This Night's Foul Work: A Commissaire Adamsberg Mystery (Chief Inspector Adamsberg Mysteries) [Paperback]

Fred Vargas (Author), Sian Reynolds (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 27, 2008 | Series: Chief Inspector Adamsberg Mysteries

A chilling new mystery from France?s #1 bestselling writer

Twice awarded the International Dagger by the Crime Writers? Association, Fred Vargas has earned a reputation in Europe as a mystery author of the first order. In This Night?s Foul Work, the intuitive Commissaire Adamsberg teams up with Dr. Ariane, a pathologist with whom he crossed paths twenty years ago, to unravel a beguiling mystery that begins with the discovery of two bodies in Paris?s Porte de la Chapelle. Adamsberg believes it may be the work of a killer with split personalities, who is choosing his or her victims very carefully. As other murders begin to surface, Adamsberg must move quickly in order to stop the ?Angel of Death? from killing again. Intricately plotted and featuring Vargas?s wry humor, This Night?s Foul Work will keep readers guessing up to the final page.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The outstanding fourth whodunit to be made available in the U.S. from Vargas (Wash This Blood Clean from My Hand) makes it’s easy to see why she’s twice won the CWA’s International Dagger Award. Paris Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, an endearing oddball sleuth in the tradition of John Dickson Carr’s Henry Merrivale, is convinced that the two narcotics dealers recently found with slit throats weren’t the victims of business rivals, relying largely on his intuition and the unexplained presence of dirt under the dead men’s fingernails. Adamsberg’s dogged pursuit of small details leads him to a series of unusual mutilations of wild deer as well as to a serial killer who targets virgins and may be seeking the ingredients to an elixir for eternal life. While the final twist will be less than shocking to some readers, the immensely enjoyable prose, seasoned liberally with humor, should help the author gain the larger American audience she deserves.
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From Booklist

In her fourth Commissaire Adamsberg mystery, Vargas overloads her story with so many quirky, fascinating characters, and so many intermingled subplots, as to nearly sink an otherwise seaworthy ship. And, yet, somehow, everything stays afloat in the end, a testament to one of the crime genre’s most inventive writers. It begins quietly enough with two murdered thugs; a drug deal gone bad? Then Adamsberg finds himself in Normandy, sharing a glass with a group of idiosyncratic locals who report on the peculiar mutilation of a stag in the nearby forest. Relying as always on intuition, Adamsberg stumbles his way from thugs and stags to a bizarre case involving a serial killer intent on achieving immortality by following a medieval formula (which requires, among other things, securing a small bone from a pig’s snout). The details would be overwhelming if they weren’t all so fascinating, and the enormous cast would be dizzying if each one of them wasn’t so richly portrayed. Is there too much going on here? Certainly, but will Vargas’ growing legion of fans care? Not a whit. --Bill Ott

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Paperback: 409 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (May 27, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143113593
• ISBN-13: 978-0143113591
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #119,495 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #43 in Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > Canadian

More About the Author

Fred Vargas was born in Paris in 1957. As well as being a best-selling author in France, she is an historian and archaeologist.

She worked at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), which she joined in 1988. She later joined the Institut Pasteur, as a eukaryotic archaeologist.

She mostly writes police thrillers (policiers). They take place in Paris and feature the adventures of Chief Inspector Adamsberg and his team. Her interest in the Middle Ages is manifest in many of her novels, especially through the person of Marc Vandoosler, a young specialist in the period. Seeking Whom He May Devour was shortlisted by the British Crime Writers' Association for the last Gold Dagger award for best crime novel of the year, and the following year The Three Evangelists won the inaugural Duncan Lawrie International Dagger. She also won the award for the second year-running with Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ghost Story, August 28, 2008

By 

Ted Feit (Long Beach, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: This Night's Foul Work: A Commissaire Adamsberg Mystery (Chief Inspector Adamsberg Mysteries) (Paperback)

Commissaire Adamsberg is a wistful protagonist who, while leading his Parisian crime squad, intuitively grasps unrelated clues where others see none. In this installment of the series, he is confronted with the murders of two unrelated toughs which are presumed to be drug related, and, therefore should be handled by the drug squad.

However, the Commissaire holds on to the investigation, amassing clues and insights to move it in directions other than the assumption of drug involvement. Meanwhile, he also has to fight a new recruit who holds a boyhood grudge against his new boss, as well as supernatural sightings of ghosts both in his new home and in a Normandy cemetery. Are these all related? Is he following real clues, or being led down the proverbial primrose path?

Written in droll prose, the novel is excellently translated by Sian Reynolds who captures the language and offbeat comments with accuracy. The plot certainly is offbeat and inclusion of Racine-like poetry is an excellent touch. The crimes described are among the more unusual in this type of mystery and the reader has to keep turning pages to keep up with events and the eccentric characters. Recommended.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fred's my new fave!, June 15, 2008

By 

readqueen (Indianapolis, IN) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: This Night's Foul Work: A Commissaire Adamsberg Mystery (Chief Inspector Adamsberg Mysteries) (Paperback)

I discovered Fred Vargos last year and have read everything that's been published in English. This particular book, like the rest of this series, was excellent! I love the central character since he's unlike any of the detective types in the U.S. or England. I know that I'm going to be surprised by 'who did it' which is a delight since 99.99% of the time I always have figured it out, sometimes in the first 2 chapters which makes the read uneventful. Fred always surprises me and her characters are so unique yet believable. I hope that there is a push to get everything she's done translated asap! (And you gotta love a female named 'Fred.')

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bravo, Fred, July 6, 2008

By 

Dina M. Fischbein - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: This Night's Foul Work: A Commissaire Adamsberg Mystery (Chief Inspector Adamsberg Mysteries) (Paperback)

People who love Fred Vargas's Chief Inspector Adamsberg mysteries will really enjoy THIS NIGHT'S FOUL WORK. It's wonderfully atmospheric, the characters are complex and believable, and the plot is engrossing and completely unpredictable. I think it's one of the best of the series.