Anne Marie Laveaud Mysteries

2 primary works

Another Sun

by Timothy Williams

Published 1 January 2013

The long-awaited return of Timothy Williams, CWA award-winning grand master of crime fiction, whom The Observer named one of the “10 Best Modern European Crime Writers” 
 
The sun-drenched Caribbean island of Guadeloupe is technically part of France, subject to French law and loyal to the French Republic. But in 1980, the scars of colonialism are still fresh, and ethnic tensions and political unrest seethe just below the surface of everyday life.
 
French-Algerian judge Anne Marie Laveaud relocated to this beautiful Caribbean island confident that she could make it her new home. But her day-to-day life is rife with frustration. Now she is assigned a murder case in which she is sure the chief suspect, an elderly ex-con named Hégésippe Bray, is a political scapegoat. Her superiors are dismissive of her efforts to prove Bray innocent, and to add insult to injury, Bray himself won’t even speak to her because she’s a woman. But she won’t give up, and Anne Marie’s investigations lead her into a complex tangle of injustice, domestic terrorists, broken hearts, and maybe even voodoo.

The Honest Folk Of Guadeloupe

by Timothy Williams

Published 1 January 2015

"April 1990: French-Algerian judge Anne Marie Laveaud has been living and working in the French Caribbean departement of Guadeloupe for more than a decade, but her days are still full of surprises--for example,the fact that every witness Anne Marie interviews grills her about when she's going to get remarried. She is only just starting to investigate the increasingly suspicious suicide of a high-profile environmental activist and media personality when she is pulled off the case. Is it because she was getting too close to the truth? But the new case she's been assigned takes precedent. The body white female French tourist--only 24 years old--has been discovered on a nudist beach, where it seems the young woman was raped and murdered. The victim's remains offer no clues about her final hours--she was found without any of her belongings, and it seems she was dead at least three days before anyone spotted her corpse. What turned this woman's vacation in paradise into a final nightmare? As always, the story of a murdered white woman has attracted the attention of international media. Furthermore, the economy of Guadeloupe, so dependent on the tourist industry, could suffer a terrible hit if this case isn't brought under control with some quick, impressive police work"--