Black Water Lilies (Paperback)

Waterstones Thriller of the Month for March 2017

Want to read more? Over on our blog, publisher Kirsty Dunseath for Weidenfeld & Nicolson describes how she first fell for the writing of this blazing crime talent.

Giverny, where the lilies lie waiting and the weeping willows shiver in the breeze.

During the day, tourists flock to the former home of the famous artist Claude Monet and the gardens where he painted his Water Lilies. But when silence returns, there is a darker side to the peaceful French village.

This is the story of thirteen days that begin with one murder and end with another. Jerome Morval, a man whose passion for art was matched only by his passion for women, has been found dead in the stream that runs through the gardens. In his pocket is a postcard of Monet's Water Lilies with the words: Eleven years old. Happy Birthday.

Entangled in the mystery are three women: a young painting prodigy, the seductive village schoolteacher and an old widow who watches over the village from a mill by the stream. All three of them share a secret. But what do they know about the discovery of Jerome Morval's corpse? And what is the connection to the mysterious, rumoured painting of Black Water Lilies?

A bestseller in France, Michel Bussi’s first novel to find its way into English, After the Crash, becase a runaway Waterstone’s hit. His second promises to follow in its footsteps, offering a plot worthy of Harlen Coben and the writing, orchestrated under the sure hand of translator Shaun Whiteside, is as luminous as the Giverny Bussi describes.