Fred Vargas

Infobox Writer
name = Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau


imagesize = 180px
caption = Fred Vargas at the Festival International du Roman Noir, 2007
pseudonym = Fred Vargas
birthdate = birth date and age|1957|06|07
birthplace = Paris
deathdate =
deathplace =
occupation = Medieval historian and archaeologist
nationality = French
period =
genre = Roman policier
subject =
movement =
influences =
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website =

Fred Vargas is the pseudonym of French historian, archaeologist and writer Frédérique Audoin-Rouzeau, born in 1957 in Paris.

Career as archaeologist

She worked at the French National Scientific Research Centre (CNRS), which she joined in 1988. She later joined the Institut Pasteur, as a eukaryotic archaeologist.Ava Gardner character in "The Barefoot Contessa" and is the pseudonym adopted by her twin sister, Joëlle Jo Vargas, a 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. She also won the award for the second year-running with "Wash This Blood Clean From My Hand".

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

Principal characters

Three Evangelists series

* 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 (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 Rotten Hut" 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 "Buffo"

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)
*1996 - "Un peu plus loin sur la droite"
*1997 - "Sans feu ni lieu"

Commissaire Adamsberg

*1991 - "L'Homme aux cercles bleus"; English translation: "The Chalk Circle Man"
*1999 - "L'Homme à l'envers"; English translation: "Seeking Whom He May Devour", 2004, (Prix Mystère de la critique)
*2000 - "Les quatre fleuves"; English translation: "The Four Rivers". Graphic novel (with Edmond Baudoin).
*2001 - "Pars vite et reviens tard"; English translation: "Have Mercy on Us All", 2003, (Prix des libraires)
*2002 - "Coule la Seine" (ill. by Edmond Baudoin). Collection of three novellas: "Salut et liberté", "La Nuit des brutes", and "Cinq francs pièce".
*2004 - "Sous les vents de Neptune"; English translation: "Wash This Blood Clean from My Hand", 2007
*2006 - "Dans les bois éternels"; English translation: "This Night's Foul Work", 2008
*2008 - "Un lieu incertain"; English translation: "A Dubious Place"

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 - "Petit Traité de toutes vérités sur l'existence"
*2003 - "Critique de l'anxiété pure"
*2004 - "La Vérité sur Cesare Battisti"

References

External links

* [http://fr.isbn.pl/C-8/A-Vargas-Fred/P-1/|ISBN Search]
*
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/nov/18/italy.france Interview] with Vargas in The Guardian, 2004