{"product_id":"skeletons-in-the-closet-9781681377605","title":"Skeletons in the Closet","description":"\u003cb\u003eEugéne Tarpon, the private-eye protagonist from Manchette's \u003ci\u003eNo Room at the Morgue\u003c\/i\u003e, appears once more for a characteristically brisk and brutal story full of unexpected comedy and feeling.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003ePrivate eye Eugéne Tarpon is back to sleeping in his office, waiting for a paying job to turn up. Then he gets a call from a sometime contact in the police department. He's referring a nice old lady--a distant relative--to Tarpon; her daughter's gone missing and, the copy says, there's no finding her. There are no leads. She's gone. But the old lady's pigheaded. Do me a favor, he tells Tarpon. Humor her. Take her off our hands. Take her money, too. And, by the way, there's no need to investigate the actual business at all. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTarpon may be down and out, but he's too much of a gentleman for that. Plus, fed an obviously fishy story, he doesn't have it in him to let well enough alone. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eOnce again, Tarpon is making a very big mistake.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eJean-Patrick Manchette\u003c\/b\u003e (1942-1995) was a genre-redefining French crime novelist, screenwriter, critic, and translator. In 1971 he published his first novel, a collaboration with Jean-Pierre Bastid, and embarked on his literary career in earnest, producing ten subsequent works over the course of the next two decades and establishing a new genre of French detective novel. NYRB Classics publishes his \u003ci\u003eFatale\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Mad and the Bad\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eIvory Pearl, Nada\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe N'Gustro Affair, \u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eNo Room at the Morgue.\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eAlyson Waters \u003c\/b\u003eis a prize-winning translator of literary fiction from French to English. She has translated \u003ci\u003eA King Alone \u003c\/i\u003eby Jean Giono, \u003ci\u003eProud Beggars\u003c\/i\u003e by Albert Cossery, \u003ci\u003eNo Room at the Morgue\u003c\/i\u003e by Jean-Patrick Manchette, and \u003ci\u003eHenri Duchemin and His Shadows\u003c\/i\u003e by Emmanuel Bove, all available from NYRB Classics. For NYRB Kids, she has translated \u003ci\u003eOur Fort\u003c\/i\u003e by Marie Dorléans and \u003ci\u003eThe Tiger Prince\u003c\/i\u003e by Chen Jiang Hong. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"New York Review of Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50601138553106,"sku":"9781681377605","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_d6d8badf-09f6-4129-9547-e48e481fdbf6.jpg?v=1732221485","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/skeletons-in-the-closet-9781681377605","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}