French crime fiction writers

Michel Bussi (French pronunciation: [miʃɛl bysi]; born (1965-04-29)29 April 1965) is a French author, known for writing thriller novels, and a political analyst and Professor of Geography at the University of Rouen, where he leads a Public Scientific and Technical Research Establishment (French: Unité mixte de recherche, "UMR") in the French National Centre for Scientific Research (French: Centre national de la recherche scientifique, "CNRS"), where he is a specialist in electoral geography.
According to the Le Figaro/GfK list of bestsellers, Bussi was the second bestselling French author of 2018, selling 975,800 copies. He has appeared in the annual top 10 since 2013.

André Héléna (8 April 1919 – 18 November 1972) was a French writer who spent most of his life in Leucate (southern France) on the mediterranean coast. He was born in Narbonne and died at Leucate, aged 53.

Jean-Claude Izzo (Marseille 20 June 1945 – Marseille 26 January 2000) was a French poet, playwright, screenwriter, and novelist who achieved sudden fame in the mid-1990s with the publication of his three neo-noir crime novels Total Chaos, Chourmo, and Solea (widely known as the Marseilles Trilogy), featuring as protagonist ex-cop Fabio Montale, and set in the author's native city of Marseille. All have been translated into English by Howard Curtis.Jean-Claude Izzo was born on 20 June 1945 in Marseille, France. His father was an Italian immigrant from Castel San Giorgio (Province of Salerno) and his maternal grandfather was a Spanish immigrant. He excelled in school and spent much of his time at his desk writing stories and poems. But because of his "immigrant" status, he was forced into a technical school where he was taught how to operate a lathe.
In 1963, he began work in a bookstore. He also actively campaigned on behalf of Pax Christi, a Catholic peace movement. In 1964, he was called up for military duty in Toulon and Djibouti. He worked for the military newspaper as a photographer and journalist.

Charles Exbrayat (5 May 1906 – 8 March 1989) was a French fiction writer. He published over 100 novels and short stories, most of them humorous thrillers. They were very popular and a considerable number were turned into films.
While living in Nice with his parents, he was studying to becoming a medical doctor, but then found his true calling as a writer.
His debut novel was Aller sans Retour (single fare, no return), written while in Geneva, before going to Paris. He was one of the most famous French authors of the illustrious "le Masque" collection. He wrote a number of novels set in Scotland (Imogene series) and in Italy. His other interests included gourmet food and fine wines.

Thierry Jonquet (French: [tjɛʁi ʒɔ̃kɛ]; 19 January 1954 – 9 August 2009) was a French writer who specialised in crime novels with political themes. He was born in Paris; his most recent and best known novel outside France was Mygale (1984), then published in the US in 2003 by City Lights. Mygale was also published in the UK as Tarantula in 2005 (Serpent's Tail). He wrote over 20 novels in French, including Le bal des débris, Moloch and Rouge c'est la vie.
Jonquet died aged 55 in hospital in Paris.Tarantula was filmed by Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, under the title The Skin I Live In, which was entered in competition in May 2011 for the Cannes Film Festival.

Dominique Ponchardier (March 3, 1917, Saint-Étienne – April 17, 1986, Nice) was a French author and screenwriter who had been a member of the French Resistance during World War II, and later held positions as an intelligence officer, diplomat, colonial administrator and company president. He was a long-standing follower of Charles de Gaulle, at different times working for him in underground, intelligence, political, civil and diplomatic capacities.

Roger Borniche (7 June 1919 – 16 June 2020) was a French author and detective of the Sûreté nationale.
Borniche was born in Vineuil-Saint-Firmin, Oise. He started as a singer, but his fledgling musical career was interrupted by the German invasion of 1940. To make a living, he took a job as a store detective. In 1943, he joined the Sûreté nationale as Inspector to avoid being shipped to a forced labour detail. Assigned to hunt the Resistance, he instead helped partisans escape from occupied France. He deserted in 1944, only days before the D-Day invasion.
Upon the liberation of France in August, he was reinstated to the Sûreté nationale and assigned to enforce France's abortion laws. The next year, he was transferred to a homicide unit.

Claude Klotz (6 October 1932 – 13 August 2010), better known by his pen name Patrick Cauvin, was a French writer. He was born in Marseille and died in Paris.

Philippe Daudy (17 June 1925 – 12 March 1994) was a member of the French Resistance, a journalist, a novelist, a publisher and a businessman. An Anglophile Frenchman, he moved to England and wrote a book about the English.

Claude Aveline, pen name of Evgen Avtsine (19 July 1901 – 4 November 1992), was a writer, publisher, editor, poet and member of the French Resistance. Aveline, who was born in Paris, France, has authored numerous books and writings throughout his writing career. He was known as a versatile author, writing novels, poems, screenplays, plays, articles, sayings, and more.