Fred Vargas has no peers in the crime novel genre. Her writing is absolutely refreshing – and brilliantly translated. Her novels are light yet entirely serious, and at the same time full of instinctive understanding of how human beings work.

In her latest novel, the plot starts when two men are murdered with their throats being slashed. This leads Commissaire Adamsberg to two graves which have been tampered with. He suspects an elderly serial killer nurse that he arrested and had ut away some years back, but has now escaped from prison. There are several other sub-plots concerning Adamsberg's past which add depth to this intriguing story.

Adamsberg is a flawed but brilliant protagonist, and his supporting cast are as idiosyncratic as he is. In their individual ways, they are all important pieces in this amazing jigsaw. Even Snowball, the alcoholic office cat, has an important (if somewhat far-fetched) role to play in this mystery. Adamsberg's trip to a village in Normandy, and his encounters with the locals who gradually accept and even embrace him, is as good a description of a group dynamic as any I've read.

I can't think of another writer who could pull off these stories in the way she does. I read this in one sitting - and will be on the lookout for more. ( )

Great detective story. Adamsberg's intuitive methods help him solve the mystery once more. The detection in the story involves the 'reading' of cultural, historical and 'archaeological' clues, as well as understanding the ways of being of people who live in small villages and their rivalries. ( )

Vargas is easily the best crime/mystery writer going. Adamsberg is quirky enough to be interesting, but not so quirky one wishes to backhand him. The crimes vary in levels of nastiness, but I never feel as if she's concocting them for shock value.

Actually, "quirky" is probably not the best word for Adamsberg--he's just a real human being, or sort of an enhanced one, as are most of the books characters, which is, I suppose, what makes them characters in the second sense of the word. They aren't types, however--well, some may be; in this book, a lot gets said about people in Normandy, which I assume is some sort of cultural stereotype that would make sense to me if I were French.

What I know is this: I fully enjoy every Vargas book, from the stories to the characters to the use of language and the sideways nuances. Time with Fred Vargas is always time well-spent. ( )

Buon intreccio, coinvolgente. ( )

I can understand why Fred Vargas (who is female, btw) is a number one bestseller in France. I not only didn't figure out the killer, but I was *shocked* by who it was! I don't recall a mystery ever doing that to me before.

This is the second Vargas book we've published in the U.S. I'll say right now that I haven't read the first (yet), and it certainly didn't impair my enjoyment.

Commissaire Adamsberg has found two bodies that the Drugs unit is anxious to get their hands on--they had needle marks in their arms after all. But Adamsberg doesn't believe their murder had anything to do with drugs. Enter pathologist Dr. Ariane, who works with him to keep the bodies on his turf. Throw in the New Recruit, who speaks in verse (it's a family thing) and who seems to have some connection to Adamsberg's childhood, some bizarre stag murders (stag as in male deer) in Normandy and the fact that Adamsberg's new house is supposedly haunted, and you have one of the craziest sounding mysteries yet. But somehow, it all works, seamlessly so. Shockingly so. Reviewers often say that a mystery will keep you guessing, but honestly with this one, it's true. ( )

Sempre bravissima la Vargas. ( )

What a lot of disparate elements come together in the plot of THIS NIGHT’S FOUL WORK by Fred Vargas. An ancient recipe for eternal life. One elderly district nurse who just happens to be a serial killer, recently escaped from gaol. Two men murdered, their throats cut in what looks like a drugs-related killing. Stags found dead in Normandy with their hearts cut out. Someone who polishes the soles of his shoes. Snowball the station cat so devoted to a policewoman that he’ll travel over thirty kilometres in search of her.

Someone close to the inquiry into the drug-related killings is manipulating the investigation.

Commissaire Jean Baptiste Adamsberg has recently returned from enforced leave and finds himself working with a pathologist whose apple cart he upset two decades ago. He has moved into a new house haunted by the Wicked Silent Sister, Saint Clarisse, a serial killer of gullible women, before the Revolution.

To add to the feast for the reader there are some odd, vividly drawn, characters in Adamsberg’s team: Veyrenc, the new lieutenant who spouts Racine constantly, and is assigned to guarding Camille, the mother of Adamsberg’s baby son Tom; his colleague Commandant Dangland who works ceaselessly to eliminate Unsolved Questions; Estalere who has a knack and passion for memorising trivial detail; and Retancourt, devoted to protecting Adamsberg with her own life, to name just a few.

THIS NIGHT’S FOULS WORK showcases Adamsberg at his best, sifting and sorting a smorgasbord of information. Adamsberg is equally at home in the country and in the city. His methods are eccentric but his team recognises that eventually they will solve the case. There is an eclectic mix of folklore, history, mystery and just plain human interest. I wouldn’t classify this as a pacey novel. In some ways it lurches from one crisis point to another. It abounds in red herrings and the way forward can be hard to see. Tension builds, then climaxes, only to build again as a new element is included. As in other Vargas novels, at times the plot strains the bounds of plausibility and some readers may find this a leap too far. For me this didn’t matter.

THIS NIGHT’S FOUL WORK, translated from the French by Sian Reynolds, is #4 in the Adamsberg series. It was first published as Dans les bois eternels in 2006. The second in the series, SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR, was a finalist for a Dagger Award in 2005. Vargas went on to win the Duncan Lawrie International Dagger twice with THE THREE EVANGELISTS (2006) and WASH THIS BLOOD CLEAN FROM MY HAND (2007) ( )

This latest translation of the mysteries of Fred Vargas is again excellent. The characters are quirky and interesting. Commissaire Adamsberg uses philosophy as well as regular clues to solve his mysteries. This one involves supposed ghosts, an "angel of death", and disturbed graves, as well as rival policemen, mistaken memories, ibexes, religious relics, and a recipe for eternal life. It is set in France. Read the whole series from the beginning to really get to know the main police characters involved. ( )

bm, polar ( )