Jean-Toussaint Samat (1891-1944) based at least six of his popular crime novels on Maurice Levert, former commissioner of Martigues: L'Horrible Mort de Miss Gildchrist (Paris 1932 ; 1947), Le Mort à la fenêtre (Paris, 1933 ; 1946), Le Mort de la Canebière (Paris, 1934 ; 1946), Le Mort du vieux chemin (Paris, 1934 ; 1946), Le Mort du Vendredi Saint (Paris, 1938 ; 1946), and Le Mort et sa fille (Paris, 1949 (posthumous work finished by his daughter Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat). His character is an homage to
Jacques Levert, also a writer of crime novels, who actually was named Jacques Mortier and a real life police commissioner who started his career at Martigues, in the French Provence.
