Fred Vargas is the pseudonym of Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau (born 7 June 1957), a French historian, archaeologist and novelist.

As a historian and archeologist, she is known for her work on the Black Death. Her crime fiction policiers (police procedurals) have won three International Dagger Awards from the Crime Writers *ociation, for three successive novels: in 2006, 2008 and 2009. She is the first author to achieve such an honour. In each case, her translator into English was Siân Reynolds, who was also recognized by the international award.

Contents

• 1 Career as archaeologist
• 2 Career as novelist
• 3 Defense of Cesare Battisti
• 4 Principal characters
• 5 Bibliography
• 6 References
• 7 External links

Career as archaeologist

Audoin-Rouzeau worked at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), which she joined in 1988. She later joined the Ins*ut Pasteur, as a eukaryotic archaeologist. She has undertaken a project on the epidemiology of the Black Death and bubonic plague, the result of which was a work considered definitive in the research area: Les chemins de la peste (Routes of the Plague) (2003).

Career as novelist

Vargas writes mostly police thrillers (policiers), although she simply refers to them as "puzzles". She found writing was a way to combine her interests and relax from her job as an academic. Her novels are set 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' *ociation for the Gold Dagger award for best crime novel of the year in 2005. In 2006 her next novel, The Three Evangelists, won the inaugural Duncan Lawrie International Dagger. She also won the award in 2008 with Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand. She was the first author to be shortlisted for three successive novels. In 2009 Vargas was again awarded the International Dagger, becoming the first author to receive it for three successive novels, in tandem with the translator, in each case Siân Reynolds.

In 2018 Vargas won the Princess of Asturias Prize for letters.

Defense of Cesare Battisti

Vargas took part in the defence of Cesare Battisti, an Italian former left-wing urban guerrilla turned writer sought by Italian and French justice since 2004, who was found guilty in absentia of involvement in four **inations committed in the 1970s, during the "Years of Lead".

Principal characters

• Three Evangelists series
  • Marc Vandoosler, known as "Saint Mark": Historian specialising in medieval life
  • Lucien Devernois, known as "Saint Luke": Historian specialising in World War I (inspired by Vargas's brother Stéphane Audoin-Rouzeau)
  • Matthias Delamarre, known as "Saint Matthew": Historian specialising in prehistory
  • (These three characters, christened "the Evangelists," live in the same house, The Dosshouse together with "Old Man Vandoosler")
  • Armand Vandoosler: former police Commissaire, Marc's godfather, epicurean and oddball
  • Ludwig Kehlweiler: former policeman with a national network of informants and a toad Bufo
• Adamsberg series
  • Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg: peripatetic police chief, with Zen research methods
  • Adrien Danglard: methodical police inspector, Adamsberg's deputy. Divorced, father of five children and conspicuous white wine consumer
  • Camille Forestier: a musician/plumber who has a turbulent relationship with Adamsberg.

Bibliography

• The Three Evangelists
  • 1995 – Debout les morts; English translation: The Three Evangelists, 2006, (Prix Mystère de la critique; CWA International Dagger)
  • 1996 – Un peu plus loin sur la droite; English *le: Dog Will Have His Day, 2014
  • 1997 – Sans feu ni lieu; English *le: The Accordionist, 2017
• Commissaire Adamsberg
  • 1991 – L’homme aux cercles bleus; English translation: The Chalk Circle Man, 2009, (CWA International Dagger)
  • 1999 – L'Homme à l'envers; English *le: Seeking Whom He May Devour, 2004, (Prix Mystère de la critique)
  • 2000 – Les quatre fleuves. Graphic novel (with Edmond Baudoin); not published in English
  • 2001 – Pars vite et reviens tard; English *le: Have Mercy on Us All, 2003, (Prix des libraires) (Adapted as a film in 2007)
  • 2002 – Coule la Seine. Three novellas; not published in English
  • 2004 – Sous les vents de Neptune; English *le: Wash This Blood Clean from My Hand, 2007 (CWA International Dagger)
  • 2006 – Dans les bois éternels; English *le: This Night's Foul Work, 2008
  • 2008 – Un lieu incertain; English *le: An Uncertain Place, 2011
  • 2011 – L'armée furieuse; English *le: The Ghost Riders of Ordebec, 2013 (CWA International Dagger)
  • 2015 – Temps glaciaires; English *le: A Climate of Fear, 2016
  • 2017 – Quand sort la recluse; English *le: This Poison Will Remain, 2019
• Other novels
  • 1986 – Les Jeux de l'amour et de la mort (Prix du festival de Cognac)
  • 1994 – Ceux qui vont mourir te saluent
• Essays and other works
  • 2001 – Pe* Traité de toutes vérités sur l'existence
  • 2003 – Critique de l'anxiété pure
  • 2004 – La Vérité sur Cesare Battisti

References

External links

• Media related to Fred Vargas at Wikimedia Commons
• :French Wikiquote has quotations related to: Fred Vargas
• Fred Vargas at IMDb
• Interview with Vargas, The Guardian, 2004