The main character of the novels included in this collection is private detective Nestor Burma, in no way inferior to the famous Commissioner Maigret. Detective Burma became famous in our country quite recently - thanks to popular French films presented by the France International TV channel. Its creator, the French novelist Leo Malet, is highly valued in Europe by all lovers of the detective genre, and this writer’s novels are being translated into Russian for the first time. The works of Leo Malet are the first French “black novel” of the 20th century (“neopolar”), developing the traditions of the English Gothic novel past centuries, with its terrible secrets, horrors and monstrous crimes. At the same time, Leo Male's classic detective scheme is filled with the most modern material. Truly, the writer’s novels are “New Parisian Mysteries,” as his famous series is called.