The Return of Bertram hervé.

When I finished the Hugo prequel trilogy, it bothered me that I had created a character such as Bertram Hervé, who, over the course of those three books, clearly became a de facto father figure to Hugo. Yet, in the course of the future Hugo books, he hadn’t been mentioned. Obviously this is hindsight; when I wrote the first books, I hadn’t imagined doing an origin story. All the same, I did, and this character, as they so often do, came fully formed, and I knew that I needed to bring him back. I did, in a way, and Bertram had a few small cameos in the future Hugo books, but my gut told me he needed his own story.

At the same time, I had been trying to figure out how to have a Hugo and Coco crossover. Both those series of books are very different, intentionally so. I can’t imagine having a Coco story outside of Paris, and I thought that bringing Hugo into a Coco book was problematic considering that the Coco books are always driven by her and often fast-moving, so I couldn’t work out how to do it. Yeah, I know, I am the queen of overthinking.

However, because of this need, I decided to create an entirely new series to finish two stories that were bothering me. ‘Les Enquêteurs’ allowed me to have ‘Josef’ (the unofficial sequel to ‘Hugo & Josef’) and then to have a story that centres on Bertram and allows Hugo and Coco to share a story. As you probably know, my husband loves a trilogy, so like the prequel trilogy (which was only meant to be two stories in the beginning) in the ‘Les Enquêteurs’ universe, you also got a bonus book (Above. Lies. Below). Having a new series also keeps it fresh for me, and I’m fond of the characters, but with the third release, I’m going to have a break from them because, as is typical with me, once I began writing ‘Bertram Hervé’s Final Case,’ I had an idea for a brand new trilogy. My husband will be happy with that, but not when he realises what is coming. Normally, a single book takes me about three months for the first draft, but in this case, the trilogy is actually one story, spread out over the three books. I started in November 2025 and am now, finally, in the final stages. It has certainly been an interesting concept for me, and I have enjoyed it, but it has been difficult to make each novel stand-alone yet still part of a bigger story. Let’s say I’m not looking forward to doing the second drafts and bringing it all together.

You’ll meet Lennie (the niece of the enigmatic Jean Lenoir) and Bertie (the grandson of Bertram) in ‘Bertram Hervé’s last case,’ and they spearhead this brand-new trilogy. They’re a fun pair, both very different, not only to one another but also from my other detectives. They’re also both queer, which has been interesting for me to write, because we’ve only ever really known Hugo with Ben, and Coco, well, in her own words, is ‘anysexual.’ In the new stories, Lennie & Bertie both have partners, but as you might expect, not all is what it seems with them.

‘Bertram Hervé’s Final Case’ begins with Bertram now alone and living, or not living, as he describes it, in a retirement home. He’s miserable, and he’s lonely, and then, all of a sudden, a news story catapults him back decades to a case of his that remained unsolved and troubled him. The similarities between the death of a child and the original case are too similar for him to ignore, but how could a case, forty years old, suddenly be so relevant? It sets Bertram off to solve what could be his final case. But, along the way, he is not alone. He has friends.  Which means, yes, I couldn’t resist; therefore, let’s say that once again there will be several cameos…

I really hope you enjoy this new book as much as I enjoyed writing it, bringing all of my characters together in one great big adventure (yeah, sorry for the 550 pages, but there are a lot of egos to squeeze into those pages!).

So what’s next for you? Well, all being well, there will be the seventh Coco book,  ‘Les jeunes délinquants,’ hopefully just in time for Christmas.  What can I tell you about it? Well, as is normal with the Coco books, it is pretty much fast-paced, and this time she is reunited with a character from her first novel… who could that be? And is it a good reconneciton? All will become clear. And then we look forward to 2027 (how did that happen? It was 1990 a breath ago.) First up is a brand-new Hugo book, followed by the rapid-fire, three-book assault on summer 2027. And then? Well, I said that after ‘Hugo & Josef’ the story was finished. But now we know that Josef is back in Paris, so it would be rude for these two young lovers to reunite as adults finally… watch this space…

Until then, I send you my love, hugs and kind thoughts in a world that is increasingly crazy and cruel. The only antidote to such cruelty is love, so I send love to you all (apart from Trump etc, obvs).

Gx