Ayraud, Pierre

Pierre Ayraud, who published his books under the pseudonym Thomas Narcejac, and Pierre Boileau are two of the best known names in French crime writing. Together, they wrote a large number of detective novels signed Boileau-Narcejac, and they were prominent figures on the late 20th century literary scene. Ayraud was also a great connoisseur of crime writing, and he wrote several famous non-fiction works about the genre, both independently and together with Boileau. These include Esthéthique du roman policier (1947), Le roman policier (1964, with Boileau, revised edition in 1982) and Une machine à lire : le roman policier (1975).