Girl Trouble

If Henri-Georges Clouzot and Alfred Hitchcock didn't direct "Diabolique" (1954) and "Vertigo" (1958) respectively, then Boileau-Narcejac wouldn't be noticed by the public. On the contrary.

Boileau-Narcejac was a pen name of Pierre Boileau and Thomas Narcejac, who collaborated in writing crime novels. It was an unusual set-up, but the Frenchmen weren't alone. (Ellery Queen would ring a bell to fans of detective fiction, as they were pseudonyms of Daniel Nathan and Manford Emanuel Lepofsky. They were cousins.) Boileau and Narcejac were born a few days apart. They first met during an awards dinner where Narcejac was honored. Boileau provided the plot, while Narcejac came up with the characterization.

The duo were prolific, with the "Sans Atout" juvenile fiction series being one of their notable works. But "The Woman Who Was No More" (1952) and "The Living and the Dead" (1956) brought them fame. (Both books were adapted by Clouzot and Hitchcock respectively.) Both novels revolved around a woman. The men would be obsessed about her. They got into (girl) trouble.

Forbidden Games

"The Woman Who Was No More" took place in a second-rate boarding school. Michel Delasalle ran the institution, which was owned by Christina, his wife. The frail teacher was tormented by the affair between her husband and Nicole Horner, another school teacher. But both women have a mutual hatred of Michel, who was tyrannical and mean. They thought of killing him and disposing him in the pool. The plan went awry after the disappearance of the body. Christina felt she was about to die when one of the students claimed that Michel punished him for breaking a window.

Boileau must be credited for the twists in the storyline, which readers would be caught by surprise (or shock). As for Narcejac, he didn't reveal everything about the trio. Even at the very end. Who could have thought that Michel and Nicole were conniving all along? They were hoping that Christina's poor health couldn't withstand the stress and fear, and they were right. When the lovers were about to celebrate, a private detective entered the scene unexpectedly. They were arrested. Was it bad luck on the part of Michel and Nicole? Or was Christina not weak as the readers were led to believe?

This would separate Boileau and Narcejac from the rest of the authors in crime fiction. It wasn't about a case that was needed to be solved, but rather what was on the characters' minds. No one could tell.

Obsession

"The Living and the Dead" (1956) involved a former detective suffering from vertigo. A friend of his hired him to follow his wife, whom he was suspicious of her strange behavior. He became obsessed of her. They fell in love, yet he couldn't understand her belief in the past life. He would be confronted with this after he witnessed her falling from a tower. He had a mental breakdown. After his recovery, he encountered another woman who had a striking semblance to his friend's wife. Chance or coincidence?

Boileau was deceptive, letting the readers believed that they needed to do a research on mysticism. What happened in the tower turned the story upside down. Narcejac's depiction of the two women would leave readers reeling from disbelief.

Boileau and Narcejac did more collaborations. When Boileau passed away on January 16, 1989, their legacy was assured.