Michel Bussi Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Michel Bussi is a published French author as well as a political scientist and professor.

Bussi was born in Louviers in Eure in France on April 29, 1965. He teaches at the University of Rouen as a professor of geography, specializing in the subject of electoral geography. He is also one of the most celebrated authors in the crime genre to come from France.

Bussi first took up fiction writing in the nineties. It was then that he wrote his first fictional novel. He set it close to the Normandy Landings. At the time he was lecturing in geography at the university. He submitted the book to different publishing houses but it was rejected. He had a similar result when penning some short stories and had them rejected.

It was a decade later that he decided to go to Rome. This was at the time that The Da Vinci Code was popular and the trip proved inspirational. When he had returned to Rouen with IGN papers and read a book called Arsene Lupin by author Maurice Leblanc. He decided to resume working on a manuscript and in 2006 it found a publisher in academia under the title Code Lupin. He did go over the first manuscript a total of nine times before that.

Bussi is a very popular author in France. Many of his books have been best sellers or featured serially in newspapers. He has been nominated for countless awards and has won well over a dozen awards and counting. His novel After the Crash was the first of his works to be translated to and be sold in the English market. It has since been translated in 20 languages with more room to grow.

He is also a prolific writer. On average he comes out with one book a year. Some of his books gradually become popular as time passes, such as Mourir sur Seine. Often times his stories are set in a place he knows well, Normandy. He is known locally and was named the official sponsor in 2014 as part of the region’s Normandy Festival.

Some of his works have also made it to the screen. Bussi’s work formed the basis for the 2019 eight-episode television series Le Temps Est Assassin. After the Crash was also made into a four-episode series for television that aired in 2019. The six-episode television miniseries Mother Is Wrong aired in 2018.

After the Crash is one of the most popular novels by Bussi that is now available in English for English readers to enjoy! Lisa Gardner, best selling author, calls this a psychological suspense tale ‘at its finest’. Joan Smith of the Sunday Times said that reading the novel reminded her of her first time reading Stieg Larsson. Barry Forshaw of Good Book Guide called it ‘compelling’ while author Megan Abbott described it as a jolt both to the senses and the heart.

The year is 1980 and the date is December 22nd. It is on this very night that the French and Swiss border sees a horrible accident. A plane goes down and in the crash the entire thing is consumed by flames. There are 169 passengers flying on this plane and all of them but one die instantly. The only one to survive is a baby girl at 3 months old. The entire event of her survival is a miracle.

However, this catapults a very unusual situation to light. Not one but two families claim that the baby is theirs. One is wealthy, the other much poorer. The claims will set off an investigation that goes on for years. So is she a girl named Emilie, or Lyse-Rose? Coming on nearly two decades later, no one seems to know.

Crédule Grand-Duc is a private detective who never got to the bottom of the case. He has plans for suicide, but he first wants to give the girl herself a description of what he found in the investigation. But just as he is about to take his own life, he finds a secret that could change it all. However, he may not live to get the information out.

Will this miracle survivor ever get to find out who her real family is? Find out by reading this compelling thriller from Bussi!

Black Water Lilies is another novel from Michel Bussi. It is an international best seller. Daily Express called it a ‘work of genius’ while Daily Mail held it up as an unexpected ‘masterpiece’. The Daily Express called it an ‘enchanting tale’ where the author breaks all the plotting rules with a story that has ‘riddles within riddles’. Check out this thriller for yourself to find out what it’s all about!

When it comes to murder, this is a bookend event. In the course of just thirteen days, a murder will be committed and at their close, another will have occurred. Jérôme Morval was many things in life. He had an extreme passion for and interest in art. The only thing that he appeared to have more passion for than art was women.

Now he will have to be remembered for his passion instead of pursuing it, because he is dead. His body was discovered in a gentle stream that goes through the Giverny gardens. This was the place where the artist Monet created some of his most famous works. Perhaps it is fitting that he died here in a place so relevant to his interests in life.

One clue to what may have happened is found in his pocket. There is the postcard of Water Lilies done by Monet. Written on it is a message that says “Eleven years old. Happy birthday.” What it could mean is anyone’s guess.

It turns out that more people will be involved in this mystery, all three with secrets, all three women. One is a prodigy at painting, one is a teacher in the village, and another is a widow who views the village from her mill close to the stream. Could they have anything to do with his death or having witnessed it? Could his death have to do with the never-found masterpiece Black Water Lilies by Monet? Pick up this intriguing mystery to find out!