When he launched the landmark series “Le Masque” in 1927 Albert Pigasse resorted to publishing English authors such as Christie, Sayers, Valentin Williams, Edgar Wallace, Patricia Wentworth and John Dickson Carr. This was, he claimed, because there were no French Crime Fiction writers at the time. But this was  of course not quite true. Publishers like Ferenczi and Tallandier had long offered an outlet to French authors writing crime novels. And Pigasse would soon publish some of them, like Léon Groc, and André Charpentier in Le Masque.  So, what was French Crime Fiction like between the wars ? And what were the series in which Crime Fiction was published, prior to 1927 ? This post looks at two series titled “Le Roman Policier”. They were published by Ferenczi, between 1916 and 1926.  It lists all the authors published there, with the title of their books. To assess the respective weight of each author, titles  are sorted here  by authors and then by dates.

The Series Le Petit roman policier Ferenczi (1916-1923)

Ferenczi, Le Petit Roman Policier, 1926-1927

Following the first attempt in 1916-1923  with its series titled “Detective Novel”,  Ferenczi published in the mid 1920’s  under the same heading a new series of  thirty nine   booklets in total, priced at 50 c. The first ones comprised 32 pages, then 48. Covers were, again,  illustrated by Gil Baer. Most authors had already published in the first series. Georges Simenon published here  a novel under the pseudonym of Christian Brulls.