot of corruption, chicanery, blackmail and murder in which he himself becomes a target.