The Inheritors by Hannelore Cayre, Stephanie Smee | Black Inc.

The Inheritors

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About the author

Hannelore Cayre

Hannelore Cayre is a French writer, director and criminal lawyer. The Godmother won the European Crime Fiction Prize and the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, and has been shortlisted for a Crime Writers’ Association Dagger …

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The Inheritors
Stephanie Smee

Stephanie Smee left a career in law to work as a literary translator. Recent translations include Hannelore Cayre’s The Inheritors and The Godmother (winner of the CWA Crime Fiction in Translation Dagger award), Françoise Frenkel’s …

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Praise for The Inheritors

Richesse Oblige [The Inheritors] has everything we love about [Hannelore Cayre]; damaged but memorable characters, sharp language, ferocious humour, an undercurrent of political rage, a punchy narrative and lashings of subversion.’ —Lire literary magazine

‘As corrosive as ever, the author of The Godmother unleashes her caustic eloquence in an hilariously black tale that mocks the self-perpetuation of the élite.’ —Paris Match

‘Social justice fuels the noir works of this author and lawyer: the little guys win, the powerful lose. So it was in The Godmother, in 2017, and so it is again, now more than ever, in The Inheritors.’ —Le Monde

‘[Cayre’s] language takes your breath away, as the author so often does with her rapid-fire style.’ —Causette magazine

‘A work of noir fiction worth its weight in gold.’ —Le Journal de Montréal

‘A funny, irreverent and exhilarating novel, in the purest tradition of French anarchistic crime novels.’ —Femme Actuelle Senior

‘A fabulous work of crime fiction – very funny and very politically incorrect – masterfully drawn by a specialist in the genre.’ —Bernard Poirette, Europe 1 podcast

‘Hannelore Cayre’s new novel is sharp, subversive and irreverent with truly memorable characters, a political undertone and the kind of dark humour only a French crime writer of the highest calibre can do so well.’ —Kate McIntosh, Readings

‘A tightly plotted and darkly funny tale of trade in human bodies and souls.’ —Kerryn Goldsworthy, The Age

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Illustration of flamingo bending over on a rock next to a pool of water
Red line bordering title behind five large blue upside down fish stamps