The swine are restless in this blast from the 1970s, and several hippies are missing. Shrewd Commissaire Laviolette arrives in the little village of Banon in Upper Provence to conduct an investigation into some passing strange goings-on. Truffles are Banon's main industry. Aside from truffle farmers and their pigs, the other leading citizens are social dropouts who've set up a commune. Farmer Alyre Morelon suspects members of the commune of harming his prize sow Roseline, who had deviated from her truffle-routing routine to sniff out unusual byways. Meanwhile, while stranded in Banon, a wealthy young woman kills her brother Jeremy with a wrench as he's changing their flat tire. Later, she watches in horror as a dark figure drags his body away. When Roseline and several of the hippies turn up missing and/or dead, the charismatic Laviolette--in his fourth outing, though his first translated into English--arrives to sort out the truth. The tale deliciously rambles among quirky members of the populace and often macabre aspects of the case, punctuated by Laviolette's droll conversations with his old friend the Marquis des Br'des, who becomes an unexpected victim. Magnan (Beyond the Grave, 2002, etc.) supplies enough plot twists and sharp shafts of wit to add up to smartly sublime entertainment. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Octogenarian Magnan is a gifted storyteller whose style successfully, if curiously, combines elements of Alain Robbe-Grillet's surreal landscape; David Lynch's dark, oddball humor; Agatha Christie's old-fashioned gentility; and Peter Mayle's French pastoral. Banon is a remote, highly superstitious Provençal village where not much happens beyond growing truffles, eating spectacular food, and enjoying illicit affairs. Then a group of latter-day hippies disappears, and bodies start turning up in bizarre circumstances (drained of blood and laid in a tomb). Commissionaire Laviolette, an old-fashioned investigator out of the Maigret school, is called in to investigate. This series, a favorite in France for many years but only now appearing in English, is sure to find an eager American audience. Beyond Maigret, Laviolette evokes Fred Vargas' Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, star of another French-set, thoroughly eccentric series. This is a delightful and unusual novel that will please both mystery readers and Provence lovers.--Melton, Emily Copyright 2007 Booklist

Commissaire Laviolette uncovers crimes and bodies in a small Provencal truffle village in this U.S. import. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

First published in 1978, this delightful mystery from French crime writer Magnan (The Murdered House) brings to life the quirky, earthy peasant culture of the Provence region. One November evening, Roseline, an enormous, truffle-sniffing pig, escapes from her owner, Alyre Morelon, leading him into the woods, where an unseen figure injures the sow and then runs off. When Superintendent Laviolette arrives from Marseille to investigate the disappearance of five young people, Alyre demands his assistance in identifying Roseline's attacker. The overall humorous tone contrasts with a number of grisly incidents, including the discovery of a body in a freezer and a throat-slitting. The author treats village politics as well as the quarrels and liaisons of his marvelous characters with sly wit and compassion. Beautifully translated, this one should win Magnan new U.S. readers. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved