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The Pink Panther
Oui, the mystery of the missing
Pink Panther Diamond is as good as solved!
Only one question remains:
Who stole the Pink Panther Diamond?
A famous coach is murdered in a crowded stadium. His most-prized possession -- a ring set with the stunning Pink Panther Diamond -- has vanished in the melee. The French government needs a master detective on the case, but the head of the Paris Police Bureau is unwilling to jeopardize his chances for the Medal of Honor with such a difficult, high-profile assignment. Surely Inspector Jacques Clouseau, a clumsy provincial gendarme with a knack for ignoring the obvious, could fill in without upstaging his superiors. Within seconds he proves his genius by narrowing the list down to just 60,000 suspects!
Pink Panther fans know Clouseau will recover the missing gem, bring a killer to justice, restore a Republic's damaged pride, and win the gratitude of an adoring nation. And he'll attempt to beguile the beautiful singer rumored to be at the center of the whole felonious affair. But the real mystery is how the bumbling detective will actually do it!
Pink Panther Diamond is as good as solved!
Only one question remains:
Who stole the Pink Panther Diamond?
A famous coach is murdered in a crowded stadium. His most-prized possession -- a ring set with the stunning Pink Panther Diamond -- has vanished in the melee. The French government needs a master detective on the case, but the head of the Paris Police Bureau is unwilling to jeopardize his chances for the Medal of Honor with such a difficult, high-profile assignment. Surely Inspector Jacques Clouseau, a clumsy provincial gendarme with a knack for ignoring the obvious, could fill in without upstaging his superiors. Within seconds he proves his genius by narrowing the list down to just 60,000 suspects!
Pink Panther fans know Clouseau will recover the missing gem, bring a killer to justice, restore a Republic's damaged pride, and win the gratitude of an adoring nation. And he'll attempt to beguile the beautiful singer rumored to be at the center of the whole felonious affair. But the real mystery is how the bumbling detective will actually do it!
- GenresMystery
257 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
30 people are currently reading
193 people want to read
About the author
Max Allan Collins
805 books1,322 followersReceived the Shamus Award, "The Eye" (Lifetime achievment award) in 2006.
He has also published under the name Patrick Culhane. He and his wife, Barbara Collins, have written several books together. Some of them are published under the name Barbara Allan.
Book Awards
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1984) : True Detective
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1992) : Stolen Away
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1995) : Carnal Hours
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1997) : Damned in Paradise
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1999) : Flying Blind: A Novel about Amelia Earhart
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (2002) : Angel in Black
Japanese: マックス・アラン・コリンズ
or マックス・アラン コリンズ
He has also published under the name Patrick Culhane. He and his wife, Barbara Collins, have written several books together. Some of them are published under the name Barbara Allan.
Book Awards
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1984) : True Detective
Shamus Awards Best Novel winner (1992) : Stolen Away
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1995) : Carnal Hours
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1997) : Damned in Paradise
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (1999) : Flying Blind: A Novel about Amelia Earhart
Shamus Awards Best Novel nominee (2002) : Angel in Black
Japanese: マックス・アラン・コリンズ
or マックス・アラン コリンズ
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 26, 2025
The Pink Panther by Max Allan Collins a look at The Return of The Pink Panther is at https://realini.blogspot.com/2020/03/... where you find a few thousand other reviews
9 out of 10
The Pink Panther was on Cinemax last night and it made me think first of the glorious time we had when we saw it, not just once or twice, and the way comedy has taken the stage in America, through Orange Jesus and the cohorts of lunatics, weirdoes, felons that will rule there, and alas, we have had our own debacle here
When Inspector Jacques Clouseau aka phenomenal Peter Sellers https://realini.blogspot.com/2020/01/... bungles, the audience is sometimes in disbelief, come on, how could he do that, it is not credible, does not happen in real life
Nevertheless, the absurdity of what happens around has surpassed Clouseau and some of his most outrageous acts – let me mention one that was used in our conversations, we used some of the Clouseau jokes between us – the one about the ‘munkey’, the way it was rendered was with a heavy French accent…
The Inspector is French after all, and he says munkey instead of monkey – so he had been demoted, he is no longer a detective at some stage, and he is sent to the lower echelons, to be a traffic cop, and while he is on the beat, he sees this beggar using a monkey to get money, he plays the accordion and pretends to be blind
So, Jacques Clouseau is asking:
- Do you have a license?
That also with that unmistakable, hilarious accent and mispronouncing lesense or something, and the beggar is playing around, claiming he is not the one doing anything illegal, it is the monkey, and the moron inspector does not see that while he is arguing with the man with the animal, robbers are in action
While the thieves are leaving the bank, just in front of him, the fool is helping…them get away, stopping the traffic so that they escape, unaware of what they are doing, he is so silly he does not understand anything…
Furthermore, one bank official is out of the building, trying to prevent the robbers, and what the inspector does is kick this fellow, instead of being helpful, doing the right thing, he does the exact opposite
Now, you see that on the screen and laugh, only at the same time say this is incredible, it does not happen like that
Oh, yes, it does!
We have had the first round of presidential elections eight days ago and the lad who came in first is worse than Clouseau, so let me put this down, from the wisdom of the possible next leader of an EU country
Unfortunately, mine – coca cola has chips in it, there was no moon landing – now, this last one is one conspiracy theory that is favored by many idiots, around the world, including in the future US government…
It was rumored that Robert Kennedy junior will come here to campaign for the local fool, only they found he has had antisemitic rants, as well as many other stupid manifestations, or just disgusting, and so that was stopped
On the other hand, Kennedy is the one with the bear story and so much more – he drives on this road, finds a bear cub dead, and says I will take this road kill and eat it, puts it in the trunk of his car and continues
Nonetheless, he remembers that he is invited for dinner, so he could not eat the road kill, he decides to stop in Central Park, New York, and dump the carcass, arranging it so that it looks like a…Bicycle accident!
I mean, if you see this in a comedy or anything else, you feel this is impossible, who would do such a thing?
Well, the future Secretary of Health in the USA
What can we expect from our very own idiot, I think I have heard he did not graduate high school, or anyway, did not get the baccalaureate
This is dangerous, not just ludicrous, for he favors Putin, ‘who loves his country’ – yeah, right, but he also loves other people’s countries and does not feel any qualms about getting them, look at Ukraine, what is left of it
So, comedy is good in fiction, often it is nice to laugh at stupid things, but his is getting too much…I sometimes look at those videos with people falling on ice, dogs running into windows, even that is cruel sometimes…
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’
“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”
9 out of 10
The Pink Panther was on Cinemax last night and it made me think first of the glorious time we had when we saw it, not just once or twice, and the way comedy has taken the stage in America, through Orange Jesus and the cohorts of lunatics, weirdoes, felons that will rule there, and alas, we have had our own debacle here
When Inspector Jacques Clouseau aka phenomenal Peter Sellers https://realini.blogspot.com/2020/01/... bungles, the audience is sometimes in disbelief, come on, how could he do that, it is not credible, does not happen in real life
Nevertheless, the absurdity of what happens around has surpassed Clouseau and some of his most outrageous acts – let me mention one that was used in our conversations, we used some of the Clouseau jokes between us – the one about the ‘munkey’, the way it was rendered was with a heavy French accent…
The Inspector is French after all, and he says munkey instead of monkey – so he had been demoted, he is no longer a detective at some stage, and he is sent to the lower echelons, to be a traffic cop, and while he is on the beat, he sees this beggar using a monkey to get money, he plays the accordion and pretends to be blind
So, Jacques Clouseau is asking:
- Do you have a license?
That also with that unmistakable, hilarious accent and mispronouncing lesense or something, and the beggar is playing around, claiming he is not the one doing anything illegal, it is the monkey, and the moron inspector does not see that while he is arguing with the man with the animal, robbers are in action
While the thieves are leaving the bank, just in front of him, the fool is helping…them get away, stopping the traffic so that they escape, unaware of what they are doing, he is so silly he does not understand anything…
Furthermore, one bank official is out of the building, trying to prevent the robbers, and what the inspector does is kick this fellow, instead of being helpful, doing the right thing, he does the exact opposite
Now, you see that on the screen and laugh, only at the same time say this is incredible, it does not happen like that
Oh, yes, it does!
We have had the first round of presidential elections eight days ago and the lad who came in first is worse than Clouseau, so let me put this down, from the wisdom of the possible next leader of an EU country
Unfortunately, mine – coca cola has chips in it, there was no moon landing – now, this last one is one conspiracy theory that is favored by many idiots, around the world, including in the future US government…
It was rumored that Robert Kennedy junior will come here to campaign for the local fool, only they found he has had antisemitic rants, as well as many other stupid manifestations, or just disgusting, and so that was stopped
On the other hand, Kennedy is the one with the bear story and so much more – he drives on this road, finds a bear cub dead, and says I will take this road kill and eat it, puts it in the trunk of his car and continues
Nonetheless, he remembers that he is invited for dinner, so he could not eat the road kill, he decides to stop in Central Park, New York, and dump the carcass, arranging it so that it looks like a…Bicycle accident!
I mean, if you see this in a comedy or anything else, you feel this is impossible, who would do such a thing?
Well, the future Secretary of Health in the USA
What can we expect from our very own idiot, I think I have heard he did not graduate high school, or anyway, did not get the baccalaureate
This is dangerous, not just ludicrous, for he favors Putin, ‘who loves his country’ – yeah, right, but he also loves other people’s countries and does not feel any qualms about getting them, look at Ukraine, what is left of it
So, comedy is good in fiction, often it is nice to laugh at stupid things, but his is getting too much…I sometimes look at those videos with people falling on ice, dogs running into windows, even that is cruel sometimes…
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/02/u... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
‚Parturiunt montes, nascetur ridiculus mus’
“From Monty Python - The Meaning of Life...Well, it's nothing very special...Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.”
January 14, 2009
The Pink Panther book is
the funniest boo ive read!!!
U might laugh the whole day after reading that book
!!!
the funniest boo ive read!!!
U might laugh the whole day after reading that book
!!!
December 20, 2018
The PINK PANTHER
Max Allan Collins' novelization of the screenplay by Len Blum and Steve Martin
Review by Roy Murry
You most likely saw the movie but reading the print version is a hoot and a half. The screen characters come alive in your mind again reading Mr. Collins' novel.
ENTER INSPECTOR CLOUSEAU is a chapter that I read twice because it was so funny. The humor continued to the end even though two people are murdered in the mystery plot.
Clouseau, played by Steve Martin in the movie, comes alive in print to another level. I love words, and the way they were used in Panther made for an enjoyable afternoon.
The plot is simple - murder is committed; the Chief Inspector picks an idiot (Clouseau) to solve a crime he intends to clear up himself; and each proceeds - the Chief with many detectives and Clouseau with a hand-picked informer by his boss.
There is no clarity in the way Clouseau unravels the crimes, and the Chief thinks he has the murders solved. To see how newly made Inspector Clouseau detects is mind-boggling and un-Sherlockian, but he has the answers in the end.
I can't say this enough, a book you must read for the humor. Oh yes, there is a mystery, but it is fun reading the events that lead to the conclusion.
Max Allan Collins' novelization of the screenplay by Len Blum and Steve Martin
Review by Roy Murry
You most likely saw the movie but reading the print version is a hoot and a half. The screen characters come alive in your mind again reading Mr. Collins' novel.
ENTER INSPECTOR CLOUSEAU is a chapter that I read twice because it was so funny. The humor continued to the end even though two people are murdered in the mystery plot.
Clouseau, played by Steve Martin in the movie, comes alive in print to another level. I love words, and the way they were used in Panther made for an enjoyable afternoon.
The plot is simple - murder is committed; the Chief Inspector picks an idiot (Clouseau) to solve a crime he intends to clear up himself; and each proceeds - the Chief with many detectives and Clouseau with a hand-picked informer by his boss.
There is no clarity in the way Clouseau unravels the crimes, and the Chief thinks he has the murders solved. To see how newly made Inspector Clouseau detects is mind-boggling and un-Sherlockian, but he has the answers in the end.
I can't say this enough, a book you must read for the humor. Oh yes, there is a mystery, but it is fun reading the events that lead to the conclusion.
April 18, 2022
I didn't have high hopes for this book but have to admit, it made me laugh out loud.
I've always had a soft spot for the Pink Panther movies but although the newer ones raise the odd smile I don't think the newer ones have been as amusing as the Sellers classics.
This novelization, however, is a lot funnier than the actual movie it's based on. The characterization of Clouseau is fantastic and laugh out loud funny.
I won't add any spoilers but I will say 1) if you enjoyed the movie, give this book a read; 2) if you enjoyed the original movies, give this a read - it captures the spirit of the best of the series; 3) if you just want a damn good laugh - you could do worse than picking up this book and giving it a read 😁
I've always had a soft spot for the Pink Panther movies but although the newer ones raise the odd smile I don't think the newer ones have been as amusing as the Sellers classics.
This novelization, however, is a lot funnier than the actual movie it's based on. The characterization of Clouseau is fantastic and laugh out loud funny.
I won't add any spoilers but I will say 1) if you enjoyed the movie, give this book a read; 2) if you enjoyed the original movies, give this a read - it captures the spirit of the best of the series; 3) if you just want a damn good laugh - you could do worse than picking up this book and giving it a read 😁
February 11, 2018
Was so excited thinking this was the book the 1963 movie was based on. Wrong! It’s a novelization. So sad. So disappointed.
May 26, 2018
Meet Inspector Jacques Clouseau, a bumbling cop, who when all is said and done may be smarter than he appears. Fun, quirky book of mystery and murder.
Want to read
February 15, 2019Synopsis: a novelization of the 2005 movie by Len Blum and Steve Martin. A famous diamond is gone and bumbling Inspector Clouseau is called.
June 13, 2019
I must admit that I imagined
Peter Sellers as I read the story
No offense to Steve Martin, but
the character worked because of him
Peter Sellers as I read the story
No offense to Steve Martin, but
the character worked because of him
December 19, 2018
Alot of laughs
I sure miss the Intreped humor of Chief Inspector Jaques Clusou. Peter Sellers where are you??
The best detective on the planet. Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Lol
hief Inspector Jaques Cluesou.
I sure miss the Intreped humor of Chief Inspector Jaques Clusou. Peter Sellers where are you??
The best detective on the planet. Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Lol
hief Inspector Jaques Cluesou.
Read
January 13, 2011intresting
October 24, 2016
I loved book is great
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews