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.
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Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
It gets personal in the third Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg mystery to reach the U.S. Previously, the eccentric commissaire of the French national police has maintained a disconcerting detachment, solving cases "like a lone ranger or a Zen archer who went straight to the target." This time, though, Adamsberg faces his personal demon, a serial killer called the Trident who, 30 years previously, framed the commissaire's brother for a murder, successfully avoiding prosecution for that and numerous other slayings. Supposedly dead for more than 15 years, the Trident has risen from the grave—or so Adamsberg believes after encountering a new victim whose corpse bears the tell-tale signs of the Trident's work. Convincing anyone of this fact is impossible, of course, and—distracted by a trip to Ottawa to attend a forensics course—Adamsberg returns to Paris to find himself well and truly framed for the murder of a young woman. Vargas continues to mix styles effectively, combining the light, comic touch of the best Simenon with much darker themes. This time, too, with the hero forced to look deep into himself, the novel adds an extra pinch of Rendellian psychology to the stewpot. Ott, Bill
Review
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)
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)
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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.
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.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Maddeningly Addictive, Well Crafted,
By J. Avellanet "author of Get to Market Now!" (Williamsburg, VA United States) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME)
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Wash This Blood Clean from My Hand (Paperback)
Vargas yet again proves why she is probably the #1 mystery writer in the world with this book, the 3rd of the Commissaire Adamsberg series.
The book takes place in France and in Canada, but much of it explores the genius of a methodical killer who's mind clearly outmatches the protagonist Adamsberg - in fact, in many ways, that's the true brilliance of the book. How many mysteries can you recall where the main investigator was aware of how he simply could not get ahead of the killer no matter what he tried? Where each time the killer struck, the investigator was a day late and a dollar short? Where the clues began to add up, but were completely open to multiple interpretations? And, as the story goes on, you begin to even distrust some of the Commissaire's colleagues, wondering what's going on - you feel true empathy with Adamsberg, the protagonist. And that is the result of a master writer at work. Hopefully, as Vargas becomes more recognized in the US, her books will become easier to obtain. For now, the wait is more than worth it. J. Avellanet, Co-Founder of Cerulean Associates LLC
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Poetry for insomniacs,
By
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This review is from: Wash This Blood Clean from My Hand (Paperback)
Fred Vargas is in a league of her own when it comes to crafting a book of Continental crime. As attested by my manic list elsewhere, the wealth of crime fiction translated from Europe over the past few years is American readers' good fortune. These books from Scandinavia,Italy, France, Germany have a bracing tone of their own. They are poetry for insomniacs, exercising the mind, bracing the spirit at the end of the day -- with an egg-flip of humor lacing each page. Vargas populates her plots with a cabinet of curiosities, most a bit broken and peculiar but with powerful heart and mind: and her evil villains are so much like her good guys, she keeps you tantalized throughout.
What floats her books far above the rest, however, is that they're saturated with the rich brown jus of historical humanism--so satisfying!-- like a meaty cassoulet that's been simmering all week. Taste and see! These are great books for readers bored by the pulpy gruel of American mysteries, serial killers and mawkish macho detectives. (And if you haven't read her yet, I'd suggest starting with "Seeking Whom He May Devour" or "The Three Evangelists." It's amusing to watch the characters develop. This book is the 4th translated into English. I hope we don't need to wait another whole year for the next one.)
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A clever, thought-provoking read,
By
This review is from: Wash This Blood Clean from My Hand: A Commissaire Adamsberg Mystery (Chief Inspector Adamsberg Mysteries) (Paperback)
Credit Vargas for transcending the traditional potboiler. Her characters are complex and fascinating and the plot twists through a myriad of dimensions that leave the reader breathless. This is the best mystery I have read in ages.
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