The Lost Son

The Xavier Lombard Series — One

By Eric Leclere — 1999
Alibi Books, London England

Paperback: 19.8cm x 12.9cm — 438 pages
ISBN: 9780953556205
Language: English

'…Leclere has created in Lombard a man with the same headstrong integrity and occasional pig-headedness of Chandler’s Marlowe ... a compelling and rounded character who has you rooting for him from the word go. His investigation is filled with twists and turns which leave you begging for more...'
— CATHERINE ETOE, The Camden New Journal

‘Hard to put down ... absolutely compelling ... The novel is a hymn to lost innocence.’
— JULIA PASCAL, The Jewish Chronicle

‘A stylish and gripping novel ... [the film] is a total waste of a great character like Lombard ...’
— COSMO LANDESMAN, The Sunday Times

‘This by-the-pulses thriller by a talented new writer ... promises maximum satisfaction.’
— ROBERT STONE, author of Dog Soldiers

‘A first rate story of which Lombard is the unforgettable star... A rare find ...’
— LARRY CHOLLET, New Jersey Record

'Raymond Chandler lives again in Eric Leclere’s hard-boiled Xavier Lombard.
— DEL HARVEY, filmmonthly.com

*****

‘Here we go again,’ said Deborah De Moraes; ‘Simplify and damn.’
‘Don’t you believe in simplicity,’ asked Lombard.
‘Should I?’
‘We all have to like what we become, Mrs. De Moraes. Cowards included. We achieve this by complicating things a little. But it’s never that complicated really,’ replied Lombard.
‘Huh!’

London. Leonard Spitz is thirty years old and missing. Mrs. Spitz is a worried mother, Mr. Spitz a resigned father, and their daughter Deborah as proud as her looks and as cold as the family’s money. All reckon the missing man has succumbed to his fondness for drugs again. Only, Xavier Lombard finds out that before vanishing Leonard had got involved with people who get up in the morning to peddle children for a living.

Meanwhile, Bill the pet shop owner gets himself a puppy for company, Perkins the butcher-landlord has to raise his rent, and three bored Los Angeles teenage girls kill time in a children’s playground. And on Hampstead Heath, a little man with a cell-phone and a pony-tail finds life really hard trying to shoot a movie scene...

They made of movie of this novel. See here.
You can read more about this title including the first chapter and the Leclere screenplay at alibi-books.com