Fred Vargas

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Fred Vargas is the pseudonym of French historian, archeologist and writer Frédérique Audouin-Rouzeau, born in 1957 in Paris. She works at the French National Scientific Research Centre (CNRS). Fred is the diminutive of her given name, Frédérique, while Vargas derives from the Ava Gardner character in The Barefoot Contessa and is the pseudonym adopted by her twin sister, Joëlle Jo Vargas, the painter.

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.

Fred Vargas took an important part in the defence of Cesare Battisti, a left-wing activist researched by Italian and French justice since 2004 for alleged assassinations committed in the 1970s, during the "years of lead".

1 Principal characters
2 English translations
3 Bibliography
- 3.1 External links

[edit] Principal characters

Marc Vandoosler, known as Saint-Mark: Cleaning lady by day, medievalist by night
Lucien Devernois, known as Saint-Luke: Historian specialising in the Great War
Matthias Delamarre, known as Saint-Matthew: Historian specialising in prehistory

These 3 characters, christened the Evangelists live in the same house, the Rotten Hut with Old Man Vandoosler

Vandoosler: former cop, epicurean and oddball
Ludwig Kelweihler: former cop, has a national network of informants and a toad Buffo
Adamsberg: peripatetic police chief, with Zen research methods
Danglard: methodical police inspector, divorced, father of 5 children and conspicuous white wine consumer

[edit] English translations

Have Mercy on Us All (Pars vite et reviens tard), The Harvill Press, 2003, ISBN 0-7432-8401-1. To be adapted for cinema (Release in France January 2007)
Seeking Whom He May Devour (L’Homme à l’envers), The Harvill Press, 2004, ISBN 1-84343-090-8
The Three Evangelists (Debout les morts), Harvill Secker, 2006 ISBN 1-84343-090-8.
Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand (Sous les vents de Neptune), Harvill Secker, 2007, ISBN 1-84343-273-0

[edit] Bibliography

Les Jeux de l’amour et de la mort, Éd. Originale, 1986 / Le masque, 1997, ISBN 2-7024-7856-5 (Prix du festival de Cognac)
Ceux qui vont mourir te saluent, Éd. Originale Viviane Hamy, 1987 / J’ai lu, 2001, ISBN 2-290-30992-3
Debout les morts, Éd. Originale Viviane Hamy, 1995 / Editions 84, 2000, ISBN 2-290-30215-5 (Prix Mystère de la critique 1996)
Un peu plus loin sur la droite, Éd. Originale Viviane Hamy, 1996 / J’ai lu, 2000, ISBN 2-290-30455-7
L’Homme aux cercles bleus, Éd. Originale Viviane Hamy, 1996 / J’ai lu, 2002, ISBN 2-290-34922-4
Sans feu ni lieu, Éd. Originale Viviane Hamy, 1997 / J’ai lu, 2001, ISBN 2-290-31258-4
L’Homme à l’envers, Éd. Originale Viviane Hamy, 1999 / J’ai lu, 2002, ISBN 2-210-75435-6 (Grand Prix du roman noir de Cognac 2000)
Les quatre fleuves, Éd. Viviane Hamy, 2000, ISBN 2-87858-134-2, (Prix Alph-Art du meilleur scénario au festival d’Angoulême 2001)
Petit Traité de toutes vérités sur l’existence, Éd. Viviane Hamy, 2001, ISBN 2-87858-145-8 (Essay.)
Pars vite et reviens tard, Éd. Viviane Hamy, 2001, ISBN 2-290-34212-2 (Prix des libraires)
Coule la Seine, J’ai lu, 2004, ISBN 2-290-33797-8 (Collection of three novellas)
Critique de l'anxiété pure, Éd. Viviane Hamy, 2003, ISBN 2-87858-179-2
Salut et liberté, Éd. J'ai lu 2004, ISBN 2-290-32144-3
Sous les vents de Neptune (2 vols, 704 pp), Éd. Feryane, 2004, ISBN 2-84011-620-0
La Vérité sur Cesare Battisti, Éd. Viviane Hamy 2004, collection Bis (poche), ISBN 2-87858-195-4
Dans les bois éternels, Éd. Viviane Hamy, 2006, ISBN 2-87858-233-0