Confession

by Martin O'Brien

Published 19 November 2009
Chief Inspector Daniel Jacquot has been enjoying the quiet life in a peaceful Provençal village. A former rugby international, who once scored the winning try against England at Twickenham, Jacquot sports a trademark ponytail and loves food, wine - and one woman, artist Claudine. Now, however, he must leave her to go to Paris, where Marseilles Magistrate, Solange Bonnefoy's niece has been abducted. As the trail of violence and corruption leads Jacquot back to the ancient seaport, with its bloody history of slave trafficking, another utterly shocking and unexpected murder sets the investigation galloping in a wholly new direction and Jacquot has to go undercover.

The Dying Minutes

by Martin O'Brien

Published 5 April 2012

In 1972 a gold bullion convoy is hijacked in Marseilles. The security trucks and hijackers are swiftly rounded up, but a ton of gold has disappeared.

More than twenty years later, Daniel Jacquot receives an unexpected gift from an old fisherman. At the same time, a Marseilles lawyer called Claude Dupont receives an equally unexpected gift from a dying gangland boss.

Both gifts point the way to the missing gold and pit Jacquot and Dupont against the Polineaux and Duclos familles, two of the oldest and most feared crime syndicates on the Côte d'Azur.

When the Marseilles police become involved following a series of gruesome murders, the investigation is headed by Chief Inspector Isabelle Cassier. An old friend and sometime lover of Jacquot's, Isabelle discovers that the years haven't lessened her longing for the maverick Marseilles cop, and that her feelings for him are far from professional.

Together they embark on a cut-throat hunt for the gold, with hit-men from the Polineaux and Duclos clans hot on their heels. But after nearly thirty years, is the gold still there? And if it is, who will get to it first?


Blood Counts

by Martin O'Brien

Published 4 November 2010

When you're a cop in Marseilles, threats of violence and revenge go with the territory. Usually they come to nothing, but when friends and colleagues start turning up dead it soon becomes clear that someone from Jacquot's past has a score to settle and intends to see it through.

But this killer is different. To sweeten the revenge, and cause the greatest pain, it's always the target's nearest and dearest who die. When Jacquot discovers that he's in the firing line, he knows that unless he can track down the killer then someone he loves will pay the ultimate price.