Nelly Sanchez, French teacher at the Jules-Ferry college in Terrasson-Lavilledieu, artist who creates collages but also author of detective novels, has just published her third book, entitled “Pigeons à l'oreille”, after “A nurse in the garden” and “A corpse in the cellar”.
In this new novel, suspense, dark humor and atypical characters combine to offer a plot rich in twists and turns. The story opens in Saint-Laurent-sur-Manoire, where bodies are discovered on land under construction. At the same time, Ruby, a young woman who has just returned from a stay in Paris, finds her house empty and her companion missing. This starting point leads the heroine into a breathtaking investigation which takes her from Périgord to Zurich.
A year and a half of writing
Why Switzerland? “The country embodies a tax haven in the European imagination. When Ruby finds herself with an unexpected sum of money on her hands, her first idea is to go and hide it in Switzerland,” reveals Nelly Sanchez. The main character then embarks on a thrilling journey.
Faithful to the detective genre, Nelly Sanchez draws her inspiration from Scandinavian writers, such as Jonas Jonasson, author of “The Old Man Who Didn't Want to Celebrate His Birthday”. She also appreciates the work of Catherine Arley, a French novelist from the 1970s who combined dark humor, offbeat plots and unexpected characters. “Maybe I overused these readings, but I claim them,” she adds with amusement.
Writing this third novel took the author a year and a half, who prefers to take her time to refine the plot, develop her characters and surprise her readers. The desire to write comes from this pleasure of creating, of imagining situations inspired by everyday life and of solving puzzles. “What happens when you come home and don’t find the man you love?” Or when neighbors discover bodies while digging? » So many questions which form the foundations of his stories.
“Pigeons with sorrel” is available in bookstores or on the Éditions Les Livres de L’île website, for 18 euros.
