Humour, unexpected twists, and a love of books—the essential ingredients for a successful parody of a classic noir detective story, aimed at more experienced readers.

Children’s and Young Adult

During a reading, the adored writer Gréta Grande announces that the manuscript of her new novel is missing—and thousands of her fans are almost overcome with despair. Fortunately Tomáš is at the scene of the crime. The guise of an ordinary guy from a housing estate, who never finished school and doesn’t really know what to do with himself, hides an experienced and weather-beaten private investigator, the hardboiled Inspector Mol. He brings his intuition to bear in his search for the lost novel, stumbles into some extremely dodgy business and interrogates a whole range of suspects. The case becomes more complicated and he can no longer trust anyone… Was it really a coincidence that Mol’s flatmate, Momma Jane, was also present on the fateful evening in the library? Toman’s new young adult novel, like the author’s previous books, playfully reinterprets popular genre tropes (hardboiled crime fiction, in this instance), with the lovingly imitated and parodied noir ambience accentuated by Jiří Franta’s dynamic, expressive illustrations.

Age: 13+

Marek Toman (1967) is a graduate of Charles University’s Faculty of Arts, he has worked as a literary editor for Czech Radio and since 1997 at the Czech Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In addition to his own creative work, he is also a translator and editor. His first book for children was O Ryzce a Vraníkovi (Ryzka and Vraník, 2003). His subsequent novels turned to the past: Dobytí ostrova Saaremaa (The Conquest of Saaremaa Island, 2007) described the Crusaders’ conquest of the Baltics, while Můj Golem (My Golem, 2009) was loosely based on the story of Rabbi Loew. His prose for adults also deals with historical material and how it influences the present; for example, in the books Veliká novina o hrozném mordu Šimona Abelese (The Shocking Story of the Murder of Shimon Abeles, 2014) and Chvála oportunismu (In Praise of Opportunism, 2016).