Paris (AFP)
Roger Borniche, a post-war cop who had converted to writing thrillers, some of which inspired cinema, died on Tuesday in Cannes at the age of 101, we learned from his wife Michèle.
Roger Borniche had distinguished himself as a police officer in the 1950s when he had tracked down figures of banditry like Pierrot le fou, Jo Attia, Emile Buisson or René la Canne.
He claimed to have arrested 567 mobsters during his career. He then converted to writing detective novels which inspired several films: "Flics story" (by Jacques Deray, with Alain Delon in 1975), "René la Canne" (by Francis Girod, with Gérard Depardieu in 1977 ) or "L'inic" (1993 by Serge Leroy with Daniel Auteuil).
His books have been translated into around twenty languages. Two of them tell their own story: "Borniche story" and "L'unic".
Roger Borniche was born in Vineuil-Saint-Firmin, in Oise, on June 7, 1919.
His father, a survivor of Verdun, is a house painter. Titi in Paris, Roger was first a comic trooper in 1937 then a singer at the Caveau de la République.
Entering the police to escape from the Compulsory Labor Service (STO), he resigned so as not to serve Vichy and was reinstated in 1944. He became a National Security inspector.
He left the police in 1956 and became a private detective before embarking on detective novels.
After having lived for many years in California in the United States, Roger Borniche and his wife had lived for five years in the district of California but in Cannes (Alpes-Maritimes).
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