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The Pleasures of Crime.Reading Modern French Crime Fiction.Platten, DavidAmsterdam/New York, NY, 2011, 269 pp.Pb: 978-90-420-3429-7€ 54 / US$ 73For 150 years the French public and literati have enjoyed a love affair  with crime fiction. This book investigates the nature of this  relationship and how through periods of dramatic social and political  change in France it has flourished. It challenges the conventional view  of a popular genre feeding a niche market, depicting crime fiction  instead as a field of creative endeavour, which has gradually matured  into one of considerable literary fertility. By inviting us to share  secrets and crack codes, creating suspense and (at times) not shirking  from presenting horrific events in graphic language, the crime story  brings into play the intellect and emotions of its readership. This book  explores both this intrinsic literary value of the crime novel and its  extrinsic witness to historical events and cultural trends, arguing that  these apparently distinct aspects are in fact dynamic, interrelated  parts of the same whole. This blend of cultural history with literary  analysis allows for the discussion of themes such as politics, memory,  the urban environment and youth cultures, mixed with case studies of  major French crime writers, including Gaston Leroux, Georges Simenon,  Jean-Patrick Manchette, Daniel Pennac and Fred Vargas.ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroduction‘Black’ Markets: the Emergence of the Genre in FranceProfusion and Profundity: Simenon and the Paradox of the Crime NovelFraming the Noir: The Individual in SocietyThe Aesthetics of CommitmentThe Scene of the CrimeShades of Noir: Modern and Contemporary French Crime Fiction‘Une Nouvelle Nouvelle Classe d’Âge’: Youth Culture and the Roman NoirMapping Minds and Figuring Plots: the Novels of Fred VargasConclusionBibliographyIndexDavid  Platten is Professor of Modern French Studies at the University of  Leeds. He has published on a wide range of modern French writers,  including Michel Tournier, Philippe Djian, Jorge Semprun and Jules  Verne. A scholar and fan of French detective and crime fiction, he has  recently produced studies of the literary thriller and of the links  between the media and politics in the contemporary crime novel. He is  now working on an analysis of reading pleasure and has begun a new  project on cultural representations of sport and sporting figures in  France.