The First Fingerprint

(Paperback)

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Description

In an underwater cavern off the coast west of Marseille are the first human engravings known to man. Among them is a crude drawing of a three-fingered hand, which has long puzzled archaeologists. Is it a hunting signal A mystic sign invoking the spirits Or is it, as many believe, evidence of ritual mutilation in a Shamanistic world

The Hunter evidently believes the latter. Driven by inhuman voices to maim and kill, he severs the body parts of his victims - and signs his savagery with a print of a three-fingered hand.

Commandant Michel de Palma, of the Marseille murder squad, heads to the university in Aix-en-Provence to investigate further, but the clique of pre-history professors he encounters are as hard to unravel as the meaning of the cave-drawing itself. As he gets closer to the truth, the group of academics close ranks. Slowly and alone, de Palma begins pursuing a mystery that dates back to the Ice age.

The First Fingerprint introduces a policeman as polished as he is brutal, as charming as he is deceptive. Michel de Palma, called the Baron by his colleagues, knows the dark underside of the city of Marseille as do none of his rivals. But his enemies are everywhere: in the crime-infested sinks of the suburbs; in the sleek and squalid bars of the old quarter; even in the police ranks themselves.

Reviews

the main characters are well-drawn and the sights, smells and atmosphere of the city are vividly evoked - Mail on Sunday. * Mail on Sunday *

Author Bio

Xavier-Marie Bonnot has a PhD in History and Sociology, and two Masters degrees in History and French Literature. The First Fingerprint is the first of a quartet of De Palma novels and has won two literary awards in France.