I’m reading (and enjoying) Paul Halter’s The Seventh Hypothesis. This post was first intended as a private note, but then I thought it might be of some interest to other readers. (Sources: Own elaboration using data from Wikipedia, The Locked Room International, and Paul Halter Website). Please let me know of any errors and/or additional information)
About Paul Halter
Paul Halter was born in Haguenau in 1956. Captivated, at an early age, by the novels of Gaston Leroux and Agatha Christie, for twenty years he built an eminently classical work and recognised as such. But it was particularly the reading of John Dickson Carr, master of impossible crimes, what decided his vocation as a writer. Subjugated by the virtuosity of the author of The Burning Court, he wanted to prolong the marvel. After joining the French Navy, selling life insurance and scratching the guitar at Saturday night balls, he started writing a first novel in 1985, La malédiction de Barberousse (Redbeard’s Curse) wining le Prix de la Société des Ecrivains d’Alsace et de Lorraine in 1986. His first published novel, La quatrième porte (The Fourth Door), won le Prix du Festival de Cognac in 1987. The following year, his novel Le brouillard rouge (The Crimson Fog) won le Grand Prix du roman d’aventures. 1989 saw his next novel, La mort vous invite (Death Invites You), adapted for television in the Franco-Belgian series Le Masque (FR3, 1989). In 2002, he was awarded le Prix de l’Académie des Marches de l’Est for lifetime achievement, and Le diable de Dartmoor (The Demon of Dartmoor) appeared in BD (Bandes Dessinees, i.e.: comic book) in Soleil editions. “Le Masque de l’année” was awarded to him for Les larmes de Sibyl (Sibyl’s Tears) in 2005. He has created two serial characters: Dr. Alan Twist, a prominent criminologist and occult scientist, helped Inspector Archibald Hurst of Scotland Yard in unusual investigations; and also Owen Burns, a Victorian aesthete inspired in Oscar Wilde. He has also published several novels without recurring characters, as well as the short story collections La nuit du loup and La balle de Nausicaa. Interest in his work has crossed borders and many of his novels have been translated into several languages, including Italian, Japanese and Chinese.
Bibliography
Dr. Twist and Chief Inspector Hurst novels:
La quatrième porte, 1987 (Translated as The Fourth Door, Locked Room International, September 2011) [Prix du Roman Policier, Festival de Cognac, 1987]
La mort vous invite, 1988 (Translated as Death Invites You, Locked Room International, January 2016)
La mort derrière les rideaux, 1989 (Death Behind the Curtains)
La chambre du fou, 1990 (Translated as The Madman’s Room, Locked Room International, July 2017)
La tête du tigre, 1991 (Translated as The Tiger’s Head, Locked Room International, June 2013)
La septième hypothèse, 1991 (Translated as The Seventh Hypothesis, Locked Room International, December 2012)
Le diable de Dartmoor, 1993 (Translated as The Demon of Dartmoor, Locked Room International, June 2012)
A 139 pas de la mort, 1994 (139 Steps from Death)
L’image trouble, 1995 (Translated as The Picture from the Past, Locked Room International, December 2014)
La malédiction de Barberousse, 1995 (Redbeard’s Curse)
L’arbre aux doigts tordus, 1996 (Translated as The Vampire Tree, Locked Room International, December 2016)
Le cri de la sirène, 1998 (The Siren’s Song)
Meurtre dans un manoir anglais, 1998 (Murder in an English Manor)
L’homme qui aimait les nuages, 1999 (Translated as The Man Who Loved Clouds, Locked Room International, September 2018)
L’allumette sanglante, 2001 (The Bloody Match)
Le toile de Pénélope, 2001 (Penelope’s Web)
Les larmes de Sibyl, 2005 (Sibyl’s Tears)
Les meurtres de la salamandre, 2009 (The Salamander Murders)
La corde d’argent, 2010 (The Silver Thread)
Le voyageur du passé, 2012 (The Traveler from the Past)
La tombe indienne, 2013 (The Indian Tomb)
Owen Burns and Achilles Stock novels:
Le roi du désordre, 1994 (Translated as The Lord of Misrule, Locked Room International, November 2010)
Les sept merveilles du crime, 1997 Translated as The Seven Wonders of Crime, Locked Room International, December 2011)
Les douze crimes d’Hercules, 2001 (The Twelve Crimes of Hercules)
La ruelle fantôme, 2005 (Translated as The Phantom Passage, Locked Room International, July 2015)
La chambre d’Horus, 2007 (The Chamber of Horus)
Le masque du vampire, 2014 (The Mask of the Vampire)
La montre en or, 2019 (Translated as The Gold Watch, Locked Room International, June 2019)
Other novels:
Le brouillard rouge, 1988 (Translated as The Crimson Fog, Locked Room International, November 2013) [Prix du Roman d’Aventures, 1988]
Le cercle invisible, 1996 (Translated as The Invisible Circle, Locked Room International, June 2014)
Le crime de Dédale, 1997 (The Crime of Daedalus)
Le géant de pierre,1998 (The Stone Giant)
Le chemin de la lumière, 2000 (The Path of Light)
Les fleurs de Satan, 2002 (Satan’s Flowers)
Le tigre borgne, 2004 (The One-Eyed Tiger)
Lunes assassines, 2006 (Killers’ Moon)
La nuit du Minotaure, 2008 (The Night of the Minotaur)
Le testament de Silas Lydecker, 2009 (The Will of Silas Lydecker)
Spiral, 2012
Other mysteries (not “locked room”):
La lettre qui tue, 1992(The Deadly Letter)
Le mystère de l’Allée des Anges, 1999 (The Mystery of Angels’ Lane)
Short story collections:
La nuit du loup, 2000 (Translated as The Night of the Wolf, Locked Room International, November 2006)
La balle de Nausicaa, 2011 (Nausicaa’s Ball)
The Helm of Hades Locked Room International, October 2019
References
John Pugmire, Master of Locked Room Mystery Retrieved 5 November 2019.
John Pugmire, Greatest Locked Room Mystery Ever written Retrieved 5 November 2019.
Paul Halter Website Retrieved 6 November 2019.
A two-part interview between Paul Halter and Roland Lacourbe can be found on the blog At the Scene of the Crime, translated into English by Patrick Ohl.
Part One: http://at-scene-of-crime.blogspot.com/2011/11/interview-with-paul-halter-part-i.html Retrieved 6 November 2019.
Part Two: http://at-scene-of-crime.blogspot.com/2011/11/interview-with-paul-halter-part-ii.html Retrieved 6 November 2019.
An interview in French, between Paul Halter and Pietro De Palma can be found on the blog Death Can Read: http://deathcanread.blogspot.it/2013/08/entretien-avec-paul-halter-interview.html Retrieved 6 November 2019.
A Crime is Afoot 