No, no no! There's only one Jean-Patrick Manchette, and your
library probably got it wrong in their list! (I cannot dream
of such crude error from the publisher)
The two novels recently published in the States are: THREE TO
KILL, translated from Manchette's original "Le petit bleu de
la cote Ouest" and: THE PRONE GUNMAN, is translated from "La
position du tireur couche"
THREE TO KILL is the title given to the French movie that was
based on the book (Trois hommes a abattre), but the original
title of the book is the one I give here above: "Le petit
bleu de la cote Ouest"(1976), meaning "The little blues from
the West Coast" (as Manchette did a kind of play with the
French words and with a reference to the Jazz music). After
releasing the movie, the book was reprinted in French with
the alternative title:
"Trois hommes a abattre", that was used for the American
translation.
Jean-Patrick Manchette is one of the best French authors of
the genre, and a very important one for the evolution of the
French noir literature during the 70s and 80s. So, I will
list hereunder the main novels he wrote, all are noir:
-"L'Affaire N'Gusto" (1971) - literally: The N'gusto
Case
-"O dingos, O chateaux" (1972) - title =parody of a verse by
Rimbaud- later it was issued with a new title: "Folle a tuer"
after a movie based on this novel, literally: So crazy that
she must be killed.
-"Nada" (1972) - Spanish word for 'nothing'
-"Morgue pleine" (1973) - literally: The Morgue is full
-"Que d'os" (1976) - literally: So many bones
-"Fatale" (1977)-
-"Le petit bleu de la cote Ouest"(1976)- published in the USA
as 'Three to Kill'
-"La position du tireur couche" (1983)- pubished in the USA
as 'The Prone Gunman'
As for 'Melanie White', it is a juvenile and it's the only
attempt of Jean-Patrick Manchette to do SF.
Manchette did the script of an excellent adult comic book:
'Griffu' (1977), the artist being Tardi(the same who made the
drawings for the Nestor Burma series). Griffu is the name of
the central character, a PI.
Having the list of the French titles, I think you will be
able in the future to spot which translation is what, as
normally the books will carry the original title on the
copyright page.
Let us hope that more novels by Jean-Patrick Manchette will
be translated soon.
E.Borgers Hard-Boiled Mysteries http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6384
At 14:03 23-11-02 -0500, you wrote:
>> > Three To Kill by Jean-Patrick Manchette:
Wow. This French novel written
>in
>> the 70s but recently translated to English is
fantastic.
>
>I'm confused - but then what's new. I went to my
library site and they list
>two Manchettes: Jean-Patrick and Jean-Pierre. The
have Three to Kill in
>French but it is listed under Jean-Pierre along with
another titled Nada.
>The one attributed to Jean-Patrick is "Melanie
White", also in French. Are
>there two Manchettes who write mysteries or did they
slip while transcribing
>the names?
>
>Nicole
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