Longlisted for The Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-fiction 2026

One of the Sunday Times Best Non-Fiction Books to Read in Summer 2026

'In this remarkable book, utterly gripping over 400 pages, high-end novelised non-fiction takes a big leap forward' MAIL ON SUNDAY

'This is a stylish, intelligent page-turner, as gripping as a thriller film script' THE TIMES

'A gripping true crime story, full of sixties glamour and political murk' THE SUNDAY TIMES

'It's a hell of a story... The Talented Mr Ripley meets the Nouvelle Vague. A masterclass in narrating' THE TELEGRAPH

'Comprehensive...engaging...polished' THE SPECTATOR

'Evocative, gripping and beautifully written. I've recommended this book to everyone I know' EMERALD FENNELL

'Highly original, atmospheric and brilliantly conceived, Murder in Paris '68, a true story, reads like a tremendous thriller: fascinating, disturbing and shrewdly compelling.' WILLIAM BOYD

'A magnificent read' LAWRENCE OSBORNE

From the author of A Waiter In Paris...

In 1960s Paris, the high-life and the low-life go hand in hand. It is a time of glamour, sports cars, casinos and night clubs with a cast of actresses, petty criminals, high-level gangsters and compromised politicians. And with French cinema taking the world by storm, the man at the dark heart of it all is an enigmatic film star dubbed 'the most beautiful man in the world'.

With a shady past and a taste for bad company, Alain Delon lives on the edge. But when a dead body turns up in the outskirts of Paris that turns out to be his associate, Stevan, questions begin to be asked. That Delon shot to stardom playing the stylish and murderous Tom Ripley does not go unnoticed. Is art imitating life or is life imitating art? And who killed Stevan Markovi¿?

Edward Chisholm, author of the acclaimed A Waiter In Paris submerses the reader into the city's demimonde and draws us intimately into events as they unfold. And as we inhabit the lives of the players in this extraordinary true-life drama, we witness what became to be known as The Markovi¿ Affair from the inside, as it spirals out of control and not only pulls down Alain Delon but everyone in his orbit.

For fans of Patrick Radden Keefe, David Grann and Philippe Sands, A Murder In Paris '68 may be the best non-fiction you read this year.

'An engrossing book. Through the story of a murder, it takes us back to Paris in the 1960s. As in A Waiter in Paris, Edward Chisholm pierces the glitter to find the city's seamy underside. And unlike the police of the time, he seems to have cracked the case.' SIMON KUPER

'A tremendous achievement, genre-defining, sexy, supple, scary. Chisholm gets us into the heads of all the characters, with the noir of Ripley and the street style and ineffable cool of New Wave.' JASON SOLOMONS, film critic and producer