Un Privé à la Cambrousse #3

The third volume of Bruno Heitz's charming rural detective series finds our rumpled private eye navigating the French countryside in characteristically chaotic fashion — the cover depicts a hulking red "Economia" delivery truck bearing down on a tiny black Citroën along a narrow country road, with cows grazing serenely in the background, utterly indifferent to the mayhem. Heitz's clean, expressive linework and restrained two-color palette give the scene a wonderfully deadpan comic energy that suits the series perfectly. Published by Gallimard in 2012, this volume promises more of the same offbeat, quietly hilarious crime-solving that makes this series such a pleasure.