Jean-Claude Izzo

“Izzo digs deep into what makes men weep.” —Time Out New York The third and final installment in the remarkable Marseilles Trilogy (Total Chaos, Chourmo), Solea continues Jean-Claude Izzo’s distinctive brand of vibrant crime writing, skillfully evoking a time and place that has captured the hearts and imaginations of readers the world over. Marseilles’ simmering issues of race, politics, organized crime and big business come to a rolling boil. Ex-cop, loner, would-be bon vivant, Fabio Montale is back and his heartfelt cry against the criminal forces devastating his beloved Marseilles provides the touching conclusion to a trilogy that epitomizes the aspirations and ideals of the Mediterranean noir movement.

"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-Exup ry 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

The second novel in Izzo’s acclaimed Marseilles trilogy is a touching tribute to the author’s beloved city, in all its colour and complexity. Fabio Montale is an unwitting hero in this city of melancholy beauty. Fabio 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 whom desperation has driven to extremes.

Fabio Montale is the perfect protagonist in this city of melancholy beauty. A disenchanted cop with an inimitable talent for living 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. “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 “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 “One of the masterpieces of modern noir.”—The Washington Post

Book two in the Marseilles trilogy “In Marseilles, you weren’t just from one neighborhood, one project. You were chourmo. In the same galley, rowing! Trying to get out. Together.” Fabio Montale has left a police force marred by corruption, racism and greed to follow the placid rhythms of his native town: the sea, fishing, and the local bar. But getting out is not going to be so easy. When his cousin’s son goes missing, Montale is dragged back into 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. 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.