Low Heights: Shocking, hilarious and poignant noir

Pascal Garnier, who died in March 2010, was a talented novelist, short story writer, children's author and painter. From his home in the mountains of the Ardèche, he wrote fiction in a noir palette with a cast of characters drawn from ordinary provincial life. Though his writing is often very dark in tone, it sparkles with quirkily beautiful imagery and dry wit. Garnier's work has been likened to the great thriller writer, Georges Simenon.

Melanie Florence teaches at the University of Oxford and translates from the French.

'Low Heights has as much to say about ageing and emotional intelligence as many more overtly literary novels' Financial Times

'Pascal Garnier's Low Heights continues his run of mordant, black-humoured, murderous farces to superb effect' The Spectator

'Deliciously sly and nuanced, Low Heights is as much an acerbic commentary on the crime novel's conventions as it is a slow-burning psychological thriller' Irish Times

'Very funny, full of insight on being arrogant and getting old' Chrissie Hynde

'Delightful ... in a really, really dark and disturbing way' Complete Review

'Another classy and clever little drama from one of the most likeably dark storytellers out there' The Bookbag

'This is not just about death, violence and crime, but a potent meditation on ageing and loneliness. ... Subtly subversive, always unsettling, this is another excellent addition to the Garnier series' Crime Fiction Lover

Praise for Pascal Garnier

'Brief, brisk, ruthlessly entertaining novels ... Garnier makes bleakness pleasurable' John Powers, NPR

'Deliciously dark ... painfully funny' New York Times

'Garnier plunges you into a bizarre, overheated world, seething death, writing, fictions and philosophy. He's a trippy, sleazy, sly and classy read' A. L. Kennedy

'Tense, strange, disconcerting and slyly funny' Sunday Times

'The final descent into violence is worthy of J G Ballard. 4 stars' The Independent

'A master of the surreal noir thriller - Luis Buñuel meets Georges Simenon' TLS

'Combines a sense of the surreal with a ruthless wit' The Observer

'Readers will relish the late Pascal Garnier's graveyard humorous dark French noir' Midwest Book Review