With Panique à Drouot, Éric Mercier signs a tortuous and fascinating thriller. Éric Mercier paints, key by key, like a pointillist, the false leads and the twists in an instructive thriller and sometimes with a sharp pen. Panique à Drouot is not only a well-conducted and fascinating investigation into the world of art, it is also an encounter with an investigator in full doubt, ready to cross the limit of legality, provided it is fair. –Pierrick Fay, Les Échos

Dealt, auctioned, sold! – Julie Malaure, Le Point

A well-crafted thriller, with unexpected twists and its share of sulphurous characters. – Muriel Mingau, La Montagne

A fascinating dive into the world of the art market where master paintings rule, and murders, disappearances and death threaten.

An auctioneer was murdered mid-auction at the Drouot auction house. The murder weapon? An iron maiden, a medieval instrument of torture. Commander Vicaux and his assistant Laetitia are charged with solving this crime that is shaking the Parisian art market. At his side is a former paparazzo investigating the unexplained disappearance of three young women. At first glance, nothing links these two cases, but in the mysterious atmosphere of the corridors of Drouot, the most surprising secrets are never far away.

With Panic à Drouot, Eric Mercier has written a new brilliant thriller with an intriguing plot, an unexpected ending, and elusive and troubled characters. Commander Vicaux, cold and mysterious, reveals himself to be a man of rare perception. His assistant, Laetitia, who knows Nietzsche and Schopenhauer by heart, is cheerful and witty. The two form a duo of investigators as extraordinary as they are endearing.