Pel and the Precious Parcel (1997) by Juliet Hebden
Good Reads meta-data is 176 pages, rated 3.33 by 3 litizens.
Genre: krimi.
DNA: France; Species: Burgundy.
Verdict: Hooray for Pel.
Tagline: He’s back!
The irascible Inspector Pel who never has a good word to say about or to anyone is on the job, and, as usual, he won’t let go. Sergeant Misset is a lazy incompetent; the weather is damnable and damned; and the witnesses are witless, but Pel keeps on keeping on.
When a group of armed men in hooded black clothing rob the cargo hold of a plane on the airport apron, they take only one package. Which package is that? Why, the one containing perfume samples! Perfume!
As he reached for his 30th Gauloise of the day, Pel could hardly believe his ears. The plot thickens when a technician finds that the listed weight for the parcel on the cargo manifest far exceeded anything such a volume of perfume could weigh. What was in the parcel?
Those in the perfumery and the family that owns this private business are clueless, so they say. But Pel knows a lie when he hears one and presses on, because someone knows something, and he will ferret it out with his usual distempered determination taken out on those around him, that is, all save Madame Pel in whose presence he goes all docile and devoted. Had he a tail then it would wag in her presence.
In several of Pel’s cases there is a long echo of the Debacle and the Occupation, as there is here in a minor key.
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This is number 20 in the series, the third by Juliet who took to the typewriter when the founder Mark hung up his keyboard. There is only one Pel no matter the name on the cover.