For Noel Tavares the tiny village in the Cevennes that

he has been sent to for a year is a world away from what he

has always known. Its isolation and tranquillity make it the

ideal place to forget and be forgotten. But fate decides

otherwise. Aided by Marmalade, a large ginger tabby cat

who has accompanied him into exile, Noel finds himself

unearthing secrets and plunging the village into a past that

the years have buried.

A Garden for the Departed was first published in French

in 2007 under the title Petits meurtres au jardin, and received

the Regional Vallée-Livres prize. It is the first volume

of what turned out to be a trilogy that takes Noel and Marmalade

to the end of their year's stay.