While living in Nice with his parents, he was studying to becoming a medical doctor, but then found his true calling as a writer.

His debut novel was Aller sans Retour (single fare, no return), written while in Geneva, before going to Paris.

He was one of the most famous French authors of the illustrious "le Masque" collection.

He wrote a number of novels set in Scotland (Imogene series) and in Italy.

To honor writers who specialized in detective stories, the city of Saint-Étienne created a special prize to be attributed during their book festival and called it the Charles Exbrayat Prize [fr].