Boileau-Narcejac. Pierre Boileau (b. 1906) and Thomas Narcejac (pseud. of Pierre Ayraud) (1908-98) wrote crime fiction separately before corresponding, meeting, and collaborating on L'Ombre et la proie, serialized in 1951, followed by Celle qui n'était plus (1952; filmed as Les Diaboliques, 1954) and 40 years of crime novels, stories, films, and plays for radio and television. Theorizers, occasionally pasticheurs, of crime fiction, they sought a vein different from English puzzle and American violence in an implacable irony of situations where victims, often would-be killers, are more important than detectives, and blows awaited strike from, sometimes even in, unexpected quarters.
[Stephen Noreiko]
