This article studies the deviant bodies of detectives in crime novels written by Brigitte Aubert, Virginie Brac, Pierre Lemaitre and Fred Vargas. The deviant body is either too big or too small according to gender expectations in Lemaitre’s and Vargas’s work, where its role is limited to characterization. The allusions to the intersex body of Brac’s character Véra Cabral creates a secondary mystery alongside the criminal investigation. Aubert introduces a trans* investigator in transition in Transfixions, while the trans* protagonist is both murderer and victim in Une âme de trop. The study explores these bodies’ function in the narratives, and how they relate to the plot. Furthermore, it asks whether they encourage the challenging of gender norms, or end up repeating them.