By Alphonse Boudard. Seems like it's perhaps two stories (or more!) in one package, per our French-language consultant, Mlle CL: "...the writer's life is insane. Unknown father, sex worker for a mom, raised by farmers then sent to live with his grandmother in a working class district of Paris. Prominent [in the resistance] during WW2, medals and all but became a criminal afterwards (burglaries), several trips to prison.
Then, he re-invents himself as a writer of the underworld, using a very particular prison/criminal slang. He collaborated on very prestigious movie projects notably for Michel Audiard a revered writer/director. So lots of humour, provocation but a language that is very specific to a time and space. The book focuses on two types of criminals, serial killers like Docteur Petiot, Landru, Georges Rapin and Bonnie and Clyde types like Pierrot le Fou and Jules Bonnot and his gang."
This paperback is tough to find, and this copy is in okay shape, not great -- edgewear and creasing to the covers; toning and foxing to page edges; cracked spine with a bit of spread; some old-book smell. Pages aren't marked, though, and sit snugly; it's a fine reading or research copy if needed, and a bit lower in price than others.