The Gravediggers' Bread

by Frédéric Dard, Frank Wynne (Translator)

'The French master of noir' - Observer

Putting dead bodies in the ground for a living could give anyone ideas...

Blaise is out of work and down on his luck when a chance encounter with a beautiful blonde has him hooked. He'll do anything to stay by her side, even if it means working for her husband, a funeral director. But as everyone knows, three's a crowd.

Genres: France, Noir, Crime, Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Novella

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1956

About the author

Frédéric Dard (né Frédéric Charles Antoine Dard le 29 juin 1921 à Jallieu (Isère), France - 6 juin 2000 à Bonnefontaine, Fribourg, Suisse) était un écrivain principalement connu – dans une production extrêmement abondante – pour les aventures du commissaire San-Antonio, souvent aidé de son adjoint Bérurier, dont il a écrit cent soixante-quinze aventures depuis 1949. Parallèlement aux "San-Antonio" (l'un des plus gros succès de l'édition française d'après-guerre), Frédéric Dard a produit sous son nom ou sous de nombreux pseudonymes des romans noirs, des ouvrages de suspense psychologique, des « grands romans » des nouvelles, ainsi qu'une multitude d'articles. Débordant d'activité, il fut également auteur dramatique, scénariste et dialoguiste de films. Selon ses dernières volontés, Frédéric Dard a été enterré dans le cimetière de Saint-Chef, en Isère, village où il avait passé une partie de son enfance et où il aimait se ressourcer. Un musée y est en partie consacré à son œuvre.

Reviews

[Glenn Russell]

The Gravediggers' Bread - This Frédéric Dard hard-hitting crime noir reads like combination Jim Thompson nihilism and Émile Zola on speed. Many thanks to Pushkin Vertigo for making six Dard novels available in English. They are all terrific. I wish Pushkin would publish six more.

“You had to really love women, the way I did, to see that under her badly tailored garments this one had a waist like a napkin ring and admirable curves...”

So muses narrator/main character Blaise Delange, age thirty, when a woman emerges from a phone booth in a provincial French town where he came to seek a job as sales representative for a rubber factory. After Delange makes his call to a buddy in Paris to let him know somebody else already got the job, he finds a wallet with a wad of large bills. “Blaise, my boy,” I thought. “You've won the consolation prize.”

Delange desperately needs the cash since he has recently returned to France from two years in Casablanca where his business venture went bust...but he remembers that woman, slim, blonde with her large, melancholy blue eyes. “I haven't always been very honest in my life and scruples have never kept me awake when I've been tired; however, I believe I've always been a gentleman when it comes to ladies.”

Delange finds out the address of the wallet's owner, Germaine Castain, and returns her wallet. He also meets Germaine's grubby little husband, an undertaker, who just so happens to need someone to help out in sales and other related undertaker duties. Ah, thinks Delange, a job with guaranteed income and also (the big reason!) an opportunity to keep in contact with a woman whom he's just fallen in love. Blaise Delange's parting words, "We can always give it a try."

Dard sets the stage thusly for his unfolding drama, a story filled with unexpected twists and revelations right from the opening chapters, a story that, by any standard, receives top scores as an existential humdinger. And here you go, a batch of humdinger highlights -

One's Destiny – We're given a number of hints and signals Delange's ultimate fate might be, as they say, “in the cards” given he sees himself as a hard-luck loser (“I'm always last in the queue when they're giving things out”) and also his being a romantic at heart (“In the booth there lingered a curious scent which moved me in a strange way...and which almost made me feel like crying”). Yet there are times when Blaise Delange can surprise us. And speaking of surprises, there's that slim good-looker with her slightly too large melancholy eyes.

Paris vs. Provincial – Delange also sees himself as an urbane Parisian, a man most comfortable in the city. “Provincial life does nothing for me; quite the reverse, it drags me down.” And how about all the women and men living out in the hinterlands? As Delange tells Germaine point-blank, they're nothing but plebs, a handful of yokels. But, dear Blaise, might you be underestimating the intelligence and savvy of these yokels?

Bookish – Unlike his friend and fellow writer Georges Simenon, Frédéric Dard's protagonists usually are familiar with the world of books. At one point Delange likens what he sees to a scene from Zola and at another he tells us: “I went to bed as soon as dinner was out of the way and tried to read a book, but I must have started the first sentence fifteen times over without being able to take in th meaning of the characters on the page.” In this way, Dard's French readers could readily relate with the author's main man.

The Power of Popular Culture: “When he (Germaine's undertaker husband) came out of his room, dressed in a black uniform and cocked hat, I just burst out laughing. He looked like a Walt Disney character: he was exactly like a gnome in disguise.” Gravediggers' Bread originally published in 1956 and we can detect the beginnings of the profound influence American films would have on people around the globe. This scene also speaks to the way Dard injects bits of dark humor.

Crime and Punishment Redux: It isn't exactly on the level of Raskolnikov and Inspector Porfiry Petrovich, but Frédéric Dard does have Delange play a cat and mouse game with a town detective - one of the more intriguing aspects of the tale.

Recall I mentioned Blaise Delange being a romantic at heart. How deep is his love for Germaine? Might even someone who views himself as a born loser be capable of what Joseph Campbell terms sacrifice and bliss? If you are even slightly intrigued by what I have written, time to treat yourself to The Gravediggers' Bread.


French master of crime fiction Frédéric Dard, 1921-2000

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 4 out of 5]

more here:
http://www.crimesegments.com/2018/09/...

When the mail arrives and I open an envelope to find a Pushkin Vertigo book inside of it, it's happy dance time at my house. The Gravediggers' Bread did not disappoint; au contraire, it a dark, well-plotted noir novel that, as with the best of the best noir novels, has a psychological focus that is the true attraction. Combined with other elements such as setting, pacing, and some unexpected plot twists, the result is a claustrophobic, bleak, dark, and highly atmospheric story that turns out be a complete surprise, even though I was absolutely positive I knew where it would be heading. These days, in my case, that's rare.

I can't wait for the next Dard translation. He is quickly becoming one of my favorite noir writers.

[Meike · Rating 4 out of 5]

With its imprint "Vertigo", Pushkin Press publishes classic crime novels from all over the world, particularly titles that will interest everyone who wants to learn more about the development of hardboiled/noir stories. Frédéric Dard is one of the key French authors in the genre, and in "The Gravedigger's Bread", he writes from the perspective of the criminal. This guy, Blaise, falls in love with the wife of an undertaker, worms his way into his household by getting a job at his business and ultimately tries to do away with his boss.

The story is full of gloomy noir, and Blaise can be described as a hardboiled criminal- Dard (b. 1921) is clearly playing with the tropes of the genre. This also entails his protagonist, a mean, self-righteous macho, expressing misogynstic views that are utterly unacceptable, but at the same time appear to be rather typical if you look at classic spy novels and private detective stories.

All in all, this is a highly entertaining read that also illustrates how far we've come regarding the portrayal of male characters in crime stories (only think of the new Bond vs. the old Bond).

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dard, although little known in the States, was one of the towering figures of French crime fiction, having put out some 300 or so Books, including 175 in his San-Antonio series. Pushkin Vertigo is publishing in English translation a number of Dard’s solo novels, including this one. This is a French re-imagining of Postman Always Rings Twice with the main character spying a blonde (the undertaker’s wife) and then becoming their employee in the mortuary. Here, too, passion takes over reason and eventually a guilty conscience drives one nearly mad. Its definitely not Postman - nothing is - but it’s a pretty decent read. 3.5 Stars. It’s a fairly short read and succeeds in creating a mood where the protagonist is trapped in a maze with no escape as the walls come ever closer. Thanks to Pushkin for providing a copy for review.

[Subashini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Frédéric Dard is hailed as "the French master of noir" and this is definitely a slice of noir-tinged domestic doom. It's a short, pithy book with staccato sentences that are a pleasure to read. Dard takes us deep into dreary, small-town France where grotesque male entitlement, jealousy and competition are the ruin of many men. The narrator himself isn't exempt from the misogyny that underlies sexual obsession and yet, in the tradition of many good writers, Dard makes the reader both abhor and sympathise with him. It's a narrative that keeps you anxious and guessing, but not in the "let's throw in a completely ludicrous twisty twist" way. Taut, tense, and brimming with existential despair.

Translated by Melanie Florence.

[Andy Weston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read all six of Dard’s translated novels and enjoyed this the most.
The story concerns a young man who is visiting a small town in the hopes of securing a sales job for a factory. He comes over as judgemental and over-confident. It is easy to dislike him at once. On arriving he discovers that he has got there too late and someone else was already hired. Failing to get the job he has travelled for, he returns a lost wallet and is offered a job in an undertakers.
Rather than a whodunnit, the tension builds as it’s a case of whether the murderer will get away with it. Dard excels in surprising the reader just when the direction the story is heading in seems predictable.
There are many things to be admired here. It’s classic French noir and smells strongly of the greats, Simenon, Garnier, et al. At 160 pages it has admirable economy in plotting, an example so many other recent crime novels could learn from. There is just a sprinkle of dark humour, the setting of the funeral parlour working so well.
This Guardian article from a couple of years ago isnof interest for his fans. He was great friends with Simenon, and wrote more than 250 books. Let’s hope for more translations.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...

When contemplating his own death, Dard said his one regret was that he would not be able to write about it.

[Elizabeth (Alaska) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blaise Delange was looking for work in a province not far from Paris. He was too late for the job he'd inquired about, but he'd found a wallet outside a phone booth and was pretty sure he knew who had dropped it. It turned out Germaine was the wife of the local funeral director. Further, upon returning the wallet with all money inside, he so impressed Germaine's husband that Blaise was hired on the spot. With the offer, Monsieur Castain says

"I'm well aware that the layman imagines all sorts of things about our profession. Or rather, he finds it hard to admit it's an ordinary profession. Yet I can assure you that gravediggers' bread tastes just the same as other people's." [Emphasis mine]

The first line of the GR description for this title says A claustrophobic thriller from the French master of noir Often I quibble with the GR descrption but this is absolutely perfect. Some noir is darker than others. This never had me turning my head away from looking and yet I couldn't help but feel that with one act following another doom lay ahead. One could hope not ...

This was the last I read from the bundle Authentic French Noir: Bird in a Cage, Crush, The Executioner Weeps, The Gravedigger's Bread. Although I may not have highly rated (or reviewed) all of the titles, this was surely worth whatever I paid for it some 5 years ago. Because this one is fresh in my memory, I'll volunteer it is the best of the four. Even though it is *very* short, I'll happily find a good, strong 4th star.

[WJEP · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cocky vagabond bumps into a bombe blonde dimwit (or is she?) who is married to a nasty old undertaker. This is the kind of story where you can't help but guess what tortuous path the author has devised. Dard fooled me several times I thought that the big twist was going to be that he exhumed the wrong body. En plus, for a Frenchman, the vagabond was surprisingly hard-bouilli. I preferred this imported knockoff of The Postman Always Rings Twice to the original -- sacrebleu!

[Adam McPhee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun crime thriller. Read it in a single sitting, in the shade of a tree. I think CrimeReads sold Dard to me as being another Simenon. And while this was as short, snappy and French as Simenon, this goes far more for plot than any deep insights into human nature. In fact, the dialogue and narrative were a bit lacking, but it's easy to forgive because every sentence pushes the plot along. The first half is sort of a Postman Always Rings Twice situation, with a new hire deciding to kill his boss so he can assume the business and be with the boss's wife. The second half is about hiding the body. Every chapter solves one of the narrator's problems and adds two more. The ending was a bit of a disappointment. The narrator realizes the girl had poisoned the husband before he was clubbed to death, but realizes it could be because the corpse shared a coffin with another poison victim (long story) and absorbed the arsenic. So he tries to sell the cops on that story but they shoot it down and he takes the fall for the girl. It's fine that he took the fall, but the fact that the cop reveals the truth before the narrator tries and fails with his other story just feels like Dard is spinning his wheels in the mud on an ending, unable to commit.

Anyway, I liked this better than the other Dard I read, which had some absurd idea about a house with two identically furnished rooms on different floors.

[Sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just got me a taste of French Noir - hmm

Classic noir with twists.

Our 'hero' Blaise does a voice over I could definitely imagine, giving a picture of a tough man of the world with a marshmallow heart. Of course he has to fall instantly in love as any real noir 'hero' should, after all they all fall at the bat of an eye or the flash of a calf.

Where it degresses and gets interesting is the path he takes, with me tagging along on the twists and turns.

Good one if you are in the mood for a twisty turny noir a la' francaise.

ARC gently provided by publishers/author via Netgalley in return for a review

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very noir. This book has you walking in the shoes of, and looking through the eyes of (spoiler alert, stop reading now) a murderer. Talk about guilt! I can't say I liked the main character, especially after he rapes a woman! I was definitely routing for him to be caught, an interesting twist at the end kept me enthralled. Dard writes murder mysteries like no one else I've ever read. It's not so much solving a murder (like Christie, Cleeves, George...or shows like Columbo, Shetland, Vera or Midsomer Mysteries), as it is about feeling the guilt of the murderer. I'd recommend this book.

[Fo · Rating 4 out of 5]

فردریک دار، نویسنده ای با دید سینمایی است. به شکل مشخصی این دید در این کتاب نشان داده شده است، صحنه ها به شدت تصویری هستند
محتوای کتاب در مورد مردی است که فکر میکند سرنوشت را در کنترل دارد اما امان از اینکه همین فکر هم تحت کنترل خود سرنوشت بوده است
کتاب از مجموعه کتاب های نقابِ انتشارات جهان کتاب، با جلد معروف این مجموعه و البته با ترجمه عباس آگاهی است. کتاب بسیار خوش خوان و روان است
اما کتاب را به چه کسانی میتوانم پیشنهاد بدهم: به افرادی که صرفا دنبال یک داستان برای سرگرمی باشند

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simile Agatha christie . Rilassante.

[Raven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another slice of bijou noir perfection in the excellent Pushkin Vertigo series. As usual I am curtailed by how much I can reveal due to the compact nature of the book, but rest assured, this wicked little tale of jealousy, lust and obsession is just a further demonstration of the singularly brilliant style of Dard. Reminding me a little of The Postman Always Rings Twice, mixed with the darkly psychological edge of Simenon’s standalones, Dard has constructed a taut and claustrophobic tale, and with the backdrop of being set around a funeral parlour, there is an additional little frisson of weirdness too. As with most of Dard’s books, his characters verge on the strongly dislikeable with the inevitable gullible ‘patsy’, the temptation of Eve, and dark passions at its core, and this is a little belter. Highly recommended.

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pushkin Vertigo is in the process of reissuing examples of vintage crime novels that have laid the groundwork for today's thrillers. The Gravedigger's Bread, originally published in the 1950's in France, has been compared to The Postman Always Rings Twice which had been written 10 years previously. Told in the first person, it recounts the story of Blaise, who in later times would have been called a slacker. Not only is he unlikable, even by his own admission, he is opportunistic and lustful. We've seen this story before, but despite a rather dated beginning, it reaches a tight climax and the finale is truly worth the time.

[Cool_guy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This would make a good movie, directed by Clouzot or someone like that, released on Criterion. But as a book it's a bit superficial. Unfortunately this is all I have time to read these days

[Gloria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Una lettura mediocre. Il pregio principale di questo romanzo, per me, è la brevità. Mi è sembrato un noir mal costruito, in cui la logica fa acqua da tutte le parti e gli appigli per creare una buona storia sono tutti andati persi. Direi che è stato uno spreco di tempo.

[Jack Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chekhov's Gun is one thing, but setting a crime novel in a funeral home feels like another level entirely since you just know at some point someone is going to be put in one of those coffins...

On paper this would seem like just a French version of Double Indemnity (complete with the staging of a murder victim to look as if they had fallen from a train), but in execution it's actually a lot closer to one of Jim Thompson's novels in its brutality and the quite intense savagery of the protagonist. I wouldn't blame people for disliking this book or having a hard time finishing it since it's definitely hard being behind the eyes of this narrator and he creates more than a few genuinely uncomfortable moments to read.

I loved one passage I came across near the end, since it encapsulates something so blunt about the nature of noir that only the French could articulate:

"Suddenly I was afraid of justice... not of men's justice, no: that is on a human scale. But of another justice, more implacable, more infallible -- more imminent!"

[Elisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frédéric Dard was one of the best known French crime writers of the twentieth century. Kudos to Pushkin Vertigo for bringing his classics back to the public. I loved Bird in a Cage and The Gravediggers' Bread is just as good if not better. It's short but intense and I devoured it in a few hours. Blaise is a salesman on his way back to Paris after failing to get a job when he runs into Germaine at the post office of a little village. Her allure makes him accept a position as assistant to an undertaker who also happens to be Germaine's husband. The story could have been a classic from the Nouvelle Vague - dark and full of twists, with unspeakable acts done for love and lust. One little white lie leads to another, bigger one, which leads to an even larger lie. You know Blaise is doomed, but how will it happen? I couldn't stop reading until I found out. And what an ending. Classics are immortal for a reason and this is one great read.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/Pushkin Press!

[MonicaSo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Non conoscevo Dard, ma ho letto che ha scritto tantissimo e che questo non è il suo noir migliore.
Il protagonista non si fa amare ma in realtà in questa storia i personaggi sono tutti abbastanza cupi, compresa la moglie del becchino che sarebbe la "bella da salvare".
Riesco sempre a stupirmi di come nelle storie inventate tutti si innamorino nel tempo di un battere di ciglio, ma qui si va oltre: in un attimo si trova lavoro, si diventa assassini, si scavano tombe, si riesumano cadaveri... il tutto talmente velocemente che anche la lettura procede fulminea... ho letto tutto in una sera/notte.
La scrittura e certe stereotipie nella caratterizzazione dei personaggi le ho trovate un po' d'altri tempi, ho avuto l'impressione di leggere un noir ben più vecchio di quanto non sia in realtà.
Dovrò cercare le cose migliori che ha scritto, questo per me arriva a 3 stelle.

[Pirate · Rating 5 out of 5]

French author I was shamefully not aware of and picked the book up on spec. Apparently in French his style is rather particular but this translation was noir at its best and a little French farce at times but in a positive sense. Admittedly the scenario of a menage a trois at a French undertakers in the greyness tha is provincial France may not appeal to some but this is an ideal setting for this terrific tale and heck some of America's darkest noir was set in unglamorous environs. Heartily recommend this.

[Anna – ARC reader extraordinaire! · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an interesting read. It’s a classic noir full of suspense and twists. The story is of a man in a small town who falls for a woman and then takes up a job at her husband’s funeral home keeps you guessing. It’s not a slow burn, so something is happening all the time, adding to the book’s thriller element.

[Domenico · Rating 4 out of 5]

La storia mi è piaciuta molto, Dard e la traduttrice scrivono molto bene, una scrittura libera dalla noia di molta letteratura moderna, senza originalità nel linguaggio e nelle descrizioni. Leggi e ti sembra di essere in quelle stanze, quegli alberghetti, quel cimitero... Bello.

[Eden Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Visit JetBlackDragonfly (The Man Who Read Too Much) at www.edenthompson.ca/blog

Frederic Dard is known as the French 'Master of Noir', whose dark crime novels stand with the team of Boileau-Narcejac (She Who Was No More and Vertigo) as timeless classics.

With a passion that can't be buried, The Gravediggers' Bread is a new take on the murderous love triangle plot.
Young Blaise arrives in a small provincial French town to find the job already taken. Without prospects or money, he is thrilled to find a wallet filled with 8,000 francs. The blonde was inside the phone booth when she dropped it, he was waiting outside; you have to wait patiently outside a telephone booth occupied by a woman to really appreciate just how much the fairer sex likes to talk. Attracted and intrigued, he follows her to her home, the town funeral parlour shared with her older husband, Monsieur Castain. Impressed by the honesty of returning the wallet intact, he is offered the job of funeral assistant, and is soon a better casket salesman than Castain.
When the husband is out of town, Germaine gives in to Blaise's charms and the two share an intense affair. Never mind that Germaine already has another man in a nearby town, that is soon ended. What else has ended is Blaise's patience with Castain; the gruff husband hits his wife and would be better out of the way. At a funeral, Blaise manages to knock Castain out and fit him into the coffin with the deceased. Castain has now mysteriously vanished.
Months after Castain's disappearance, the couple are approached by the police. There is talk the man buried that fateful day (with Castain) had been poisoned, the body must be exhumed. There follows a gripping and intense night where Blaise himself opens the vault to remove Castain before they find him, leaving him off in a marshy bog. Problem solved.

That Blaise did not even have to go through that ordeal is not the worst of it, once Castain is found the accusing finger points towards Germaine. The only way to save her now is for Blaise to confess everything he has done - but even that is not enough when it's discovered he did not kill Castain!

This is filled with twists, and although it may seem I have given you the entire plot, there are more storylines packed into 157 pages. Murderous love triangle themes are not uncommon, but this has the air of provincial France in the 1950's and some over-the-top scenes (especially the well told night he opens the vault of coffins to retrieve the rotting body!).
For those who love Noir in the style Les Diaboliques and Elevator To The Gallows, this is a well written and timeless crime novel of a man who is driven to save himself and his lover, at all costs. Never mind that he dug his own grave, or rather, dug someone else's.

[ShellsReads · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who could resist being tempted to read a book with such a great title. Written in the mid 1950s this is crime conducted old style, not a whiff of modernity about the investigation – a time before computers, DNA analysis, modern forensics or profiling. It’s largely down to old fashioned eliminations and quite a lot of luck. The dated scene is set in the first line with a woman in a telephone booth complete with switchboards and operators putting the caller through. Aaah how many of us remember those excruciating days when private conversations had to be conducted in code to prevent the entire neighbourhood being alerted via the gossiping switchboard girls. The tone too is blatantly un-pc with its sexist observations - ”under her badly tailored garments this one had a waist like a napkin ring and admirable curves”.
It’s a short and extremely pithy tale with rather abrupt prose which plunges one instantly into the action, emotions, reactions of the characters without any preamble or attempt at finesse. It’s never subtle. This brutalist style of narrative is hard to fathom – it could be the product of a rather clunky translation, or it could be very stylish gallic prose or just simply rather inept third rate rather dated storytelling. My hunch is a combo of all three weighted heftily towards the stylish end. Because certainly there are places with delightful flashes of genius in the description and the whole tale is permeated with wonderfully dark humour. This must be pretty good because I don’t normally appreciate ‘noir’. The three main characters (the undertaker M Castain, his siren wife Germaine and the narrator Blaise Delange) are all wonderfully ghastly in their own ways, and the prose in places are a delight with wonderful memorable phrases
‘The Gravediggers’ Bread’ reads like a very slick and stylish if jerky black and white film. Prose that leaves you enough off kilter to sustain intrigue and keep you reading. And believe me it’s entirely worth the effort just for that superlatively told grim ghoulish scene where the author has you metaphorically slopping about with Blaise in the bottom of grave full of corpse juice. It’s a little masterpiece worth a go for that scene alone if for nothing else!!

[Mary Picken · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this Pushkin Press venture in which they republish newly translated works of some of the greatest, most iconic crime fiction from around the world together with Pushkin Vertigo Originals which are exciting contemporary crime writing by some of today’s most accomplished authors.

Frédéric Dard is the master of French Noir and a great respecter of Simenon. The Gravedigger’s Bread is not a long novel, but it is beautifully written and wonderfully atmospheric.

Blaise is a bit of a wastrel. He’s been pushed into applying for a salesman’s job in a rubber factory in a small town outside Paris, but it is of no surprise to himself, or we suspect, anyone else that when he turns up to the factory he is too late and the job has been filled.

Blaise has, what in Scotland we would term ‘a guid conceit of himself’. Too worldly to be drawn into provincial living, he has an eye for a striking lady, so much so that when he sees a beautiful blonde, he will not stop himself from finding out where she lives.

What follows is a beautifully drawn slice of 1950’s French noir. Set in and around a funeral parlour Dard presents us with a ménage a trois in which there can only be one outcome.

Arrogant, cocky and just the tiniest bit insufferable, Blaise uses his masculinity to persuade the blonde that he is the right man for her, despite the fact that he has accepted a job with her husband. There are interesting facets to all three of the characters and though they are all flawed, it is possible for the reader to find empathy with them all at different times.

.Tightly plotted, well executed and full of darkness in both the setting and the mood The Gravedigger’s Bread is a tense and oppressive domestic noir.

Verdict: A tale of lust, obsession and lies, this is a gem of a book which plays with human psychology and draws us into its claustrophobic heart,

[Ad · Rating 5 out of 5]

30-year-old Blaise Delange, waits for a phone booth to become empty in the post office of a French provincial town. The user, an attractive blonde woman, finally leaves. After Blaise makes his phone call, he sees a wallet lying at his feet. Inside the wallet is a picture of the woman who used the phone before him, Germaine Castain, plus her address. Blaise goes to that address and returns the wallet to Germaine, who is married to the town's longtime gravedigger, Achille Castain. Blaise makes a good impression on Achille, who offers him a job, which is convenient because Blaise happens to be unemployed. Moreover, he is in love with Germaine and he wants to be with her. However, she already has a secret lover, but things go in an interesting way wrong with that lover. Finally, to bind Germaine to him forever, Blaise decides to do the ultimate deed, in a manner which happens to fit in well with his job as a gravedigger. And this would not be a noir if not everything would eventually go terribly wrong, just because Blaise gets nervous... A great noir in the style of the romans durs of Simenon - I see many reviews in which this French novel is compared to work by James Caine and several other lesser known English writers, but Dard's example is surely the great Simenon.

[Cris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second Dard I read. Realised it only later, midway through the book. Both times I fell for the Pushkin cover and perhaps the first page before quickly wrapping it up. Didn't disappoint. His are books you read fast. There's mystery, uneasiness, and you tend to dislike the protagonist. Blaise is an idiot, you think, for falling in love so soon and with the most inappropriate person. There's a husband and a lover already. He judges her because he's jealous. Idiot and jealous and having absolutely no qualms about people dying for the sake of his idiot love. And at a certain point forces his love on her. Even as you momentarily side with him the way the story builds up tension, you don't want him to escape unhurt. I like to secretly believe that the ending is what she'd always planned it to be and she just played the part of a naive woman that's helpless. All three men are now out of her way. She's free.

[Paul Ataua · Rating 5 out of 5]

Out of work and out of luck, Blaise is ready to return from the provinces to Paris when he has a chance encounter with a beautiful woman. His pursuit of her leads him to take a job with her husband, a funeral director, and it’s here that that things start to happen. The novel starts with him waiting outside a telephone box for her to finish her call. When she leaves, he finds and decides to return her wallet. The whole beginning section reminds me so much of James M. Cain (Double Indemnity / The Postman Always Rings Twice) , after which the reader is given a story involving more twists than a Chubby Checker 33⅓, and they are twists that Boileau and Narcejac ( Vertigo / Les Diaboliques ) would have been proud of. I am so happy to come across another French writer of solid noir. Hats off to Pushkin Vertigo for the recent republication of this 1956 novel.

[Enoir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Non servono romanzi voluminosi per strutturare una buona storia; questo libro ne è la prova.
Con un noir di appena 200 pagine ci troviamo ad avere a che fare con personaggi "morally gray", una buona dose di black humor e sarcasmo e una trama semplice e avvincente.
Mi è bastata una giornata tranquilla per leggerlo tutto d'un fiato e, sinceramente, l'ho apprezzato molto. Il ritmo rapido e incalzante degli eventi rende quasi impossibile interrompere la lettura, mentre lo stile semplice e pulito della narrazione permette di seguire bene la storia anche ad una mente stanca (personalmente il lavoro mi sta uccidendo e ho bisogno di qualcosa scritto in modo potabile e poco pretenzioso).
I personaggi sono meravigliosamente umani nei loro giudizi e ideologie, nelle loro limitazioni e nel modo di pensare e fregarsene di tutto e di tutti.
Questo piccolo Noir è stato il compagno perfetto per un sabato ozioso. Indubbiamente cercherò altri romanzi dell'autore!