Jean-Claude Izzo's Books

A Sun for the Dying

By: Jean-Claude Izzo

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The final novel from the author of the Marseilles trilogy. “A bleak, affecting tale about a man on the skids, despairing of love’s ability to heal” (Publishers Weekly). Rico has been banished to society’s margins; he has neither a roof over his head nor a steady income on which to depend. When a friend and fellow vagabond dies of exposure after a night spent in the Paris metro, Rico decides to flee the northern cold for his beloved south, for Marseilles and the warmth of the Mediterranean. Diverted and hindered along the way, he suffers the vagaries of human cruelty and pettiness, and is warmed by occasional, fleeting instances of human tenderness. His return to the Mediterranean is simultaneously a homecoming and a pilgrimage in search of lost love, innocence, and humanity. From the celebrated author of the Marseilles trilogy, this is both an affecting on-the-road novel and a tender exploration of love’s power to both heal and destroy. “Our last true romantic, Jean-Claude Izzo transmits warmth to his readers, as if granting them a mouthful of pure love. A Sun for the Dying is beautiful, like a black sun, tragic and desperate.” —Le Point (France) “Like a chanson by Jacques Brel or Charles Aznavour, Izzo’s harsh, honed prose perfectly embodies that Gallic genius for balancing bleak unsentimentality with intense, frank emotion, making this a likely hit not just with fans of noir (including Izzo’s own Marseilles trilogy) but also with devotees of Charles Bukowski, Hubert Selby Jr., and other great modern tragedians.” —Booklist (starred review)

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186

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Europa Editions

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ISBN 10

1609451708

ISBN 13

9781609451707

Chourmo

By: Jean-Claude Izzo

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Chourmo

By: Jean-Claude Izzo

Second in the renowned Marseilles trilogy following Total Chaos, “one of the masterpieces of modern noir” (Michael Dirda, The Washington Post). This second novel in Izzo’s acclaimed Marseilles trilogy is a touching tribute to the author’s beloved city, in all its color and complexity. Fabio Montale is an unwitting hero in this city of melancholy beauty. Montale has left a police force marred by corruption, xenophobia, and greed. But getting out is not going to be so easy. When his cousin’s son goes missing, Montale is dragged back onto the mean streets of a violent, crime-infested Marseilles. To discover the truth about the boy’s disappearance, he infiltrates a dangerous underworld of mobsters, religious fanatics, crooked cops, and ordinary people driven to extremes by desperation. “Noir at its finest.” —The Times Literary Supplement “Izzo, who died in 2000, is more than adept at noir conventions—gritty light, sudden switches of scene, the pervasive rot of cynicism, which sullies even the best intentions. But what makes his work haunting is his extraordinary ability to convey the tastes and smells of Marseilles, and the way memory and obligation dog every step his hero takes.” —The New Yorker “Like the best American practitioners in the genre, Izzo refrains from any sugarcoating of the city he depicts or the broken and imperfect men and women who people it.” —Publishers Weekly “This hard-hitting series captures all the world-weariness of the contemporary European crime novel, but Izzo mixes it with a hero who is as virile as he is burned out.” —Booklist

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217

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Europa Editions

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ISBN 10

1609453948

ISBN 13

9781609453947

Solea

By: Jean-Claude Izzo

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Solea

By: Jean-Claude Izzo

The final book in the Marseilles trilogy, following Chourmo, from “a talented writer who draws from the deep, dark well of noir (The Washington Post). Ex-cop, loner, Fabio Montale returns in this stunning conclusion to Jean-Claude Izzo’s Marseilles trilogy. Italian Mafiosi are hunting journalist-activist Babette Bellini, and the body count is growing as they close in on their prey. In desperation, Bellini seeks help from her former lover, Montale. Before he has time to shake off his most recent hangover, Montale is receiving sinister phone calls from men with Italian accents who want him to find Bellini for them. Like a woman he can’t leave, like strong liquor he can’t refuse, Marseilles lures Montale back into its violent embrace. Solea is Izzo’s heartfelt cry against the criminal forces corrupting his beloved city. It is his farewell to Marseilles and to its ideal protagonist, Fabio Montale. It concludes an unforgettable trilogy that epitomizes the aspirations and ideals of the Mediterranean noir movement. Praise for Izzo’s Marseilles Trilogy “One of the masterpieces of modern noir.” —The Washington Post “Izzo’s ability to describe Marseilles and to make his readers feel the multiracial reality of that city so directly and authentically is fascinating.” —Andrea Camilleri, New York Times–bestselling author of the Inspector Montalbano series “Sensationally readable . . . Full of fascinating characters.” —Chicago Tribune “Terrific.” —The New York Times “Like the best noir writers—and make no mistake, he is among the best—Izzo not only has a keen eye for detail . . . but also digs deep into what makes men weep.” —Time Out New York

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177

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Europa Editions

Published Date

ISBN 10

1609453956

ISBN 13

9781609453954

Total Chaos

By: Jean-Claude Izzo

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Total Chaos

By: Jean-Claude Izzo

An ex-cop takes on the mafia in the blockbuster novel that kicks off the Marseilles trilogy with what “may be the most lyrical hard-boiled writing yet” (The Nation). In Jean-Claude Izzo’s “Mediterranean noir” mysteries, the city of Marseilles is explosive, breathtakingly beautiful, and deadly. Total Chaos introduces readers to Fabio Montale, a disenchanted cop who turns his back on a police force marred by corruption and racism and, in the name of friendship, takes the fight against the mafia into his own hands. Ugo, Manu, and Fabio grew up together on the mean streets of Marseilles where friendship means everything. They promised to stay true to one another and swore that nothing would break their bond. But people and circumstances change. Ugo and Manu have been drawn into the criminal underworld of Europe’s toughest and most violent city. When Manu is murdered and Ugo returns from abroad to avenge his friend’s death, only to be killed himself, it is left to the third in this trio, Det. Fabio Montale, to ensure justice is done. Despite warnings from both his colleagues in law enforcement and his acquaintances in the underworld, Montale cannot forget the promise he once made Manu and Ugo. He’s going to find their killer no matter the consequences. “One of the masterpieces of modern noir.” —The Washington Post “Like the best noir writers—and make no mistake, he is among the best—Izzo not only has a keen eye for detail . . . but also digs deep into what makes men weep.” —Time Out New York “The holy grail of noir fiction . . . a fast paced and stylishly told modern tragedy.” —NB Magazine

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211

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Europa Editions

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ISBN 10

1609453964

ISBN 13

9781609453961

Garlic, Mint, & Sweet Basil

Essays on Marseilles, Mediterranean Cuisine, and Noir Fiction

By: Jean-Claude Izzo

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Garlic, Mint, & Sweet Basil

Essays on Marseilles, Mediterranean Cuisine, and Noir Fiction

By: Jean-Claude Izzo

“Evocative . . . A paean to the life, cities and food of the Mediterranean . . . His essays . . . reveal a man of deep feeling and humanity” (The Guardian). A short sublime book on the three things dearest to Jean-Claude Izzo’s heart: his native Marseilles, the sea in all its splendor, and Mediterranean noir—the literary genre his books helped to found. This collection of writings shows Izzo, author of the acclaimed Marseilles trilogy, at his most contemplative and insightful. His native city, with its food, its flavors, its passionate inhabitants, and its long, long history of commerce and conviviality, constitute the lifeblood that runs through all of Izzo’s work. Reminiscent of Henry Miller’s The Colossus of Maroussi and the lyrical essays of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and Albert Camus, as uplifting and touching as Daniel Klein’s Travels with Epicurus, this slender volume will appeal equally to gourmets who delight in the strong flavors of Mediterranean cuisine, to those travelling on the Riviera (or arm-chair travelers who wish they could), and, naturally, to aficionados of noir fiction. Praise for Jean-Claude Izzo “Mr. Izzo was a marvelous food writer . . . His books are filled with winning descriptions of Provencal meals run through with the flavors of north Africa, Italy, Greece.” —The New York Times “Just as Raymond Chandler and James Ellroy made Los Angeles their very own, so Mr. Izzo has made Marseilles so much more than just another geographical setting.” —The Economist “In Izzo’s books . . . Marseilles is a ‘ville selon nos coeur,’ a city in tune with our heart . . . A cosmopolitan, maritime city, greedy, sensual and warm.” —Slow Food

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ISBN 10

1609451759

ISBN 13

9781609451752

Total Khéops

By: Jean-Claude Izzo

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Total Khéops

By: Jean-Claude Izzo

Marseille n'est pas une ville pour touristes. Ici, il faut prendre partie. Se passionner. Etre pour, être contre. Être, violemment. Alors seulement, ce qui est à voir se donne à voir. Et là, trop tard, on est en plein drame. Un drame antique où le héros, c'est la mort. A Marseille, même pour perdre, il faut savoir se battre. Tout cela, il le savait, Fabio Montale ! Flic nonchalant et gastronome, perdu dans les quartiers nord, il plonge en plein pastis. Un vrai. Cadavres à l'appui.

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285

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Editions Gallimard

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ISBN 10

2070423905

ISBN 13

9782070423903

Book's by Jean-Claude Izzo

A Sun for the Dying

A Sun for the Dying

Chourmo

Chourmo

Solea

Solea

Total Chaos

Total Chaos

Garlic, Mint, & Sweet Basil

Garlic, Mint, & Sweet Basil

Total Khéops

Total Khéops

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