The Club of the Prohibited - Edith Bonelli - Private Investigator, #1

Poitiers, France, 1979
 

Edith Bonelli is the leading detective at the Bonelli Agency, yet the patriarchal standards of her profession in the late 70s have relegated her to the role of her father Stéfano's timid assistant, though he is internationally recognized. But two people have disappeared under dubious circumstances in Poitiers: Commissioner Dubois, one of the first Afro-descendants to hold such an important position, and the Mayor's son, both of whom are supposedly on the run, having left everything behind to chase after a young hippie.

Poitiers represents a dark milestone in Edith's life: the pursuit of superficial and worldly happiness to heal the wounds of the Vietnam War, the desire to stop worrying about others and focus on herself... a daughter she conceived and knew from the moment she held her in her arms that she was the least capable mother in the world to give her a decent upbringing.

A private hunting club near the city where she grew up seems to offer, for a high price and only to the very wealthy, all kinds of luxuries and excesses that society would scorn if they were exposed. Yet, the local police seem to turn a blind eye. Edith cannot afford that luxury.