Philippe Huet

Philippe Huet was a French journalist and crime novelist whose reporting for Paris-Normandie and whose Le Havre-set noir novels made him a distinctive voice of Norman letters. Born on 24 April 1942 in Le Havre, then in Seine-Inférieure, he died in the same city on 23 September 2026 at the age of 84. Paris-Normandie reported that he was carried off by a bacterial infection.

After three years at the École supérieure de journalisme de Paris, Huet joined Le Havre Presse and then Paris-Normandie, where he worked as a grand reporter and later as deputy editor-in-chief. For about fifteen years he covered presidential travel, the Tour de France, wars including the conflict in Lebanon, major trials, and breaking news. He was among the first journalists at the scene of the Turkish Airlines Flight 981 disaster at Ermenonville on 3 March 1974, one of the deadliest aviation accidents of its era.

In 1989 he left Paris-Normandie to write full time, often with his wife, Élizabeth Coquart. Their joint books included interviews with Bishop Jacques Gaillot, a biography of Bourvil titled Bourvil ou la Tendresse du rire, studies of D-Day civilians and survivors, a portrait of Mistinguett, and Le Monde selon Hersant on the Hersant press empire. Alone he built a large body of polar and social novels rooted in Norman docks, ports and coastal towns. Titles included Quai de l'oubli, La Nuit des docks, Cargaison mortelle, Les Quais de la colère, Souk à Marrakech, Bunker, Nuit d'encre, Les Égarés de la plage, Les Émeutiers and Noir d'Espagne. His recurring figure Gus Masurier, a former journalist, became a hallmark of his Rivages and Albin Michel thrillers.

La Main morte, published by Albin Michel in 1994, won the Grand prix de littérature policière in 1995. Publishers such as Albin Michel described him as a figure of French roman noir, and he also contributed to the Le Poulpe series. He remained closely tied to Le Havre and Normandy in his settings and public identity. He died in his native city on 23 September 2026. French Wikipedia and local press recorded the loss of a journalist-turned-novelist who had chronicled both hard news and the shadowed waterfronts of his home port.