The second Benjamin Malaussne novel set in Paris' explosive Belleville quarter. His title is Quality Controller, but Benjamin's function at The Store is scapegoat for the rage of the customers. So sweet is his nature, so pathetic and eloquent his contrition, that most indignant victims withdraw their complaints. But there is also the matter of the bombs that keep exploding not far from where Benjamin is standing. Naturally, he becomes the prime suspect, even as he and his journalist girlfriend, Julie, have begun to unearth an even deeper mystery, a sinister and sordid conspiracy whose unraveling will expose yet one more seam in the dark heart behind the beguiling veneer of contemporary Paris. Daniel Pennac's novels of life in the Belleville Arab quarter, which began with The Fairy Gunmother, are as funny as Damon Runyon's stories, as thrilling as Raymond Chandler's novels, and as wild as the best of Carl Hiaasen. With The Scapegoat, Pennac has once again struck just the right balance.

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 “Belleville Quintet,” a cult success in France, also includes The Scapegoat, Monsieur Malaussene, Passion Fruit, and Write to Kill.

Benjamin Malaussene is a downtrodden publisher at Vendetta Press. Treated as a scapegoat by Queen Zabo, the redoubtable doyenne of publishing, he has finally had enough. After one row too many with her, he resigns, only to have Zabo offer him a starring role. All he has to do is impersonate the world's best-loved but hitherto anonymous author, J.L.B.But things are never simple for Malaussene and his extended family of misfits and chancers. Soon he is in deep, faced with the theft of a manuscript, a frenzied readership, his private life in disarray, and a spate of connected murders that threaten to destroy Vendetta Press. Write to Kill is the third of four crime novels set in the Belleville quarter of Paris. The Fairy Gunmother and The Scapegoat are also available from Harvill.

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, which brings the “Belleville Quintet” to a close, Pennac has allowed his unique imagination to run riot. From the art of the tattoo to cinema history, from the intricacies of cutting-edge surgery to the wonders of the wines of Jura, this extraordinary crime caper has something for everyone.

Married on Saturday, Thèrése Malausséne dumps her husband, the ramrod-straight, squeaky-clean councillor, and returns to her own home in Paris' 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 gone missing. Thèrése's brother, Benjamin, a natural scapegoat, packs his bag and waits for the police to come for him?it's no secret that Benjamin's new brother-in-law is his least favorite man?but it is Thèrése whom they arrest. In addition, Thèrése's fairground caravan has been torched, the work of a homicidal arsonist. The chaotic Malausséne tribe and their exuberant friends slip smartly into gear to scour Paris in search of the bonafide culprits and get their beloved sister out of jail. Daniel Pennac’s ?Belleville Quintet,” a cult success in France, also includes The Scapegoat, Monsieur Malaussene, The Fairy Gunmother, and Write to Kill.