Have Mercy On Us All (Commissaire Adamsberg) [Hardcover]

"Moody, tense and grotesque, Vargas's prize-winning novel is a fascinating exploration of Paris's dark side."
--"Guardian"
"A delicious Parisian chiller."
--"Independent"
"Fred Vargas has everything: complex and surprising plots, good pace, various and eccentric characters, a sense of place and history, individualized dialogue, wit and style."
--"Times Literary Supplement"

"From the Trade Paperback edition."

'Moody, tense and grotesque, Vargas's prize-winning novel is a fascinating exploration of Paris's dark side' --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

--Translated from the French by David Bellos--Winner of the Grand Prix Litt-raire des Lectrices, 2002--Winner of the Prix des Libraires, 2002

Joss le Guern is a town crier in Paris's 14th arrondissement. He calls out the local news three times a day to all who will listen. Over the course of a few days, however, a number of enigmatic and disturbing messages are slipped in to the daily news, and he becomes increasingly alarmed. Superintendent Adamsberg is visited by an extremely troubled woman who has found strange marks on the door of her building: upside down 4s marked out in black paint. This, and the appearance of the frightening messages, are exactly the kind of mysteries Adamsberg loves. In the course of his inquiries he begins to sense a sinister and often grotesque menace. And when a charred corpse is found, Adamsberg knows he's dealing with a particularly serious and chilling case. Have Mercy on Us All is Fred Vargas's masterpiece so far. She is exceptional at building mood and tension, and, as Henning Mankell portrays the social realities of contemporary Sweden in his Inspector Wallander mysteries, so Vargas does the same for Paris and France. (20030513)

Translated from the French by David Bellos.
Winner of the Grand Prix Litt-raire des Lectrices, 2002.
Winner of the Prix des Libraires, 2002

Fred Vargas was born in Paris in 1957. As well as being a best-selling author in France, she is a historian and archaeologist by training. (20030513)