Putting a French twist on a classic American archetype ‹ CrimeReads

There weren’t many of us growing up in small town England in the 1980s who wore a fedora hat. Even fewer who showed a slight lisp and wore an oversized trench coat with a turned-up collar. In fact, there was certainly only one in our little town. Me.

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Humphrey Bogart made a big impression on me. He may have been long dead by the time I passed by, but that didn’t matter, cool is cool, and Bogart had it in spades, literally. A common thread that seemed to run through almost all of his films was the DA, the district attorney. He was either fighting the DA, working for the DA, running from the DA, or actually the DA, and once again the glamor of that title was a whole other world. According to the films, the US District Attorney is either combative, fair and compassionate or heartless, ambitious and corrupt, and everything was so different from what I knew from the English system. I am not suggesting that none of these characteristics exist in the English system, but no role or individual had such power that they could influence not only the outcome of an investigation but also sentencing. It always fascinated me, and when I moved to France and started writing crime novels, I found another, completely different system.

First, the English police and justice system is different from the US one. In England, the police investigate independently of the judiciary and present their case to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which then decides whether there are sufficient grounds for prosecution. The U.S. system makes police more accountable to the prosecutor’s office as an investigation progresses, but they still must seek permission from a judge for “wiretaps” and other warrants. The French system has all these different offices in a single role, the juge d’instructionor investigating judge. In the USA the DA represents the state, in the UK the CPS represents the state and in France the “independents”. juge d’instruction is appointed by the state, but represents the “truth”. The youth leads the police investigation And the legal process right up to the court. In France they are known as “supercops”.

Imagine being a crime writer and stumbling upon this special gem!

The famous French writer Honoré de Balzac described these investigating judges as the “most powerful men in the world.” Considering that Balzac was also known to drink up to fifty cups of coffee a day, it is possible that he was prone to frenzied exaggerations, but they are powerful and feared. It was no coincidence that a former President of the Republic of France did his best to weaken its influence and reputation during his term in office and was subsequently convicted of corruption. The French juge d’instructionfor this author, represents a romantic figure on a par with the great cinematic prosecutors of US folklore. Like the US, many of these figures aspire to political office. So does this affect their independence and their search for the truth? Of course that shouldn’t be the case, but crime writing isn’t about the good guys, it’s about the mistakes. Mistakes in the villains and mistakes in the heroes.

My first book with Judge His name is Matthieu Lombard The man who didn’t burn and we join Lombard just as he is considering leaving the judiciary. His wife died a year earlier of a terminal illness and he was suspended by the state on suspicion of tampering with evidence in a domestic murder. “It’s time to move on,” he concludes, friendless. However, when an Englishman is found crucified in a nearby French village, only Lombard can investigate, as Lombard himself is half-English. So begins an investigation in which he must discover the truth among the local French villagers and a small English community that lives alongside them. Since he is half French, the English don’t trust him; Since he is half English, the French don’t trust him. And since he is an investigating judge who doesn’t just sit behind his desk like most people, the police don’t trust him either.

This situation gave me the opportunity as a writer to bring in some great DA tropes from classic Hollywood. Is Lombard corrupt? Does he care enough about the job to do it right? Is he willing to risk his position to get to the truth? All these questions arise, but in a rural setting in France, surrounded by castles, a medieval town and countryside and families that have changed little over centuries. This mix is ​​so much fun to write. I may not have put Lombard in a trench coat and fedora, but if you read closely you’ll see they’re there.

There have been many portrayals of the prosecutor in films and on television. law and orderthe hit US drama, had some fantastic actors such as Sam Waterson and Dianne Wiest, who illustrated the moral and personal difficulties of holding the position. Kevin Costner played District Attorney Jim Garrison in Oliver Stones JFKa powerful man trying to fight the system. Batman’s nemesis “Two-Face” was a former district attorney whose disfigurement caused him to be shunned by society, so he turned to crime and demanded his own sense of “justice.”

Here are some popular classic district attorneys:

Johnny Eager (1941)

Lana Turner falls in love with Robert Taylor’s stupid guy who was deported by her stepfather’s prosecutor.

Knock on Every Door (1949)

Impassioned, slum-born lawyer Humphrey Bogart takes on the prosecutor to prove that a murder was the result of a bad upbringing and begs the jury for leniency.

Alias ​​Nick Beal (1949)

Incorruptible prosecutor Thomas Mitchell vows to rid the city of crooks and help youth find a better path. He promises nothing will stand in his way, but has he made a pact with Ray Milland’s devil?

Illegal (1955)

Edward G. Robinson’s overly aggressive district attorney puts the wrong man in the chair. He resigns, becomes an alcoholic and a magnet for the wrong type of customers.

The Enforcer (1951)

Humphrey Bogart is a passionate district attorney with a chance to finally catch the mafia boss and founder of Murder Inc.

The People vs. O’Hara (1951)

Spencer Tracy plays a former successful prosecutor who is now an alcoholic. He celebrates his comeback as a defense attorney who defends a neighbor’s son on murder charges.

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

Former prosecutor James Stewart defends a lieutenant accused of murdering a bartender. Why is he a former prosecutor? Because he was voted out! Who would vote? against Jimmy Stewart?

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