Nestor Burma

Nestor Burma is a fictional character created by French crime novelist Léo Malet. In the series of crime novels featuring him one can isolate a subset of novels each set in a different quarter (arrondissement) of Paris which Malet dubbed the "New Mysteries of Paris", alluding to Eugene Sue's The Mysteries of Paris (1842–43). Burma is a hardboiled private detective, in the mold of American characters such as Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe but decidedly more humorous. He works with a secretary, Hélène, who is hopelessly infatuated with Nestor, in what he calls the "Fiat Lux Agency". Burma's nemeses are typically just as much the police investigating the crime as they are the original perpetrators. Specifically, he often matches wits with Commissaire Faroux and Inspector Fabre. The novels have been adapted numerous times, most notably a television series starring Guy Marchand, which began in 1991. A series of graphic novels by artist Jacques Tardi have also been published to great critical acclaim. The third in this series was an original story by Tardi.