The Accident on the A35

From the author of the Man Booker–shortlisted His Bloody Project.

The methodical but troubled Chief Inspector Georges Gorski visits the wife of a lawyer killed in a road accident, the accident on the A35. The case is unremarkable, the visit routine.

Mme Barthelme—alluring and apparently unmoved by the news—has a single question: where was her husband on the night of the accident? The answer might change nothing, but it could change everything. And Gorski sets a course for what can only be a painful truth.

But the dead man’s reticent son is also looking for answers. And his search will have far more devastating consequences.

The Accident on the A35 is the spellbinding follow-up to Graeme Macrae Burnet’s debut noir novel The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau.

Graeme Macrae Burnet was born in Kilmarnock, Scotland, and now lives in Glasgow. He won a Scottish Book Trust New Writer’s Award in 2013 and the following year he published his debut novel The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau. His Bloody Project, his second novel, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

‘With its deft writing and well-rounded characters, this novel is an accomplished and atmospheric police procedural that frequently strays into classic noir badlands.’ Qantas Magazine

‘This engrossing literary thriller combines a page-turning crime story with a deeper meditation on life and existence that delves beyond the respectable veneer of a provincial French town and the mundane lives of its inhabitants…A rewarding read.’ Good Reading

‘Fans of Georges Simenon’s Inspector Maigret novels will find and enjoy familiar ground in The Accident on the A35, the second in a trilogy of French detective novels by Scottish writer Graeme Macrae Burnet.’ Otago Daily Times 

‘Graeme Macrae Burnet creates true noir in the mysterious, funny and intelligent The Disappearance of Adèle Bedeau.’  The List, Top Scottish Books of the Year

‘Gripping, blackly playful and intelligent.’  Times, on His Bloody Project

‘Riveting, dark and ingeniously constructed.’ Sunday Times on His Bloody Project

‘Grabs you by the throat and doesn’t let you go.’ Guardian, on His Bloody Project

‘Transporting and deliciously frustrating.’ Hannah Kent, on His Bloody Project

‘Intriguing.’ Herald Sun

‘Briskly written within an unobtrusive literary frame, this seductive novel works on multiple levels.’ Age

‘It’s a long time since I read a police procedural (more or less) that was so gripping and intelligent.’ Philip Pullman, Guardian, Best Summer Holiday Reads 2018