M’sieur Francis The novelist of ruffians and ladies of the night

“I promise myself that I will cram the sort of muscular and rotten novels down the throats of the bourgeoisie that will leave them licking their chops.” Francis Carco would keep his promise. Precursor of Alphonse Boudard and Frédéric Dard, forerunner of Louis Ferdinand Céline’s style, “M’sieur Francis,” as he was then called in the Apaches’ demimonde, became, during the period between the two wars, one of the most published French writers. His secret: his books are like a reader’s drug. If one lets oneself be taken once, there is no turning back.