The Old Ladie's Tea Party
(Le Thé des Vieilles Dames)

The lawyer-detective Prosper Lepicq takes a leisurely summer walking holiday along the banks of the Seine, wanders into the small scorching township of Criquebec, simmering in a crater, and becomes involved in resolving a grisly murder of an unpopular local resident. Using his favoured technique of mixing with the townsfolk to absorb the atmosphere, he finds the locals bizarre in their habits and interests. It's fairyland with an undertow of small town meanness.

The Assassination of Father Christmas
(L'Assassinat du Père Noël)

One Christmastide Prosper Lepicq is asked by the bishop to investigate a threatened robbery of a valuable reliquary from a church in Mortefont, a town in Meurthe-et-Moselle. The advocate-detective is owlish and sharp as ever, and typically short of funds. He accepts the task and becomes involved in a complex plot involving more than a single Father Christmas figure, one of whom appears to have been murdered.