Synopses & Reviews
A # 1 French and Italian bestseller from the three-time winner of the CWA’s International Dagger Award More than ten million copies of Fred Vargas’s Commissaire Adamsberg mysteries have been sold worldwide. Now, American readers are getting hooked on the internationally bestselling author’s unsettling blend of crime and the supernatural. As the chief of police in Paris’s seventh arrondissement, Commissaire Adamsberg has no jurisdiction in Ordebec. Yet, he cannot ignore a widow’s plea. Her daughter Lina has seen a vision of the Ghost Riders with four nefarious men. According to the thousand-year-old legend, the vision means that the men will soon die a grisly death. When one of them disappears, Adamsberg races to Ordebec, where he becomes entranced by the gorgeous Lina—and embroiled in the small Normandy town’s ancient feud.
Review
Fred Vargas is the hottest property in crime fiction. . . . Poetic, offbeat and genuinely addictive. [Her] prose has an unusual deftness, a wry humour. A unique voice. (
The Guardian, London)
Review
An intriguing, idiosyncratic voice. (Time Out London)
Review
A Vargas novel is as good as a trip to Paris. The style has the same hyper-real quality as all her writingthe real world, but filtered through a strange prismbut it's the plotting that really hits the spot: ingenious and eccentric. (Daily Express, London)
Review
Fred Vargas has everything: complex and surprising plots, good pace, various and eccentric characters, a sense of place and history, individual settings, wit, and style. (The Times Literary Supplement)
Review
Advance Praise for The Ghost Riders of Ordebec
“Exquisite… only Christopher Fowler's Peculiar Crimes Unit can compare with the Paris policeman's eccentric colleagues in the Serious Crime Squad, who include a narcoleptic, a walking encyclopedia, and a naturalist…Vargas's combination of humor and fair-play plotting, reminiscent of John Dickson Carr, has never been better.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“[Vargass] mysteries are darkly whimsical—magical realism with its feet on the ground in a highly entertaining French way.”—Washington Post
“Prodigious”—Philly.com
Praise for Fred Vargas and her Commissaire Adamsberg Mysteries
“A wildly imaginative series.”—The New York Times
“Spry, ironic, yet fully engaged with the horror of contemporary reality”—Los Angeles Times
“It's a full, rich and strange plate.” — Seattle Times
“[A] high degree of intelligence, sophistication and perversity informs [Vargas] fiction…I continue to be delighted by the workings of [her] imagination. Its a tangled web she weaves, and a hard one to escape.”—Patrick Anderson, The Washington Post
“Bizarre crimes drive Vargas…whos won the CWA International Dagger three times, [and] keeps her zany plot under tight control all the way to the surprising finish.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Few crime stories are as apt to leave a reader wondering so ardently: Who dunnit?...Vargas characters are like something out of a fairy tale - eternal opposites, ever-renewing archetypes despite their fresh adventures each time. Thats why each novels opening feels new.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Vargas writes with the startling imagery and absurdist wit of a latter-day Anouilh, about fey characters who live in a wonderful bohemian world that never was but should have been.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Anyone who enjoys kooky characters and intricate detail will happily follow Vargas along.” - Entertainment Weekly
“Readers should settle in to be unsettled. Delight is found not so much in the details of plot as in the oddities of character. The crime, the suspects, and the commissaire are all pleasantly off-kilter and equally baffling. A definite pick for Francophile mystery buffs who also enjoy Georges Simenon's Maigret series and Pierre Magnan (Death in the Truffle Wood).”—Library Journal
“As droll and fascinating as la ville lumière itself.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Adamsberg, always an intuitive sleuth rather than a rational one, is the perfect hero for a series where reality is always a moving target.”—Booklist
"Worlds that closely resemble the real one, except that beliefs, tales, apparitions, even professions, from the Middle Ages fit in seamlessly."—The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Vargas is, by some distance, the hottest property in contemporary crime fiction.” - The Guardian (London)
“Vargas characters inhabit a world where reason and myth collide, and the result is a thrilling read.”—Sunday Times (London)
“Vargas [is] beyond doubt a cool, clever, original and deeply humane crime writer.” - The Times Literary Supplement (London)
“It is enthralling and great fun from start to finish…all done with great nerve, wit and invention.” - The Scotsman (Scotland)
“Only ones dreams after a champagne-fuelled night at the Follies Bergere have quite the same nightmarish-but-entertaining quality as Vargass delightful crime novels.” - The Sunday Telegraph (London)
“[Vargas is] one of the most exciting, addictive and inventive purveyor of classy crime fiction currently pounding the publishing beat.”— Independent on Sunday
“Id recommend any and all of Fred Vargas detective stories…Vargas has a particular respect for misfits and failures. I admire her humour and her sense of pace.” -The Observer (London)
Review
Advance Praise for The Ghost Riders of Ordebec
“Exquisite… only Christopher Fowler's Peculiar Crimes Unit can compare with the Paris policeman's eccentric colleagues in the Serious Crime Squad, who include a narcoleptic, a walking encyclopedia, and a naturalist…Vargas's combination of humor and fair-play plotting, reminiscent of John Dickson Carr, has never been better.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Praise for Fred Vargas and her Commissaire Adamsberg Mysteries
“A wildly imaginative series.”—The New York Times
“Spry, ironic, yet fully engaged with the horror of contemporary reality”—Los Angeles Times
“It's a full, rich and strange plate.” — Seattle Times
“[A] high degree of intelligence, sophistication and perversity informs [Vargas] fiction…I continue to be delighted by the workings of [her] imagination. Its a tangled web she weaves, and a hard one to escape.”—Patrick Anderson, The Washington Post
“Bizarre crimes drive Vargas…whos won the CWA International Dagger three times, [and] keeps her zany plot under tight control all the way to the surprising finish.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Few crime stories are as apt to leave a reader wondering so ardently: Who dunnit?...Vargas characters are like something out of a fairy tale - eternal opposites, ever-renewing archetypes despite their fresh adventures each time. Thats why each novels opening feels new.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Vargas writes with the startling imagery and absurdist wit of a latter-day Anouilh, about fey characters who live in a wonderful bohemian world that never was but should have been.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Anyone who enjoys kooky characters and intricate detail will happily follow Vargas along.” - Entertainment Weekly
“Readers should settle in to be unsettled. Delight is found not so much in the details of plot as in the oddities of character. The crime, the suspects, and the commissaire are all pleasantly off-kilter and equally baffling. A definite pick for Francophile mystery buffs who also enjoy Georges Simenon's Maigret series and Pierre Magnan (Death in the Truffle Wood).”—Library Journal
“As droll and fascinating as la ville lumière itself.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Adamsberg, always an intuitive sleuth rather than a rational one, is the perfect hero for a series where reality is always a moving target.”—Booklist
“Vargas is, by some distance, the hottest property in contemporary crime fiction.” - The Guardian (London)
“Vargas characters inhabit a world where reason and myth collide, and the result is a thrilling read.”—Sunday Times (London)
“Vargas [is] beyond doubt a cool, clever, original and deeply humane crime writer.” - The Times Literary Supplement (London)
“It is enthralling and great fun from start to finish…all done with great nerve, wit and invention.” - The Scotsman (Scotland)
“Only ones dreams after a champagne-fuelled night at the Follies Bergere have quite the same nightmarish-but-entertaining quality as Vargass delightful crime novels.” - The Sunday Telegraph (London)
“[Vargas is] one of the most exciting, addictive and inventive purveyor of classy crime fiction currently pounding the publishing beat.”— Independent on Sunday
“Id recommend any and all of Fred Vargas detective stories…Vargas has a particular respect for misfits and failures. I admire her humour and her sense of pace.” -The Observer (London)
Synopsis
A #1 bestselling author in France, Fred Vargas repeatedly captivates her many admirers across the globe with suspenseful mysteries featuring Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, ?a Gallic cousin to Ruth Rendell?s Chief Inspector Wexford? (
The Washington Post). In the same way that Donna Leon?s Commissario Brunetti and Andrea Camilleri?s Inspector Montalbano have won countless fans on this side of the Atlantic due to Penguin?s robust commitment to the best international mystery writing, Vargas?s Commissaire Adamsberg is poised to conquer America in a series of novels that are ?truly original . . . like nothing else in contemporary fiction? (
The Sunday Times, London), beginning with
Wash This Blood Clean from My Hand.
Synopsis
From the #1 bestselling author in France. Fred Vargas's books have been published in forty countries and over 10 million copies sold.
Three wounds in a perfectly straight line was the bloody signature that marked victims from every corner of France who had been murdered over the course of thirty years. Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, the chief of police in Paris's 7th Arrondissement, is deeply and personally familiar with the case, and though others were always framed and convicted for these crimes, including his own brother, the Commissaire knows the true identity of the killer and knows that the murderer died in 1987. All the more disturbing, then, is Adamsberg's discovery one morning of a fresh murder with exactly the same profile..."
Synopsis
"Wildly imaginative."--The New York Times "Adamsberg is a terrific creation and his team of misfits a joy to watch in action."--Peter Robinson, New York Times bestselling author of the Inspector Banks series
Three wounds in a perfectly straight line was the bloody signature that marked victims from every corner of France who had been murdered over the course of thirty years. Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, the chief of police in Paris's 7th Arrondissement, is deeply and personally familiar with the case, and though others were always framed and convicted for these crimes, including his own brother, the Commissaire knows the true identity of the killer--and knows that the murderer died in 1987. All the more disturbing, then, is Adamsberg's discovery one morning of a fresh murder with exactly the same profile...
Synopsis
A # 1 French and Italian bestseller from the three-time winner of the CWA’s International Dagger Award More than ten million copies of Fred Vargas’s Commissaire Adamsberg mysteries have been sold worldwide. Now, American readers are getting hooked on the internationally bestselling author’s unsettling blend of crime and the supernatural. As the chief of police in Paris’s seventh arrondissement, Commissaire Adamsberg has no jurisdiction in Ordebec. Yet, he cannot ignore a widow’s plea. Her daughter Lina has seen a vision of the Ghost Riders with four nefarious men. According to the thousand-year-old legend, the vision means that the men will soon die a grisly death. When one of them disappears, Adamsberg races to Ordebec, where he becomes entranced by the gorgeous Lina—and embroiled in the small Normandy town’s ancient feud.
Synopsis
'In Porquerolles, things were hostile to him. He had tried in vain to tame them. Back there, all the time, he had felt as if there was a tremendous chaos around him, a kind of life that was too vivid, so that the slightest contact with it made his blood pulse more quickly, and prompted a rising fever inside him.'
During his first holiday on the island of Porquerolles Dr Mahe caught a glimpse of something irresistible. As the memory continues to haunt him, he falls prey to a delusion that may offer an escape from his conventional existence - or may destroy him. This is the first English translation of The Mahe Circle, a dark, malevolent depiction of an ordinary man trapped in mundanity and consumed by obsession.
One of Simenon's critically renowned and psychologically rich romans durs, The Mahé Circle will delight lifelong fans and new readers alike.
Synopsis
From the author of the critically acclaimed Commissaire Adamsberg novels comes the second in a new series, shortlisted for the CWA International Dagger
Keeping watch under the windows of the Paris flat belonging to a politician's nephew, ex-special investigator Louis Kehlweiler catches sight of something odd on the pavement. A tiny piece of bone. Human bone, in fact. When Kehlweiler takes his find to the nearest police station, he faces ridicule. Obsessed by the fragment, he follows the trail to the tiny Breton fishing village of Port-Nicolas—in search of a dog. But when he recruits "evangelists" Marc and Mathias to help, they find themselves facing even bigger game.
About the Author
Commissaire Adamsberg must be the most engaging French detective since Maigret. (Scotland on Sunday)Fred Vargas is the hottest property in crime fiction. . . . Poetic, offbeat and genuinely addictive. [Her] prose has an unusual deftness, a wry humour. A unique voice. (The Guardian, London)An intriguing, idiosyncratic voice. (Time Out London)A Vargas novel is as good as a trip to Paris. The style has the same hyper-real quality as all her writing-the real world, but filtered through a strange prism-but it's the plotting that really hits the spot: ingenious and eccentric. (Daily Express, London)Fred Vargas has everything: complex and surprising plots, good pace, various and eccentric characters, a sense of place and history, individual settings, wit, and style. (The Times Literary Supplement)