The Accordionist

I am trying to understand why this book did not excite me as her earlier ones did. Was it because I know the quirky characters? I know the layout of the house? I have a sense of where Vargas will lead me? Or was it just because the newness of her wonderful storytelling has worn off, and I keep wanting more? In any case, I was happy, warmed, a bit on edge, but never guessing exactly where the road would lead. I 4-starred it because it's better than most, just not better that books one and two of Vargas.

This is the last of the three novels featuring the "Three Evangelists", published between the first and second Adamsberg books. The former civil servant Louis Kehlweiler and his friend the retired prostitute Marthe, both introduced in Un peu plus loin sur la droite, reappear as key characters in this book as well.

Clément, a young man with learning difficulties, turns up on Marthe's doorstep. We learn that she acted as an informal foster-mother to him twenty years earlier when he was a neglected street-child, and she's the only person he can think of to turn to when he gets into trouble. The police are after him for the murder of two young women, but he maintains that he's innocent. Someone seems to have set him up, arranging that he's show more seen hanging around the women's flats and delivering gifts to them with his fingerprints on them...

Louis doesn't really believe this story, but he owes it to Marthe to help her protégé as far as he can, so he takes on the investigation, whilst Clément is stashed away in the Evangelists' house out of harm's way.

A clever and well-constructed crime story, with the emphasis, once again, more on the disentangling of the psychological roots of the crime than on physical evidence. And a lot of the usual comic business between Louis, the Evangelists, and the police, and even a small but entertaining role for Louis's pet toad. Fans of Flanders and Swann will be way ahead of the game when it comes to spotting the abstruse link between the murders. show less

Following a spate of brutal murders in Paris suspicion has fallen on a young accordionist seen loitering near the victim's homes. Clement is a simple young man and when he realises he is being set up he seeks out the only person he trusts, an old prostitute called Marthe. She takes Clement to her erstwhile lover and he recruits the 'three evangelists' to help solve the mystery.

Fred Vargas has a knack of writing about horrible crimes but with a real sense of humour and emotional intelligence, her characters are quirky and interesting. So whilst this is not her most engaging book, it is still streets ahead of most fiction in the genre. The investigator with the pet toad and an encyclopaedic knowledge of the police departments of France is show more a new and interesting character. However I did find the ending a little messy and too convenient. show less

Would I read another book by this author?
Yes.

Would I recommend this book?
Yes.

Who would I recommend it to?
Anyone who likes murder mysteries. It is particularly suitable to those who like cozy murder mysteries.

Did this book inspire me to do anything?
I looked up the location of Nevers on the map.

This is another enjoyable murder mystery from Fred Vargas. Her stories are great at evoking French social norms, informing the reader of the way the French policing structures differ from other countries, and bringing visions of Paris streets and landmarks to the reader's mind. Well, this reader's mind anyway.

I love the Vargas books for their quirkiness. This is a Three Evangelists novel and was actually written several years ago but only translated to English now. It's very short. I enjoyed it but I prefer the Adamsberg books. This has the quirkiness but for me just lacked something.

When Clement Vauquer realises he is being framed as a serial killer, he seeks help from Marthe, who had been kind to him as a boy and taught him to read. She enrols the help of Louis Kehlweiler, who, with the three evangelists, hunts for the real killer.

Rather darker than the earlier books in the series but the characters still held my interest.

Meno enfatico de "Chi è morto alzi la mano", ma piacevole. Il libro si concentra più sul Tedesco che sugli evangelisti, ma guai se non ci fossero loro...
Forse la conclusione è un po' affrettata, ma alla fine tutto torna.Se fosse reale, mi piacerebbe poter chiedere asilo nella "topaia", di tanto in tanto. "Io sono il tenebroso,
Il vedovo,
L’inconsolabile,
Il Principe d’Aquitania dalla torre abolita;
La mia unica stella è morta,
E sul mio liuto ornato di stelle
È impresso il Sole nero della Melancolia. [...]"