The Bubonic Plague returns to modern day Paris? Or is this just a clever ploy by a sinister killer? Enter Chief Inspector Adamsberg, a rumpled but brilliant detective, an odd mix of Sherlock Holmes and Columbo. He and his homicide team investigate and try to unravel a particularly knotty series of crimes and try to avoid a massive panic by a terrified population.This is exceptionally well-plotted and is filled with a cast of wonderfully colorful characters. Fred Vargas is a female French writer, who also is an historian and a archaeologist.She is a major talent! If you looking for a fresh spin in the crime genre ,this one's the ticket! Highly recommended! ( )

A Chief Inspector Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg police procedural set in Paris.

Puzzling messages are appearing in a Paris neighborhood, spread through the services (paid) of a self-appointed town crier, Joss Le Guern. Although objects of interest, especially by the resident intellectual, Hervé Decambrais, no one outside of the neighborhood notices. Until a young woman brings to Chief Inspector Adamsberg’s attention some startling graffiti that are suddenly sprouting on doorways in the 13th Arrondisement. While Adrien Danglard, Admasberg’s right hand man of logic and method dismisses them a works of teenagers, Adamsberg is not so sure—he finds them ominous in his scattered, intuitive way of existing and working.

When Decambrais and Le Guern bring the messages to the attention of Adamsberg, he insists there is a connection. Consulting some of his more oddball human sources, the connection seems to be warnings of an outbreak of bubonic plague, the feared Black Death of the Middle Ages—and beyond.

The plot of this off-beat police procedural is intriguing as well as multi-layered. Populating the neighborhoods of Paris and participating in the unfolding of the story are a cast of characters as off-beat as Adamsberg himself, who is no one’s definition of a policeman, never mind a chief inspector. Le Guern is right up there with the best of the oddballs, as are Clementine (a very different grannie), Lizbeth (prostitute turned hotel manager), Camille (plumber/musician), Bertin (a Norman in the midst of Bretons) and the Three Apostles (Marc, Matteu, and Luc). They’re a varied and lively group, constantly entertaining.

The writing style can be a bit off-putting at times, when Vargas appears not to take her own story seriously. Then again, it’s the perfect matrix for Adamsberg, who follows his own star.

Well plotted, well-drawn characters, and French whimsy make this an unusual, rather light-hearted entry in the genre. Highly recommended. ( )

Chief Inspector Adamsberg investigates a bizarre series of murders in Paris that are made to resemble Bubonic Plague deaths. Better than average. ( )

Fred Vargas is the female writer of excellent detective fiction. This is the book that introduces us to her hero Adamsberg. Absorbing and not predictable. ( )

I feel like I didn't enjoy this one as much as I did. Possibly because I came to it straight from Atonement, which is the best thing I've read this year so far, and partly because of some perceived clunkiness of the translation, it felt like harder going. But nevertheless this is an engrossing mystery with an engaging cast of characters; I particularly liked the residents of the Place Edgar-Quinet. I'd still definitely check out more from this series. ( )