Laurent Eltschinger, the new standard-bearer for regional crime thrillers in French-speaking Switzerland

This enthusiast of Georges Simenon and Frédéric Dard has not finished making a name for himself. With Put some water in your wine, published in August, Laurent Eltschinger signs the third volume in a series of five thrillers set in French-speaking Switzerland, all of which have met with great success.

It's everywhere. Not in the press (though), but at literary fairs, in craft markets, in your streets. Laurent Eltschinger, 50, works as a librarian four and a half days a week, but spends the rest of his time criss-crossing our part of the country to meet the people of French-speaking Switzerland. Just for the release of his latest book, Put some water in your wine!, set in Chamoson (VS), the writer has arranged some 70 dates throughout French-speaking Switzerland. The aim: to show that he is a force to be reckoned with in this market segment, which already boasts two leading names, Marc Voltenauer and Nicolas Feuz.

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And his approach is popular. Several thousand people turn out for each new adventure of Inspector Jean-Bernard Brun, the recurring hero of his noir novels. «Generally speaking, noir literature is much more accessible to the average person,» comments the author. «And I find that many readers enjoy discovering stories that take place under their windows.» The fact that Laurent Eltschinger's literary project is rooted in the region has nothing to do with opportunism: it's the places, with their evocative charge, that inspire every sentence from the resident of Posat (FR).

Mixing intimate issues with social questions such as ecology and religion, his novels, published by Editions Montsalvens at a steady pace - already three publications in fourteen months - carry a certain commitment. «Since the »80s, crime fiction has been one of the best-known venues for social and political criticism. This dimension of the crime novel has considerably softened, eventually disappearing altogether. As a reader, I regret that the detective novel is no longer a space for expression, but only an investigation with twists and turns. As an author, I want to remedy this." In this way, Laurent Eltschinger's abundantly ironic and winking use of the terroir is also a pretext for a return to the genre's roots. A must for all fans.

Write to the author: jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com

Image: Novelist Laurent Eltschinger © Véronique K.

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«A fortnight's spa treatment in Ovronnaz (VS) is no picnic for Jean-Bernard Brun, police inspector with the Sûreté de Fribourg. He'll stick to his daily appointments at the baths, but for the rest, he's bound to find something to keep him busy in the wine-growing village of Chamoson. On the eve of the grape harvest, a woman disappears. In the village, this event leaves a taste of corkage. JiBé smells trouble. The situation doesn't seem to be settling down, and the climate is becoming as tense as the strikes that have devolved on him. Will he spit in the glass? If he's going to get into trouble, he might as well carry out his own investigations before things turn sour! And he's in for a treat...»

Laurent Eltschinger
Put some water in your wine!
Editions Montsalvens
2022
314 pages

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