Cover for a French edition of Les Habits Noirs.

Les Habits Noirs is a book series written over a thirty-year period, comprising eleven novels, created by Paul Féval, père, a 19th century French writer. A book series is a sequence of Books with certain characteristics in common that are formally identified together as a group Paul Henri Corentin Féval, père ( 29 September 1816 - 8 March 1887) was a French Novelist and Dramatist This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. A writer is anyone who creates a written work although the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally as well as those who have written in many different forms

By its methods, themes and characters, Les Habits Noirs is the precursor of today’s conspiracy and organized crime fiction. Crime fiction is the Genre of Fiction that deals with Crimes their detection criminals and their motives It is usually distinguished from Féval’s heroes, from Gregory Temple, the first “detective” in modern detective fiction, to Remy d’Arx, the investigative magistrate, are also the first modern characters of their kind. Detective fiction is a branch of Crime fiction in which a Detective (or detectives either professional or amateur investigate a crime usually Murder

In 1862, Féval founded the magazine Jean Diable, named after his eponymous Habits Noirs novel, and Émile Gaboriau, future creator of the police detective Monsieur Lecoq, a hero seemingly unrelated to the villainous Lecoq of the Habits Noirs, was his assistant. Magazines, periodicals or serials are Publications generally published on a regular schedule containing a variety of articles, generally Émile Gaboriau ( November 9, 1832 - September 28, 1873) was a French Writer, novelist and journalist and a pioneer of Monsieur Lecoq is the creation of Émile Gaboriau, a 19th century French Writer and journalist

Novels

• Les Mystères de Londres (Gentlemen of the Night, serialized in Le Courrier Français, 1843-44; rep. Comptoir des Imprimeurs Réunis, 1844)
• Bel Demonio (serial. in Le Pays, 1850; rep. Permain, 1850)
• Les Compagnons du Silence [The Companions of Silence] (serialized in Le Journal Pour Tous, 1857; rep. Cadot, 1857)
• Jean Diable (John Devil, serialized in Le Siècle, 1862; rep. Dentu, 1863) ISBN 1-932983-15-5
• Les Habits Noirs (The Black Coats: Salem Street, serial. in Le Constitutionnel, 1863; rep. Hachette, 1863)
• Coeur d’Acier [Heart of Steel] (serial. in Le Constitutionnel, 1865; rep. Hachette, 1865)
• L’Avaleur de Sabre [The Sword Swallower] (serial. in L’Époque, 1867; rep. Dentu, 1867)
• La Rue de Jerusalem [Jerusalem Street] (serial. in Le Constitutionnel, 1867-68; rep. Dentu, 1868) ISBN 1-932983-46-5
• L’Arme Invisible [The Invisible Weapon] (serial. in Le National, 1869; rep. Dentu, 1869-70) ISBN 1-932983-80-5
• Les Compagnons du Trésor [The Companions of the Treasure] (serial. in Le National, 1870, then after the war 1871-72; rep. Dentu, 1872)
• La Bande Cadet [The Cadet Gang] (serial. in L’Evènement, 1874-75; rep. Dentu, 1875)

External links

• The French Wold Newton Universe - Les Habits Noirs
• Black Coat Press, American publisher of the series
• Les Habits Noirs, Les Habits Noirs, de Paul Féval, en version intégrale (huit tomes), sur le site de la Bibliothèque électronique du Québec.