The aim of this paper is to provide a brief overview of scientific and technical knowledge (SST) and the ways in which is represented and functions in contemporary Italian detective fiction and its French translations. Based on a corpus of stories from series that are very popular in Italy and beyond, thanks to translation, it sets out to show that it is around SST, through terminologies and metalinguistic devices for elucidating meaning, throughout the text and in dialogue, that characterization and relationships between characters are constructed. This study also reveals how the translator incorporates SST into the target language-culture, and how he or she participates fully in the polyphony surrounding SST.
