On a cold December night, a boat runs aground by the Seine, under the windows of the police headquarters in Paris at 36, Quai d'Orsay. Christmas may be coming, but the only present in this boat is the body of a young woman with no I.D., wrapped in a white sheet. Jo Desprez, the police chief in charge of the investigation, has a personal interest in this case, since the only clue by the victim's body is the visiting card of a famous Parisian perfumer who is Jo's close friend. The theatrical delivery of the body suggests more bodies may be coming, and they do, all in the same way: beautiful victims who wash up on the banks of the Seine, which, from being a symbol of romantic Paris, morphs into a metaphorical Styx. Now the police have to stop the ruthless Charon who has sullied the storied river's reputation and dimmed its appeal.

Ingrid Astier (1976, Clermont-Ferrand), grew up in Burgundy and now lives in Paris, near the Seine. For Astier, writing is highly demanding and time-consuming, almost a profession of faith. It takes her three years to research each book, with ethnographic precision; for this one she delved into the worlds of Paris' river police, the homeless along the river, its fishermen and their clans, and the gangs from the banlieues. The result is vivid characters like Simenon's and writing that keeps you glued to the page. Her first novel, Quai des enfers, won the Grand Prix Paul-Féval for popular fiction in 2010, as well as the Prix Polar en plain coeur, the Prix Lafayette and the Prix de la Goute de sang. Her next two novels, Angle mort and Petit éloge de la nuit, have come out, like the first, in Gallimard's prestigious Série Noire.