Jean Bommart

Jean Bommart (Douai, September 12, 1894 - Paris, December 25, 1979) was a French writer of detective novels and spy novels.

Biography
Bommart completed a year of study in medicine and another in law at university, but the World War I broke out and he joined the French army in Verdun. He was seriously injured there on February 21, 1916.

After the war, he studied at HEC Paris. A journalist for the Havas agency in Belgrade in 1921, he led a diplomatic career for a time and traveled to several Eastern European countries.

Back in France, he worked in various small jobs, then became a bank employee. After drinking a glass of contaminated water in a pastry shop in the Bourse district, he became seriously ill. Bedridden for three years following this food poisoning, he began to write, drawing inspiration from his memories of action in the secret war, encouraged by the writer Benjamin Crémieux.

He quickly achieved success with his character Captain Sauvin, aka the Chinese Fish. A relaxed hero with an unattractive physique, he is not a stunner of beautiful spies, but a clever secret agent, skilled in disguise. Timeless, it appears in all theaters of operations for several decades during world conflicts. We find him both in Hitler's bunker at the fall of Berlin in early May 1945 and unveiling the very first arrival of Soviet missiles in Cuba in 1963. Michel Simon in The Silent Battle of Pierre Billon in 1937 and Rex Harrison in The Silent Battle by Herbert Mason in 1939 played Jacques Sauvin on screen.

Jean Bommart also wrote classic detective novels, two science fiction novels (under the pseudonym Kemmel) and various other works. He was interested in cinema as a screenwriter or dialogue writer.

Le Poisson chinois series

 * Le Poisson chinois, Paris, Librairie des Champs-Élysées, Le Masque No. 156, 1934 ; reissue, Paris, Le Livre de Poche No. 2124, 1967. Prix du roman d'aventures 1934
 * Hélène et le Poisson chinois (or Hélène et le Pirate, or Le Mariage du Poisson chinois), Paris, Librairie des Champs-Élysées, Le Masque Émeraude No. 5, 1938
 * La Dame de Valparaiso (or Le Poisson Chinois et la dame de Valparaiso), Paris, Librairie des Champs-Élysées, Le Masque Émeraude No. 22, 1940 ; reissue, Paris, Fayard, 1959 ; reissue, Paris, Le Livre de Poche No. 3429, 1972
 * L'Épouvantable Nuit, Paris, Librairie des Champs-Élysées, Le Masque Émeraude No. 26, 1940
 * Ève et le Monstre, Paris, Éditions de Flore, coll. Suites policières, 1948
 * Le Train blindé No. 4, Paris, Éditions de Flore, coll. Suites policières, 1948 ; reissue, Paris, Le Livre de Poche No. 2834, 1970
 * Ciné-Murder-Party, (Le Poisson Chinois fait du cinéma), Paris, Éditions de Flore, coll. Suites policières, 1950
 * Dette de sang, (Le Poisson Chinois en Albanie), Paris, Éditions de Flore, coll. Suites policières, 1950
 * Mr. Scrupule, gangster (or Le Poisson Chinois pêche à la ligne), Paris, Pierre Horay, coll. Le Sphinx, 1951 ; reissue, Paris, Le Livre de Poche, 1975
 * J'ai tué Hitler (or Le Poisson Chinois a tué Hitler), Paris, Éditions de Flore, coll. Suites policières, 1951 ; reissue, Paris, Fayard, 1959 ; reissue, Paris, Le Livre de Poche No. 3332, 1972
 * Le Poisson chinois au Sinaï, Paris, Fayard, 1957
 * Le Poisson chinois vole le spoutnik, Paris, Fayard, 1958
 * Le Poisson chinois est kidnappé, Paris, Fayard, 1958
 * Le Poisson chinois et l'homme sans nom, Paris, Fayard, 1958 ; Paris, Livre de Poche No. 3946, 1974
 * Le Poisson chinois se bagarre à Tanger, Paris, Fayard, 1959
 * Le Poisson chinois à Marseille, Paris, Fayard, 1959
 * Le Poisson chinois et l'opération V3, Paris, Fayard, 1960
 * Celle qui allait au bagne, Paris, Librairie des Champs-Élysées, Le Masque No. 683, 1960
 * Bataille pour Arkhangelsk, Paris, Opta, 1961 ; reissue, Paris, Éditions Arabersque, coll. Baroud, 1965 ; reissue, Paris, Le Livre de Poche No. 2792, 1970
 * Le Poisson chinois à Cuba, Paris, Librairie des Champs-Élysées, Le Masque No. 1280, 1973
 * Le Poisson chinois à Téhéran, Paris, Librairie des Champs-Élysées, Le Masque No. 1322, 1974

Monseigneur Bachou series

 * Le général n'a pas crié, Paris, Librairie des Champs-Élysées, Le Masque No. 390, 1951
 * Le Tueur tabou, Éditions Pierre Horay, coll. La Sphinx, 1952

Agent Curtis series

 * Intoxication, Paris, Gallimard, Série noire No. 936, 1965
 * Bulles dans le ciel, Paris, Gallimard, Série noire No. 984, 1965
 * Voyage de noces, Paris, Gallimard, Série noire No. 1008, 1966
 * Les Philanthropes, Paris, Gallimard, Série noire No. 1045, 1966

Other popular novels

 * Sourcils joints, Paris, Librairie Alphonse Lemerre, 1932
 * Le Revenant, Paris, Librairie Alphonse Lemerre, 1932. Prix du cercle littéraire français
 * U-31, Paris, Librairie Alphonse Lemerre, 1933
 * Aux mains des invisibles, Éditions Colbert, 1941
 * La Belle Élise, Éditions Colbert, 1943
 * La Ronde de jour, Éditions des Deux Sirènes, 1947
 * Feux de la nuit, Éditions des Deux Sirènes, 1948
 * Le Gosse qui valait cent millions, Paris, Librairie des Champs-Élysées, Le Masque No. 427, 1952
 * Dieu reconnaîtra les siens, Paris, Éditions
 * Pendez le notaire, Paris, Librairie des Champs-Élysées, Le Masque No. 559, 1956
 * Je reviens de..., (sous le pseudonyme Kemmel), Fleuve Noir anticipation, 1957
 * Au bout du ciel, (sous le pseudonyme Kemmel), Fleuve Noir anticipation, 1962
 * Courage, morticoles !, Paris, Albin Michel, coll. Ernie Clerk-Espionnage No. 130, 1967
 * Elle ou moi, Paris, Denoël, coll. Crime-club No. 253, 1967
 * L'Affaire Mulligan, Paris, Transworld Publications, International Pocket No. 8, 1971

Other novels

 * Dieu reconnaîtra les siens, Calmann-Lévy, 1955
 * 2000 milles à la voile - drame sur un thonier, story co-written with his son Alain Bommart, 1956
 * Le Gendarme du bout du monde, Calmann-Lévy, 1956
 * Celui qui va seul, Calmann-Lévy, 1956

Theater

 * Blanc et rouge, play in 3 acts and 6 scenes, published in La Petite Illustration 754 du 4 janvier 1936