Smoking Kills

A smoking ban at the firm of corporate headhunter Fabrice Valentine, the narrator of this elegantly meandering crime novel from Laurain (The President’s Hat), drives him and a few other hardcore tobacco devotees out into the streets of Paris. His wife suggests he try hypnotherapy, with the result that he ceases to enjoy smoking. Eventually, he figures out how to regain the pleasure that nicotine once afforded him through criminal means. Fabrice’s memories of highlights of his smoking history include how he met his wife-to-be at an art show when she admonished him for using what he thought was a standing ashtray but was in fact an expensive art installation. Every detail is wreathed in smoke and irony—Fabrice’s father, a heavy cigar user, met his death in a collision with a cigar truck on a road in Cuba. This is guaranteed fun for all smokers who have vowed to go down fighting. (Aug.)