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The Second World War is a recurring theme in French detective and spy fiction. From the first works of George Simenon or Léo Malet, the context of the Occupation transformed the crime genre: the solving of crimes no longer marked the triumph of the law, but the staging of a gray area where the real criminals remained unpunished. This social revolt is incarnated in French hard-boiled crime fiction. This highly popular literature also conveys a representation of the conflict whose evolution does not fit exactly with the dominant narratives of war memory defined by Henry Rousso. As Claire Gorrara points out, crime novels can be whistle-blowers, with the capacity not only to invite reflections but also to shape national narratives by anticipating great memorial changes.